ATP tour: Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer rule courts in 2019

As 2019 draws to a close, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic finished the season at the top of the ATP rankings. Both the players topped each of the surface leaderboards this year. This year also marked the return of World No. 3 Roger Federer to the clay court. Let’s look at the best performers in 2019 as per the FedEx ATP Performance Zone.

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Clay Courts

Nadal is the King of Clay, and in 2019, he proved his supremacy again by winning two titles on this surface. Though he was unsuccessful in reaching the finals of the first three clay tournaments, the Spaniard bounced back to win in Rome and Roland Garros. Nadal now has 59 tour-level titles on clay, which is ten more than Guillermo Vilas, who has 49. This year also saw the return of Roger Federer to the clay. The Swiss had not competed on the surface since 2016, Rome. This year, Federer advanced to the semi-finals of the French Open.

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Hard Courts

Nadal’s success on the hard court is not a secret. But the Spaniard had an exceptionally successful season in 2019 with 32 wins and just three losses. He had a success rate of 91.4 per cent. Djokovic and Federer finished right behind Nadal with a success rate of 81.4 per cent and 82.5 per cent respectively. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev won four titles on the surface this season.

Grass Courts 

Djokovic had a strong game on the grass court this year. The Serb won his fifth Wimbledon title in 2019, defeating Roger Federer. Djokovic dropped only two sets on his way to the final and then saved two championship points against Federer for the title. Interestingly, if Federer had won any one of those points, he would have topped this table. Instead, the Swiss came in at No 2 with an 11-1 record on grass. Federer triumphed at Halle to win his 19th grass court trophy. The grass court swing also saw the emergence of Matteo Berrettini (who started as World No 30). 

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Indoor Courts 

Nadal topped the Indoor Courts list too, thanks to his Davis Cup win. He won all five of his singles matches which helped him improve his indoor standings. Another player who had a good year in this category is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Coming back from a knee surgery, he began 2019 on the 239th position in the ATP Rankings. However, his indoor form helped him climb up to No 29. He won at Metz and Montpellier. 

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