2008 Tennis Fun Facts

With the conclusion of the Davis Cup finals between winner Spain and runner-up Argentina on Sunday, the 2008 ATP season officially came to a close. Here are a few noteworthy facts from the year that was.

In 2008, no top seed won a Grand Slam title:

Grand Slam results
1 - Australian Open - (3)Djokovic d. Tsonga
2 - French Open - (2)Nadal d. (1)Federer
3 - Wimbledon - (2)Nadal d. (1)Federer
4 - US Open - (2)Federer d. (4)Murray

Five different players won a Masters Series shield, and former world no. 1 Roger Federer was not one of them, although he was a finalist in two events.

Masters Series/Masters Cup results
1 - Indian Wells - Djokovic d. Fish
2 - Miami - Davydenko d. Nadal
3 - Monte Carlo - Nadal d. Federer
4 - Rome - Djokovic d. Wawrinka
5 - Hamburg - Nadal d. Federer
6 - Canada - Nadal d. Kiefer
7 - Cincinnati - Murray d. Djokovic
8 - Madrid - Murray d. Simon
9 - Paris - Tsonga d. Nalbandian
10 - Shanghai (Masters Cup) - Djokovic d. Davydenko

Four new players are in the year-end top ten:
1 - Nadal (+1)
2 - Federer (-1)
3 - Djokovic (0)
4 - Murray (+7)
5 - Davydenko (-1)
6 - Tsonga (+37)
7 - Simon (+22)
8 - Roddick (-2)
9 - Del Potro (+35)
10 - Blake (+3)
(denotes change from last year's rankings)

Djokovic Wins Tennis Masters Cup, Closes In On Federer

World number three Novak Djokovic beat Nikolay Davydenko in the final of the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai Sunday to claim his fourth title in 2008. Djokovic's victory pulls him within ten ranking points of No. 2 Roger Federer:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXoxo_H_quSyJg

Federer and top-ranked Rafael Nadal have occupied the top two spots since July 25, 2005.

Federer eliminated at Tennis Masters Cup

Defending champion Roger Federer, who has been ailing with a stomach flu, lost to Andy Murray in their round-robin match at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. The loss prevents Roger to advance to the semis and possiby add to his tally of four titles at the year-end tournament. The no. 4 seed Murray takes on Nikolay Davydenko while the no. 3 seed Novak Djokovic battles Gilles Simon in the semifinals. Federer will end the year as no. 2 regardless of the final outcome in Shanghai.

With Rafael Nadal skipping the Tennis Masters Cup because of injury and with Roger Federer's loss, the top two players in the world end the year with 6,675 and 5,305 ranking points, respectively:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=p7B6JwEslHXqGh3TW_scsDg

(Please note that the rankings system will be overhauled by the ATP next year, so these points may be doubled at the beginning of the 2009 tennis season.)