In the week that is about to end, 18-time Slam winner Novak Djokovic reached 311 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, surpassing Switzerland's Roger Federer, a milestone achieved thanks to the recent victories of the Serbian and his ability to return to the highest levels after the great difficulties suffered in 2017. Since then he has been able to triumph in 6 Grand Slam tournaments (three Australian Open, two Wimbledon and one US Open) and 6 ATP Master 1000, category of tournaments in which holds two records that are difficult to overcome in the short term, the highest number of Masters 1000 won, 36, and being the only tennis player in the world to have won at least once each of the nine tournaments belonging to this category.
Novak Djokovic became number 1 in the ATP ranking for the first time in 2011, more precisely on July 4th of that year, after beating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in the Wimbledon final.
This is a blog that wants to analyze the statistics and the champions of the recent past and not, nostalgic if you want, so today I'm going to briefly review the top 15 of the ATP ranking, in the week in which Novak jumped to the top of it. Enjoy the reading.
15. Stan Wawrinka (Sui), 1935 points
2011 was a year of small satisfactions for Stan, managing to win only one tournament, the 250 in Chennai at the beginning of the season, for the rest there are 4 defeats suffered against compatriot Federer, in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and in Indian Wells, fourth round of Roland Garros and semifinal on the indoor of Basel. Another good result was the quarter-finals at the Rogers Cup, where he was beaten by the American Mardy Fish.
14. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra), 1945 points
Definitely a good season for the Frenchman who managed to win 2 ATP 250 titles, Metz and Vienna and to take away important satisfactions throughout the season: first of all he reached the semifinal in Doha, final in Rotterdam, where he lost to Robin Söderling who beat him 3- 6, 6-3, 3-6, at Queen's on the grass he managed to beat Nadal in the quarterfinals and then lose in the final against Murray, at Wimbledon he definitely eliminated Roger Federer in the quarterfinals against prediction, and then lost to Djokovic in the semifinals. Subsequently Tsonga met the Swiss again, beating him in the quarterfinals in Montreal, while he was beaten by Federer in the quarterfinals of the US Open. He lost, again against Federer, the finals of the last tournaments of the season, the 1000 of Paris Bercy and, above all, the ATP Finals. These excellent results will then earn him the sixth position in the ATP ranking at the end of the season.
13. Nicolás Almagro (Esp), 1955 points
Retired in 2019 and winner of a total of 13 ATP titles, in 2011 Almagro first reached the best ranking or ninth position and then was the winner of 3 ATP 250 titles, winning the Brasil Open, the Buenos Aires tournament and the Nice one. Also in 2011 he reached the final in the ATP 500 in Acapulco and Hamburg.
12. Jurgen Melzer (Aut) 2085 points
While not winning singles tournaments that year, Melzer reached eighth place in the ATP rankings in April. The best satisfactions Melzer took away at the 1000 in Monte Carlo, in which he defeated Federer in two sets, only to lose to David Ferrer in the semifinals. He had even greater satisfaction in doubles, prevailing together with his partner Philipp Petzschner at the US Open and in the mixed doubles, winning the Wimbledon tournament together with his partner Iveta Benešová, beating the couple formed by Mahesh Bhupathi in the final 6-3 6-2 and Elena Vesnina.
11. Richard Gasquet (Fra), 2105 points
No singles tournament won by the Frenchman that year. Of note is a spectacular three-set victory against Roger Federer at the Italian Open in Rome, where he managed to reach the semifinals, where he was defeated by Rafa Nadal.
10. Andy Roddick (USA), 2110 points
In 2011 Roddick participated in two finals, the ATP 250 in Brisbane, where he was defeated in two sets by Robin Söderling and the 500 in Memphis which he managed to win by beating Canadian Milos Raonic 7-6 6-7 7-5. For much of the season Andy had to fight with different types of injuries that forced him to remain in the pits for a good part of the season or to play several tournaments in less than optimal conditions. However, a more than honorable result reached him at the US Open, where he was beaten in the quarterfinals by Rafa Nadal
9. Tomas Berdych (Cze), 2470 points
An ATP 500 tournament won in 2011, the China Open, beating the Croatian Marin Cilic 3-6 6-4 6-1. For the rest, good performances as semifinal in Chennai, quarter-finals at the Australian Open, semifinal at 250 in Nice, in Halle and at 1000 in Cincinnati and Bercy, giving him access to the ATP Finals, where he reaches the semifinals, where he was beaten by Tsonga.
8. Mardy Fish (USA), 2650 points
In 2011 Mardy was the winner at the 250 tournament in Atlanta, finalist at the Montreal Master 1000, where he lost to Novak Djokovic and at the 250 tournament in Los Angeles. Other notable results are the semi-final at 1000 in Miami and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. Fish also got the pass to the ATP finals, but stopped at the Round Robin due to injury.
7. Gael Monfils (Fra), 2780 points
Winner of the ATP 250 in Stockholm that year and finalist in the 500 in Washington, Monfils reached the quarter-finals of Roland Garros losing in three sets to Roger Federer. Although he had a good season, with several semifinals reached, Monfils finished the same only in sixteenth place in the ATP ranking, having lost in the first round of the 1000 in Paris-Bercy, where the previous year he had been a finalist.
6. David Ferrer (Esp), 4150 points
An excellent season that 2011 for Ferrer, able to win at the beginning of the year in Auckland, winning against Nalbandian. At the Australian Open he reached the semifinals, beaten by Andy Murray. He subsequently won the Acapulco 500 by beating Almagro. On clay he reached two finals, that of Monte Carlo and that of Barcelona and in both he was defeated by Nadal. After the round of 16 reached in both Paris and Wimbledon, he reached the final of the Swedish Open where he lost to host Soderling. In the season finale he reaches the semi-final in Tokyo and the final at 1000 in Shanghai, both times beaten by Murray. He finished the season with the semi-final at the ATP Finals where he was beaten by Federer and with the victory in the Davis Cup, winning among other things against del Potro after 5 hard sets.
5. Robin Söderling (Swe), 4325 points
Bittersweet year for the Swede: on the one hand he can be proud of having won 4 ATP titles, the 250 in Brisbane in January, the 500 in Rotterdam and the 250 in Marseille in February and the ATP 250 in Bastad in July, from more this season is his last as a professional. The victory at the home tournament, in fact, is the last played as a professional: a wrist injury and then a very serious form of mononucleosis kept him away from the playing fields for the whole season finale and, in the following years, the announced return was always delayed due to the residues left by the disease. He retired for good in 2015.
4. Andy Murray (GBR), 6855 points
We are in the middle of the “Fab Four” era, the first four positions cannot fail to be dominated by them. In fourth position we find therefore the Scotsman Murray, who started this season reaching the final of the Australian Open, giving way to Djokovic for 6-4 6-2 6-3. Another defeat suffered against Nole was the semifinal in Rome, while in the two European Slams Andy reached the semifinals, both times being defeated by Rafa Nadal. Between the two tournaments came the success on the grass of the Queen's where he prevailed on the French Tsonga. After Wimbledon came the victory at the Cincinnati Masters and the semifinal of the US Open where he was beaten for the third time by Nadal, on whom he took revenge at the Tokyo tournament. To further increase his palmares there was, the previous week, the victory at the ATP 250 tournament in Bangkok. After Tokyo came another prestigious tournament, the 1000 in Shanghai, where he beat Ferrer in the final. He made it to the ATP finals but retired from the Round Robin due to injury.
3. Roger Federer (Sui), 9230 points.
A two-faced 2011 for the 20-time Grand Slam champion. He opened the season by winning the Doha tournament, beating Davydenko in two sets. He then lost three times to Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and in Indian Wells and in the final in Dubai, while in Miami he lost quite clearly to Nadal in the semifinals. On clay he reached the semifinal in Madrid and, above all, the final at Roland Garros, where Nadal prevailed in 4 sets. At Wimbledon his march was interrupted in the quarterfinals because he was beaten by Tsonga, while at the US Open he reached the semifinal, again defeated by Djokovic. The season finale was truly up to the Swiss: with a row of 21 consecutive victories, Roger won the home tournament in Basel by clearly beating the Japanese Nishikori 6-1 6-3, the last 1000 of the season, that is Paris-Bercy, overtaking the French Tsonga and setting himself for the sixth time, an absolute record, at the ATP Finals, overcoming Tsonga again in the final. An undoubtedly positive season, with 4 tournaments won but, for the first time in 9 years, without even winning a Grand Slam.
2. Rafael Nadal (Esp), 11270 points
For Rafael Nadal 2011 was marked by victories in the Parisian Grand Slam, where he beat Federer in the final, the success in the 1000 in Monte Carlo and in the 500 in Barcelona. This season is marked, unfortunately for him, by major setbacks against one of his long-time rivals, Djokovic, who managed to beat him in tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome and, above all, at Wimbledon and US Open. In the final of the season he lost in the final of the Tokyo tournament, against Murray and suffered the clearest defeat at the Finals by Roger Federer, 6-3 6-0. Only joys came from the Davis Cup which he managed to win alongside his team mates from Spain, overtaking the Argentina team headed by Juan Martin del Potro.
1. Novak Djokovic (Srb), 13285 points
As already mentioned, this was the season for the Serbian in which he reached the top of the ATP rankings, but this only happened following the victory at Wimbledon over Rafael Nadal. Before this success Djokovic became the protagonist of a streak of 43 consecutive games won, which started the previous year, which led him to triumph at the Australian Open over Murray, in Dubai against Federer, Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome against Nadal , at the Serbian 250 in Belgrade against Feliciano Lopez. At Roland Garros only Roger Federer managed to break this domain. This domination nevertheless continued with the much-cited victory at Wimbledon and the successes, on American soil, at the Rogers Cup and at the US Open, where he defeated for the umpteenth time the favorite sacrificial victim of 2011, the Iberian Rafa Nadal.
