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The Top-Performing Nations On Clay In Men’s Tennis

Which nation is, performance-wise, the best on the dirt?

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DIACHRONIC ANALYSIS OF THE BEST-PERFORMING FIVE COUNTRIES

Let’s now look at the top five countries, namely Spain, the USA, Sweden, Argentina, and Czechia, focusing on their performance peaks.

It is worth mentioning the American peak of 1976 with a total of 7.25 points, 4 of them coming from Connors, 1.75 from Solomon, 1.25 from Dibbs, 0.25 from Stockton, and another one the next year peak with 6.25 points, 1.5 from Connors, 0.75 from Solomon, 1 from the late Gerulaitis, 0.75 from Dibbs, 2 from Gottfried and 0.25 from Stockton.

In the mid-‘70s, however, there were two different seasons on clay, one in Europe and one on North America, so that there were a maximum of 20 points available in 1975, almost twice as much as the current availability of 11 points.

The latest peak achieved by Americans was in 1992 with 4.25 points, while the total number of “empty” years is 19, which places in third place behind Spain and France in terms of fewest scoreless seasons.

As for Argentina’s performance peaks, they were achieved in 1977,  a 5.25 soliloquy by Vilas, and in 2004 with 6 points obtained by Gaudio (2), Coria (2.5), Nalbadian (1), Chela (0.25) and Zabaleta (0.25).

It should be noted also that at the Hamburg tournament in 2003 the players from Argentina were able to monopolise the tournament by sweeping all the semi-finals spot, something never witnessed again in a Masters 1000 event played on clay.

Sweden and the Czech Republic dominated the clay seasons of the Eighties, bringing to mind a rendition of the battle of Prague in 1648, a battle never completely won by the Swedes, with the Czech leader Ivan Lendl playing the role of Rudolf von Colloredo, a warrior able to fight back every single time against the Swedish siege. The pinnacle of Swedish grandeur was reached in 1975 with 4.5 points scored by an illustrious Viking named Bjorn and in 1984, when Wilander with 3 points, Sundstrom with 1 point, Edberg and Nystrom with 0.25 points each contributed to the national now bygone pre-eminence. Indeed, the Viking wave – sporting the three crowns flag – retreated after Soderling’s final runs in 2009 and 2010, “the “invincible armada” returned to take over.

In fact, even if we remove Nadal, the man who single-handedly rewrote the history of clay tennis, Spain would still lead the combined rankings anyway, leading the US by 12 points.

The latest Spanish zero in a season on clay happened in 1987, with Spanish tennis players never falling below the 1.25 points achieved in the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Therefore, the peaks of Spain in the 1998 and 2010 seasons are noteworthy, with 7.25 points out of 11 available, but also in 1975 with 6 points out of 22.

In 2010 Nadal scored 5 ​​points, exactly like in 1975 when Orantes racked up 5.5, while in 1998 there was no standout player, and the point-grabbing appear more diverse. In that season Carlos Moya brought 3 points, Albert Costa and Alex Corretja both took 1.5, while Felix Mantilla had 0.75 and Alberto Berasategui 0.5.

However, at a closer look, since the beginning of the Nadal era Spain has never dropped below the 1.5 points mark from 2015 and 2016, years where the performance of the Manacor juggernaut was plagued by injuries, while many peaks where achieved in previous and ensuing years.

WAITING FOR ALCARAZ: A COMPARISON BETWEEN SPANISH GENERATIONS

All of this forces us to start an evaluation on the performance of the different Spanish generations, while trying to discount the aforementioned Nadal effect.

The aggregate performances of the generations of Spanish tennis players was calculated, obtaining 7 generations, as per the following, with birthyears in brackets:

First generation (1937-1942)Second Generation (1949-1958)Third generation (1962-1968)Fourth Generation (1971-1978)Fifth Generation (1980-1986)Sixth generation (1988-1995)Seventh generation (1996 onwards)
Manuel SantanaManuel OrantesEmilio SanchezCarlos MoyàRafael NadalRoberto Bautista AgutAlejandro Davidovich Fokina
Andrés GimenoJosé HiguerasJuan AguileraSergi BrugueraJuan Carlos FerreroPablo Carreno BustaCarlos Alcaraz Garfia
Juan GisbertFernando LunaCarlos CostaAlex CorretjaDavid FerrerAlbert Ramos VinolasBernabé Zapata
  Francisco ClavetAlbert CostaTommy Robredo Jaume Munar
  Jordi ArreseAlberto BerasateguiFernando Verdasco Pedro Martinez
  Javier SanchezFelix MantillaNicolàs Almagro Nicola Kuhn
  Sergio CasalAlbert PortasPablo Andujar Javier Barranco
  Tomàs CarbonellGalo BlancoFeliciano Lopez  
   Roberto Carretero   

Below the performances by each generation

GenerationsPerformances
First Generation3,25
Second Generation18,75
Third Generation7,5
Fourth Generation34,25
Fifth Generation73
Sixth Generation2,25
Seventh Generation0

It can be seen that, by removing Nadal’s points from the fifth generation, Ferrero, Ferrer, Robredo, Verdasco, Almagro and Andujar would have achieved 17.25 points, which is a very similar performance to that of the second generation, but the former achievement was spread between many more players.

The graph below summarizes these results.

The best Spanish generation in the opinion of the writer was the fourth generation, which expressed 9 players, even without an all-out legend:

CONCLUSION

At the end of this analysis based entirely on numbers, we think is fair to ask ourselves the following question: is it better to have an all-conquering champion with some young guns around him or to have many good players, an even-turfed lawn with a few flowers?

While the media are always in search of a mythical figure to write epics about, a setup that humans tend to be inclined to, the writer is partial to the even lawn concept, because it allows for a whole scene of different players to be at the forefront, as long as the results are consistent and fairly measured. Article and graphics by Andrea Canella; translation by Michele Brusadelli; editing by Tommaso Villa

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Miami Open Daily Preview: Elena Rybakina Plays Victoria Azarenka in the Semifinals

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Elena Rybakina on Tuesday in Miami (twitter.com/miamiopen)

The men’s singles quarterfinals conclude on Thursday, while the women’s singles semifinals will both be played.

2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina faces three-time Miami Open champ Victoria Azarenka on Thursday.  The other WTA semifinal sees Ekaterina Alexandrova, who has now taken out top five seeds in consecutive rounds (Swiatek, Pegula), play an in-form American in Danielle Collins,

Plus, the second two ATP singles quarterfinals will be contested.  2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz squares off against Grigor Dimitrov, who has been playing some of the best tennis of his career.  And 2018 runner-up Sascha Zverev takes on Fabian Marozsan, a red-hot Hungarian who is now 14-3 at Masters 1000 level.

Each day, this preview will analyze the two most intriguing matchups, while highlighting other notable matches on the schedule.  Thursday’s play gets underway at 1:00pm local time.


Elena Rybakina (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka (27) – Not Before 3:00pm on Stadium Court

Rybakina is 21-3 on the year, after surviving a stern test from an in-form Maria Sakkari on Tuesday night.  Elena has already claimed two titles this season (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi), and reached another final (Doha).  This is her seventh WTA 1000 semifinal since last March, and she’s 4-2 in this round.

Azarenka is 14-5 this season, and has now accumulated 44 match wins at this event, the most of any WTA 1000 tournament.  She defeated two seeded players to this stage (Zheng, Boulter), both in straight sets.  This is a fifth Miami Open semifinal for the three-time champ.

Rybakina is 3-0 against Azarenka, with all three meetings occurring within the last few years on hard courts.  She took the first two in straight sets, and then split sets with Vika last month in Dubai, before Azarenka retired.  Despite Vika’s great history at this tournament, recent form dictates Elena must be considered the favorite to achieve a second consecutive final in Miami. 


Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Grigor Dimitrov (11) – Not Before 7:00pm on Stadium Court

Coming off his title run in Indian Wells, Alcaraz has been in stellar form.  He has not dropped a set through three matches, playing confident and composed tennis.  Carlitos is vying for a third straight semifinal appearance in Miami.

Until this week, this was the only Masters 1000 event where Dimitrov had failed to reach the quarterfinals or better, and he held a losing record of 11-12 in Miami.  But across the past six months, Grigor has been playing at a very high level.  Since the Shanghai Masters in October, he’s gone 28-7, and advanced to three tournament finals.  In the last round, he looked completely gassed at the end of a near three-hour match against Hubert Hurkacz, yet escaped in a third-set tiebreak.

Alcaraz leads their head-to-head 3-1, though Dimitrov’s only victory was their most recent encounter, six months ago in Shanghai when Grigor began this nice run.  But beating Carlitos again when the Spaniard is seemingly at the peak of his abilities will be an entirely different story.  And considering Dimitrov is just 2-8 in Masters semifinals, Alcaraz should be favored on Thursday.


Other Notable Matches on Thursday:

Sascha Zverev (4) vs. Fabian Marozsan – Zverev is yet to drop a set, and ousted Karen Khachanov in the last round.  Marozsan has now reached the fourth round or better in all four of his Masters 1000 appearances, and already took out two top 10 seeds during this fortnight (Rune, de Minaur).  This will be their first career meeting.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (14) vs. Danielle Collins – As per Diego Barbiani on Twitter, Alexandrova’s comeback win over Pegula was the first time she’s beaten a top 10 player after losing the first set, coming after 25 losses.  Collins has played ferociously to achieve her second WTA 1000 semifinal, taking 10 consecutive sets where her opponent has failed to win more than three games.  This is another first-time encounter.


Thursday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Revitalised Grigor Dimitrov Targets Alcaraz Upset In Miami

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(credit Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium)

Grigor Dimitrov says playing at this year’s Miami Open has been ‘kryptonite’ for his tennis after reaching the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 event for the first time at the age of 32. 

The 11th seed secured his place in the last eight with a dramatic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), win over Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz who uncharacteristically lost his cool in the closing stages. Tied at 2-2 in the deciding tiebreaker, Hurkacz slammed his racket on the ground after the umpire ruled that his foot touched the net which resulted in Dimitrov winning that point. The Pole demanded to see a replay but wasn’t allowed to do so as the umpire was certain that he did. A replay after the match confirmed that he did touch the net. 

“Grigor had hit a little bit of an unconventional return. I hit a good second serve and yeah, I was just trying to get to the ball and I slid,” said Hurkacz. “My coach told me after the match – because I was just sliding and I didn’t feel anything – but my coach told me that I touched the net at the end. So yeah, just a bit unfortunate.”
“I couldn’t feel anything because I was just sliding, so I wanted to see a replay,” explained Hurkacz. “But anyway, I tried to move on and keep playing, but Grigor came up with some good shots.”

As for Dimitrov, it is the second time he has beaten a top 10 player on the Tour during what has been a strong start to the season for him. He has won 18 out of 22 matches played so far in 2024 and has become only the ninth active player to reach the quarter-finals or better at every Masters event at least once. Dimitrov has reached the last eight in three out of the last four tournaments he has played in this category. 

Awaiting the Bulgarian next will be Carlos Alcaraz who won the Indian Wells title earlier this month. He has only beaten the Spaniard once in their four previous meetings on the Tour. However, the only time Dimitrov did so was in their most recent encounter at the Shanghai Masters last October. 

“It’s been like a kryptonite for me, this tournament,” Dimitrov said after his latest win.
“I’m looking forward to the (next) match. Everyone wants to challenge the best of the world. Clearly [Carlos has] been playing outstanding tennis, but so am I.
“I’ve been very consistent on a lot of ends. I think if I clean up my game a little bit it can be very interesting. I’m excited because these are the types of matches I want to play. First time in the quarter-finals here, I think it gives you an extra boost.”

A rejuvenated Dimitrov certainly can trouble Alcaraz who admits himself that he faces a stern challenge. The world No.2 sealed his place in the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-3, win over Lorenzo Musetti. 

“I know he’s a really talented player, a really tough one.” Alcaraz said of Dimitrov.
“Here with the court, I feel that the slice a lot is going to be difficult for me. I know that. But I try to play my best game and try to get the victory.”

Dimitrov is currently playing in his 94th Masters 1000 event. 

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Novak Djokovic Splits With Coach Ivanisevic

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Novak Djokovic has announced that he is no longer working with Goran Ivanisevic following a mutual agreement between the two.

The world No.1 had been working with the former Wimbledon champion since 2018 and won half of his 24 Grand Slam titles with the Croat in his team. Ivanisevic has been a key figure in the Djokovic camp in recent years and has spoken candidly about their collaboration on multiple occasions. He has described the tennis star as a ‘genius’ in the sport but admits that he isn’t always the easiest player to work with

Djokovic’s shock announcement comes after what has been a steady start to the season for the Serbian who is yet to win a title on the Tour. At the Australian Open, he reached the semi-finals before losing to Jannik Sinner, who went on to claim the title. More recently in Indian Wells, he suffered a third round loss to Luca Nardi. He then opted to not play Miami due to scheduling issues and is now training on the clay. 

“I remember clearly the moment I invited Goran to be part of my team. It was back in 2018, and Marian and I were looking to innovate and bring some serve magic to our duo,” Djokovic wrote on Instagram.
“In fact, not only we brought serve, but also lots of laughter, fun, year end No.1 rankings, record-breaking achievements and 12 more Grand Slams (and a few finals) to the count since then. Did I mention a bit of drama too? #Nolefam would know 
“Goran and I decided to stop working together a few days ago. Our on court chemistry had its ups and downs, but our friendship was always rock solid. In fact, I am proud to say (not sure he is ) that apart from winning tournaments together, we also had a side battle in Parchisi going on… for many years. And – that tournament never stops for us.
“Šefinjo, thanks for everything my friend. Love you.”

Ivanisevic, who has been ranked as high as No.2 in the world during his playing career, is yet to publicly comment on the split. Before mentoring Djokovic, he also worked with Marin Cilic, Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic.

There is yet to be any comment on who will be replacing Ivanisevic in Djokovic’s team. 

Djokovic, who will turn 37 in May, is scheduled to return to competitive tennis at the Monte Carlo Masters next month.

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