This season has been a year like no other with the ATP Tour being heavily disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have managed to keep the dominance of the Big Three continuing in the men’s game. Although some of their peers are starting to rapidly catch up with them.
Here is everything you need to know about men’s tennis this year.
The Grand Slam stars
The top three players in the ATP year-end rankings won all three Grand Slam tournaments between them, which took place this year.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic won the eighth Australian Open title of his career after beating Roger Federer in the semifinal and Dominic Thiem in the final in January. The Serbian star became the third man in history to claim eight titles at a Grand Slam event after Rafael Nadal (13 wins at Roland Garros) and Roger Federer (8 wins at Wimbledon).
In August Djokovic made history when he won the Western and Southern Open in New York to complete his second career Golden Masters. He became the only player in history to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 titles.
Djokovic also claimed his 36th Masters 1000 title when he beat Diego Schwartzman in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Surpassing Rafael Nadal’s record of most ATP Masters 1000 trophies.
He sealed the year-end men’s world number one ranking for the sixth time in the past ten years to go level with Pete Sampras, who ended as Number 1 for six straight years between 1993 and 1998. During the Nitto ATP Finals in London Djokovic received the ATP Number 1 trophy from ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.
Novak Djokovic: “Pete was somebody I looked up to when I was growing up, so to match his record is a dream come true. I will keep striving to be a better player, hopefully have more success and break more records in a sport I love with all my heart”.
Rafael Nadal
The Spanish “King of Clay” clinched the 13th Roland Garros title and the 20th Grand Slam title of his career, equaling Federer for the most major men’s singles titles won. He didn’t drop a set en route to the Roland Garros title for the fourth time in his career. It was the 86th title of his career and his 60th clay court trophy.
Rafael Nadal: “Winning in Paris means everything to me. The most important moments of my career have been here. I love this city and this court. I played at an amazing level of tennis. For two sets and a half I played great. I can’t say another thing. It’s impossible to have this score against Djokovic without playing great. I played at my highest level when I needed, so it’s something I am very proud of”.
Nadal also won his third title in Acapulco. He advanced to his 12th Australian Open quarter-final and his 15th Rome quarter final, his fifth Paris Bercy semifinal and his first semifinal at the ATP Finals since 2015.
Djokovic and Nadal finished the 2020 season as the top 2 players for the third consecutive year and the fifth time overall. On 9 November 2020 Nadal passed Jimmy Connors for the most consecutive weeks in the top 10 on the ATP Ranking as he has spent a total of 790 consecutive weeks in the tennis elite.
Dominic Thiem
Thiem achieved his best results at Grand Slam tournaments. At the Australian Open he defeated Nadal in four sets to reach the semifinals. He then beat seventh seed Alexander Zverev in four sets to qualify for his first Grand Slam final on a hard court. In the final, Thiem lost to Novak Djokovic in five sets.
Thiem lifted his first Grand Slam title in his fourth career Major final at the US Open after beating Alexander Zverev in four hours and two minutes. He became the first player to win the US Open in a five-set tie-break. He joined 1995 Roland Garros champion Thomas Muster as the second Austrian Grand Slam champion.
At the French Open The player from Wiener Neustadt reached the quarter final where he was beaten by Diego Schwartzman in a five-set match.
Thiem qualified for the ATP Finals for the fifth year in a row. He beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in a re-match of the 2019 final before defeating Nadal in two tie-break in one of the best matches of this year’s edition of the ATP Finals to secure his spot in the semifinals. He defeated Novak Djokovic in three sets but he lost to Daniil Medvedev in the final.
