2026 ATP General News

[MargaretMcAleer]

I am surprised Evan King is not on the list..

Well the entry list closes on the 17th there is still time

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Is it true that Djokovic beat Nadal 7 times and 12 times straight in his career? Just came across this stat on the web.

 

[Fiero425]

Is it true that Djokovic beat Nadal 7 times and 12 times straight in his career? Just came across this stat on the web.

OTOH, Djokovic defeated Nadal 7 times in a row twice; all of 2011 into '12 Aussie Open, then 2015 per.! The 12 str. c/b his run on HC over Rafa!

 

[El Dude]

The fact they played 61 matches is kind of crazy - I believe that is the most of any two players in the Open Era. You'd have to go back to the pro tours to find more H2H matches. For instance, Wikipedia has Laver-Rosewall at 90-75, or 165 matches!

Anyhow, as far as Novak vs. Rafa, here's a chart I made of their H2H. As with many such charts, the main thing is general visual impression, but you can also get some detail with each tournament and the round the match took place in, plus the year. But you might need to click on it to get the details.

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

The fact they played 61 matches is kind of crazy - I believe that is the most of any two players in the Open Era. You'd have to go back to the pro tours to find more H2H matches. For instance, Wikipedia has Laver-Rosewall at 90-75, or 165 matches!

Anyhow, as far as Novak vs. Rafa, here's a chart I made of their H2H. As with many such charts, the main thing is general visual impression, but you can also get some detail with each tournament and the round the match took place in, plus the year. But you might need to click on it to get the details.
View attachment 11012

Novak beating Rafa 7 times in 2011-early 2012, when both were at their peaks, is impressive. I wished they would have played as much in 2010, which was Rafa's best year. Not playing that much that year makes the rivalry look more lopsided than it really was.

I wonder who wins 2010 Rafa vs. 2011 Novak, when both are at their absolute best.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from Cincinnati still recovering from a wrist injury, despite recent video's practicing with higher intensity

Other players to date that have withdrawn
Bublik, Korder, Davdoivich Fokina, Rune

Main draw wild cards,
Dimitrov, Monfils, Wawrinka, Draper

 

[the AntiPusher]

Is it true that Djokovic beat Nadal 7 times and 12 times straight in his career? Just came across this stat on the web.

I will bite on this one.. Check out the early days of their h2h matches when Roger was in his prime and Rafa was his sole lone challenger..

2009	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Madrid	Semifinal	Outdoor Clay	36 76(5) 76(9)	ResultsDraws
2009	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Rome	Final	Outdoor Clay	76(2) 62	ResultsDraws
2009	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Monte-Carlo	Final	Outdoor Clay	63 26 61	ResultsDraws
2009	Rafael Nadal	ESP vs. SRB WG 1st RD	Round Robin	Outdoor Clay	64 64 61	ResultsDraws
2008	Rafael Nadal	Beijing Olympics	Semifinal	Outdoor Hard	64 16 64	ResultsDraws
2008	Novak Djokovic	ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati	Semifinal	Outdoor Hard	61 75	ResultsDraws
2008	Rafael Nadal	London / Queen's Club	Final	Outdoor Grass	76(6) 75	ResultsDraws
2008	Rafael Nadal	Roland Garros	Semifinal	Outdoor Clay	64 62 76(3)	ResultsDraws
2008	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Hamburg	Semifinal	Outdoor Clay	75 26 62	ResultsDraws
2008	Novak Djokovic	ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells	Semifinal	Outdoor Hard	63 62	ResultsDraws
2007	Rafael Nadal	Tennis Masters Cup	Round Robin	Indoor Hard	64 64	ResultsDraws
2007	Novak Djokovic	ATP Masters 1000 Canada	Semifinal	Outdoor Hard	75 63	ResultsDraws
2007	Rafael Nadal	Wimbledon	Semifinal	Outdoor Grass	36 61 41 RET	ResultsDraws
2007	Rafael Nadal	Roland Garros	Semifinal	Outdoor Clay	75 64 62	ResultsDraws
2007	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Rome	Quarterfinal	Outdoor Clay	62 63	ResultsDraws
2007	Novak Djokovic	ATP Masters 1000 Miami	Quarterfinal	Outdoor Hard	63 64	ResultsDraws
2007	Rafael Nadal	ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells	Final	Outdoor Hard	62 75	ResultsDraws
2006	Rafael Nadal	Roland Garros	Quarterfinal	Outdoor Clay	64 64 RET	ResultsDraws

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Gael Monfils receives the French reciprocal for the US Open from the FFT

 

[El Dude]

Novak beating Rafa 7 times in 2011-early 2012, when both were at their peaks, is impressive. I wished they would have played as much in 2010, which was Rafa's best year. Not playing that much that year makes the rivalry look more lopsided than it really was.

I wonder who wins 2010 Rafa vs. 2011 Novak, when both are at their absolute best.

I've covered this before. 2011 Rafa = 2010 Rafa, except for his results against Novak. His performance against everyone else is almost exactly the same.

2010 Rafa: 71-10 (87.7%); vs. Novak 2-0; vs everyone else 69-10
2011 Rafa: 69-15 (82.1%) vs. Novak 0-6; vs everyone else 69-9

Meaning, same number of wins, and actually one loss better in 2011 if you ignore Novak matches. Novak utterly owned him in 2011 -- that's the only difference, otherwise Rafa was the same guy against every other player (overall).

But...

Rafa re-balanced for most of the rest of their career. He adjusted, and it was more of a seesaw after. Novak owned him in 2011 and into 2012, but then Rafa adjusted and won 6 of 7. Then Novak owned him again, but only when Rafa was struggling in 2015-16. Rafa came back. They were essentially equals, in peak years.

Another way to look at it is that Rafa dominated early on vs. Novak 1.0 (2007-10), but then Novak 2.0 dominated in 2011, but then Rafa re-adjusted and they were basically equals. Rafa still had the edge on clay, Novak on hards (but won their last nine matches on hards), and about equal on grass (vs. each other):

Rafa vs. Novak
Grass: 2-2
Clay: 20-9
Hards: 7-20

But as with Rafa's match-up vs. Roger, the H2H Is skewed by a high percentage of matches played on clay. For Djokodal, it was 29 of 61, or 47.5%. Fedal saw 16 of 40 matches on clay, or 40%. Clay generally accounts for 30-35% of all tournaments, so you could say that the surfaces they played on gave Rafa a big advantage over Novak, and a moderate advantage over Roger.

This is mostly because Rafa was so dominant on clay that he was always in the finals, but it also gave him a bit of a "home court advantage" in an outsized percentage of their matches, especially vs. Novak.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Holger Rune has withdrawn from Cincinnati Masters
Apparently achilles is still not fully recovered. Better not to rush.