When looking at last season’s
performances of the top 5 on the ATP list there are some pretty clear
conclusions to draw from it. This was definitely a year to remember for Nole
and a year of misery and disappointment for Rafa. Murray’s season was a huge improvement
compared to 2014, which he mostly spent recovering from injury. And the Swiss
duo of Federer and Wawrinka played to the best of their capabilities, but
didn’t warrant a top 2 position at the end of the year.
1. Novak Djokovic
This year there was a period of
three months when Novak lost just once. The Serb had an absolutely brilliant
season, which includes wins at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in which
he only missed on the final played in Madrid and reached a record breaking 8
finals in the process.
This was complemented by a third win
in his fourth final appearance at Wimbledon, and a win at the Australian Open. That
win at the Australian Open was so comprehensive and dominant (he didn’t lose a
set in the first five rounds) that many fans of Djokovic compared it to a
dream-come-true performance.
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The only negative, in an otherwise
stellar season for Djokovic, was the loss in the Roland Garros final, when Stan
Wawrinka prevented him from finishing off one of the greatest ever runs in a
tournament, and completing a career Grand Slam. In Paris Nole didn’t drop a set
in the first five rounds, beat Murray in a match that lasted for two days, and
beat Nadal on his favourite surface at his favourite tournament, but still
couldn’t prevail when faced with ‘Stan the Man’.
2. Andy Murray
Murray entered the 2015 season by failing to win in
36 events on clay, but all that changed with his victory in Munich over home
favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber. He also entered the year with the embarrassing
stat of not being in the top 4 of the rankings for a full year.
That changed when the UK native managed to get to the Australia
Open Final, only to be defeated by Novak Djokovic in four sets. He also got to
the semi-finals at Roland Garros, but again lost to Djokovic, this time in five
sets.
This was also the year in which he joined
the elite company of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the only
players to get to at least the semi-final round in all nine of the ATP World
Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.
3. Roger Federer
Numbers 3 and 4 are reserved for the
Swiss duo of Federer and Wawrinka. Federer managed to win in the first edition
of the Istanbul Open, and the Turkish city became the 19th place
where a tournament was won by the Swiss maestro.
He also reached his forty-first ATP
World Tour Masters 1000 final on Rome’s clay, and by winning in Halle, he took
his tally at his favourite grass court to eight titles. By doing this he became
the fifth tennis player to win eight titles at a single tournament.
4. Stanislas Wawrinka
Wawrinka will probably remember this
season as the year in which he managed to defeat Nadal, Federer and Djokovic on
clay. This was also the second season in a row in which he reached the
quarter-finals at Wimbledon. But when he got there he lost to Gasquet. He went
one step further in the US Open where he was defeated in straight sets by Roger
Federer.
However, the tournament by which
Wawrinka will definitely remember this season is the French Open. On the clay
courts of Paris he defeated Federer in straight sets, in what was his first win
over his compatriot in a major tournament. He then outplayed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
in the semis, earning himself a place in the final against the top seeded
Djokovic. He won in four sets, and in doing so he defeated the most in-form player
this season.
5. Rafael Nadal
2015 was a season to forget for
Rafa. It was a year in which his confidence was shattered. He tried, but couldn’t
get past his so called ‘mental injury’ and prompted many to start speculating
that the best was behind the Spaniard and that his injuries have dealt the
final blow.
He did recover however, and started
looking like his former self. In the second part of the season by playing
noticeably better he managed to take his tally of wins to 61, which when
combined with the 21 losses he suffered this season, is not such a bad wins-to-games
ratio.
But we are talking of a serial winner here,
and that win ratio of 75%, was his worst since 2004, and was achieved by
playing part in as many matches that he could. He won most of those matches,
but got eliminated when the going got tough and when he had to reach the latter
rounds.
Rafa will certainly hope that 2016
will be much better for him. It surely cannot get any worse than this. Or can
it? We’ll all have to wait and see whether his doubters were right, and whether
his career is on a downward spiral already.
