We have become accustomed to seeing the Big Three win with astonishing ease. To not only not waste their opportunities, but to ‘steal’ a multitude of games from others that seemed lost. But… they are also human. Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also lose with everything in their favor. But how much?
The picture of Novak Djokovic in Malaga just a few days ago it conveyed infinite sadness. She could not conquer the Serbian woman she longed for Davis Cup 2023: It was snatched from his hands, without warning, by an insolent Jannik Sinner. He did it in a way, when he ‘stole’ the second point in the tie between Serbia and Italy, which caused even more headlines and left many fans absolutely stunned. Nole has lifted many games that he had practically lost, just as they have done Rafael Nadal y Roger Federer…but it is not so common for him to lose after having had a match ball in favor. The three, in this case.
It was such a historic moment that it gives us the opportunity to review some of the most curious data that the members of the Big Three They have left us with match points in our favor. Do they also lose when everything seems won? Are they as human as the rest? The data show a disturbing disparity between a historical trident, they make us remember unforgettable matches and elevate the occasional figure when the rival seems to be pilloried. The only thing that is more than evident is that all of them had to deal with the discomfort of losing games that they were one point away from winning… although some, of course, found themselves in this situation more often than others.
FEDERER, DEFEATS OF ALL COLORS
The reasons to consider Roger Federer the greatest tennis player of all time will always be there regardless of how many Grand Slams his competitors end up winning. They go beyond numbers, successes, achievements. Not only that: to this day, the Swiss still holds some of the most amazing records in the history of this sport. This one, however, is not one of them.. Until The Swiss has lost 24 matches after having at least one match point in favor. It is a figure that triples (negatively) the duels that Rafael Nadal lost in this same circumstance, and that is a astronomical distance from what Novak Djokovic signs in these circumstances.
Despite being the member of the Big Three who has won the most matches after saving match balls (although the margins in this classification, which will be used for another article, are much smaller), the Swiss has a fairly large variety of ‘nightmares’ . The defeats one step away from the finish line are there, in all colors and in all their stages. The duel in which he wasted the most match balls took place in the Paris-Bercy semi-finals, against Gaël Monfils (five), although there is one name who spoiled too many parties in Basel. Is about Novak Djokovicthe only player who appears three times on this list, denying Roger the victory in the 2010 US Open, in the 2011 US Open and in the historic 2019 Wimbledon final. The list includes two other finals (Indian Wells 2018 against del Potro , Rome 2006 against Nadal) and some match that perhaps many people had forgotten.
SF Vienna 2000 – Tim Henman, 2MP QF Halle 2001 – Patrick Rafter, 1MP 3R Paris-Bercy 2001 – Jiri Novak, 1MP 4R Australian Open 2002 – Tommy Haas, 1MP QF Miami 2003 – Albert Costa, 3MP SF Australian Open 2005 – Marat Safin, 1MP QF Monte Carlo 2005 – Richard Gasquet, 3MP Final Rome 2006 – Rafael Nadal, 2MP 3R Indian Wells 2010 – Marcos Baghdatis, 3MP QF Miami 2010 – Tomas Berdych, 1MP SF US Open 2010 – Novak Djokovic, 2MP SF Paris-Bercy 2010 – Gaël Monfils, 5MP SF US Open 2011 – Novak Djokovic, 2MP SF Dubai 2013 – Tomas Berdych, 3MP 3R Rome 2014 – Jérémy Chardy, 1MP 3R Madrid 2015 – Nick Kyrgios, 2MP SF Stuttgart 2016 – Dominic Thiem, 2MP 2R Dubai 2017 – Evgeny Donskoy, 3MP 2R Stuttgart 2017 – Tommy Haas, MP Final Indian Wells 2018 – Juan Martín del Potro, 3MP QF Wimbledon 2019 – Kevin Anderson, 1MP QF Madrid 2019 – Dominic Thiem, 2MP Final Wimbledon 2019 – Novak Djokovic, 2MP QF Doha 2021 – Nikoloz Basilashvili – 1MP
NADAL, FROM YOUTH TO HIS WORST MOMENT
Rafael Nadal’s figures are, in a certain sense, enviable. The Balearic Islands He has lost eight games in which he had a match point, but these focus on his beginnings on the circuit (encounters that surely helped him forge a bomb-proof mentality) or on his two worst years in recent decades. He does not escape the pain of losing a final with match point in his favor (against Davydenko in Doha 2010) and stands out from Roger in a statistic that he shares with Djokovic: They never lost in Grand Slams when they had a match point in their favor. Of course, he shares with Federer the number of match points wasted in his “worst defeat” (he wasted 5 against Lapentti in Bastad 2003).
QF Bastad 2003 – Nicolás Lapentti, 5MP 3R Indian Wells 2004 – Agustín Calleri, 2MP QF Stuttgart 2004 – David Ferrer, 3MP 2R Cincinnati 2005 – Tomas Berdych, 3MP Final Doha 2010 – Nikolai Davydenko, 2MP QF Indian Wells 2015 – Milos Raonic, 3MP SF Buenos Aires 2016 – Dominic Thiem, 1MP 2R Acapulco 2019 – Nick Kyrgios, 3MP
DJOKOVIC, THE MOST EFFECTIVE
The defeat in Malaga against Jannik Sinner meant the fourth time that Nole lost a match in which they had a match point in their favor. Twenty less than Federer and half than Nadal, with whom he shares never having lost in a Grand Slam under this circumstance. He is also the one who has the defeat with the fewest number of match points in favor (his maximum is three wasted), although he bit the dust against Nadal (whenever Rafa was able to ‘sentence’ Nole, he did so ). He also gave up under these parameters in a final (against Cilic in Queen’s 2018) and, as another positive fact, he has the longest streak without defeats in these figures (more than 9 seasons without losing a match in which he had match point in favor).
SF Rotterdam 2007 – Mikhail Youzhny, 3MP
SF Madrid 2019 – Rafael Nadal, 3MP
Final Queen’s 2018 – Marin Cilic, 1MP
SF Copa Davis 2023 – Jannik Sinner, 3MP
2023-11-28 06:30:00
#Losses #match #points #favor #Federer #Nadal #Djokovic
:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/ULKHDMSTZJG7BO47MZBWMKNNYI)