ATP: Name the surface and I’ll tell you who wins there!

The professional tennis season traditionally opens with several tournaments on hard ground. For Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and another player this is good news.

Who has won the most matches on hard court in 2017? The overall result of the ATP shows a leader in this category that is not obvious: David Goffin. There were 43 victories in the past season for the Belgian on this course, but also 17 defeats. However, if we now use the percentage of the games won as a yardstick, the expectable picture emerges: Roger Federer achieves a win rate of more than 90 percent, Rafael Nadal is in fact over 80, and surprise guest among the top six players: Damir Dzumhur with a record of 33 victories and 16 defeats (67.3 percent win rate).

On grass, the lead looks the same: Federer only lost to Tommy Haas in his three tournaments in Stuttgart, Halle and Wimbledon and won the remaining twelve. Marin Cilic, who lost to Federer in the final of Wimbledon, is in second place. Alexander Zverev has nine victories versus three defeats in his 2017 balance sheet. That puts Germany’s number one in sixth place on grass. Good prospects for the coming season – especially considering how close Zverev was to his first Grand Slam quarter-finals in the match against Milos Raonic in Wimbledon.

The fronts are just as clear on ashes: Rafael Nadal naturally leads the ranking, with an incredible 24 victories with only one defeat. She added Dominic Thiem, a Spaniard in Rome, and Thiem also had 24 victories, but lost to David Goffin in Monte Carlo, to Barcelona, Madrid and Rafael Nadal in the French Open, and to Novak Djokovic in Rome. This still means a strong win rate of 82.8 percent for the Austrian number one. Pablo Carreno Busta is third in the latter respect, with Albert Ramos Vinolas taking third place in 2017.

The most successful indoor player was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. No wonder: The Frenchman won the titles in Rotterdam, Marseille and Antwerp. However, Grigor Dimitrov has achieved the highest number of victories (minimum ten matches): The current champion of the ATP final ended the year with a 15:3 indoor record.

Detailed statistics can be found here.