Analytics & Stats ATP
Nadal: Facing Djokovic on hard courts became the ‘ultimate challenge’
Nadal reflects on why facing Djokovic on hard courts became his greatest physical test. and New York.
Rafael Nadal has described why Novak Djokovic posed such a demanding opponent on hard courts and explained how physical issues later in his career made that matchup harder to contest. The two players met 60 times between 2006 and 2024, with Djokovic finishing their rivalry 31-29 after winning their final meeting at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Nadal won only seven of 27 hard-court meetings with Djokovic and had lost the last nine encounters on that surface; his most recent hard-court victory over Djokovic came in the 2013 US Open final. Reflecting on the contrast between surfaces and the toll of long battles, Nadal told The Athletic that matches against Djokovic on hard courts demanded the utmost from his body.
“I needed my body and my physical performance to the highest level to compete against Novak on a hard court,” said the 22-time Grand Slam winner.
He outlined how the matchup required different physical and mental resources than other rivals. “Roger was able to cut the points very fast with his serve, but Novak and me, our games are closer. He was better than me on hard without a doubt, but until 2013, 2014, I was able to compete against him the proper way.
“Then later, when you have a lot of issues in the body, you lose a little bit of confidence in the movement. You start avoiding things that you feel you can’t do like before, because you feel that if you do this kind of thing, you can be injured.
“The mental part of that had a huge impact against Novak. I needed this extra energy in terms of movement, in terms of bringing my game and my body to the limit. And I was not able to produce that anymore.
“I was able to create more damage on other surfaces like grass, but needed to create this super-long battle in terms of physical demand. It’s not about playing long, I was able to play for a long time, it’s about the movement that I need to do to push him to the limit.”
Nadal also reflected on his relationship with the US Open, an event he won four times, and how New York felt early in his career. “I was a very emotional and intense player, a passionate player,” Nadal said.
“So I felt very close to that amazing energy that New York produces, and the night sessions especially were unforgettable.
“For some reason, you have places that you find yourself well and are comfortable. New York, at the beginning, I was not that comfortable.
“I worked hard to change that feeling and I achieved that feeling. At the end, I felt great every time I arrived there.”
Analytics & Stats ATP French Open
Auger-Aliassime Records 100th Week Inside ATP Top 10
Auger-Aliassime reaches his 100th week in the ATP Top 10; he is currently ranked No. 5. Milos Raonic
Felix Auger-Aliassime is celebrating his 100th career week inside the ATP Top 10 as the clay-court major approaches. The Canadian has reached the milestone in four separate stints: November 15th to 21st, 2001 (one week), January 10th to September 11th, 2022 (35 weeks), October 17th, 2022 to June 11th, 2023 (34 weeks) and October 27th, 2025 to present (30 weeks and counting).
Auger-Aliassime is currently at his career-high ranking of No. 5 and joins a small group of players born in the 2000s to accumulate triple-digit weeks in the elite. The draft notes he reached the mark “after exactly who you’re thinking.”
The milestone places him among the longest-serving Canadians to reach the Top 10. He becomes the second Canadian to log that many weeks at the top of the rankings, following Milos Raonic, who spent 151 weeks in the Top 10 across the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons. Denis Shapovalov is the only other Canadian to have reached the ATP Top 10, spending 10 weeks there across 2020 and 2021.
The pattern of Auger-Aliassime’s tenure in the Top 10—multiple returns to the group rather than a single continuous stretch—highlights his resilience and consistency at the highest level. As Roland Garros nears, the 100-week marker is a reminder of his standing on the ATP Tour and of the depth of Canadian men’s tennis in this period.
Analytics & Stats Grand Slam
28 Numbers for Aryna Sabalenka on Her 28th Birthday
Sabalenka turns 28: 28 statistics from No.1 weeks to Grand Slam titles and tie-break records. Today!
Aryna Sabalenka turns 28 and this profile assembles a number for each year of her life drawn from the milestones listed below.
1 — The No. 1 ranking, which she will hold for an 89th and 90th career week during Rome over the next two weeks.
2 — Two year-end No. 1 finishes, in 2024 and 2025. She is one of only 13 players to finish No. 1 in back-to-back years in WTA history.
3 — One of three women this century to be No. 1 every week of a calendar year, joining Serena Williams and Ashleigh Barty after doing so in 2025.
4 — Four Grand Slam titles, all on hard courts: two Australian Open trophies (2023, 2024) and two US Open crowns (2024, 2025).
5 — Five straight Top 5 year-end finishes from 2021 to 2025, the only woman to finish the last five years in a row in the Top 5.
6 — Six straight Top 10 year-end finishes when including her No. 10 in 2020; the only woman with six consecutive Top 10 year-end placings.
7 — Reached the last seven hard-court major finals in a row, a run beginning at the 2023 Australian Open; the last woman to do seven in a row on hard courts was Martina Hingis.
8 — Won her first eight Grand Slam quarterfinal matches in a row, the second woman in the Open Era to do so after Chris Evert.
9 — Reached nine finals in 2025, the most on the women’s tour that year, and won a tour-leading four titles.
10 — Owns the 10th-longest streak at No. 1 in WTA history, secured this week with her 81st consecutive week at the top.
11 — The 11th-most career weeks at No. 1 with this week being her 89th overall; 11 WTA 1000 titles, including two already this year.
12 — Surpassed 12,000 ranking points for the first time in her career last summer, reaching a career-high 12,420 after Wimbledon.
13 — Reached the quarterfinals or better at the last 13 majors she has played, a run dating to the 2022 US Open; 12 of those were semifinals or better.
14 — Reached 14 career Grand Slam semifinals and has won seven of her last eight Grand Slam semifinals.
15 — Earned more than $15 million in prize money in 2025 alone, $15,008,519, a single-season WTA record.
16 — Three 15-match winning streaks in her career have each been snapped before 16; most recently she had six match points to break the run but did not.
17 — Reached the quarterfinals or better at her last 17 tournaments in a row, a streak beginning last February.
18 — Won 18 consecutive sets at the US Open at one point between her third-round match in 2024 and the 2025 semifinals; the only sets she lost in those two events were to Ekaterina Alexandrova and Jessica Pegula.
19 — Won 19 tie-breaks in a row during the 2025 season, the Open Era record for most consecutive tie-breaks won by a woman.
20 — Won her last 20 Grand Slam tie-breaks in a row, the Open Era record for any player at Grand Slams, surpassing Novak Djokovic’s 19.
21 — Her last straight-set defeat at a major came 21 majors ago at the 2020 US Open to Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-3.
22 — Posted a 22-3 overall tie-break record in 2025, the most tie-break wins by a woman in a single season in the Open Era.
23 — Broke into the Top 5 at age 23 after winning her first Madrid title in 2021, defeating Barty in the final.
24 — Has 24 career titles, 21 on hard courts and three on the clay of Madrid (2021, 2023, 2025).
25 — Reached No. 1 for the first time at age 25 after her run to the 2023 US Open final; won 25 consecutive sets at the Australian Open from 2023 to 2025.
26 — Owns a 26-2 record this year; both losses were narrow, including a match where she led Elena Rybakina 3-0 in the third set of the Australian Open final and a match where she had six match points against Hailey Baptiste in Madrid.
27 — Spent her full 27th year ranked No. 1, all 365 days from May 5, 2025 to May 4, 2026.
Analytics & Stats ATP Grand Slam
Carlos Alcaraz at 23: the numbers that define his early career
At 23, Alcaraz already has seven majors, eight Masters 1000s, a Career Grand Slam and 15 big titles.
“Feliz cumpleaños, Carlitos!”
Carlos Alcaraz turns 23 with a résumé few players achieve over an entire career. The following numbers, drawn from his first 23 years, outline how quickly he has climbed the sport.
1. No. 1 — he first reached the top ranking as a 19-year-old in 2022, the first and still only teenager to do so since the rankings began in 1973.
2. Two year-end No. 1 finishes, in 2022 and 2025.
3. Three match points saved in the Roland Garros final last year; he recovered from 3-5, 0-40 in the fourth set to beat Jannik Sinner, 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2), becoming the first man in the Open Era to save three match points to win a major final.
4. $64,997,598 in career prize money, the fourth-most in ATP history behind Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
5. Five — he won his first five Grand Slam finals in a row, second in the Open Era only to Federer.
6. A 6-2 career record against reigning world No. 1s (1-1 vs Djokovic at No. 1, 5-1 vs Sinner at No. 1).
7. Seven Grand Slam titles: Australian Open (2026), Roland Garros (2024, 2025), Wimbledon (2023, 2024) and US Open (2022, 2025). He is the youngest man to reach seven majors.
8. Eight Masters 1000 titles, the second-youngest man to reach that total after Nadal.
9. Nine ATP 500 titles and a 16-match winning streak at ATP 500 events, with Queen’s Club and Tokyo last year and Doha this year.
10. He ended Djokovic’s 10-year, 45-match winning streak on Centre Court by winning the 2023 Wimbledon final, 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
11. Eleven hard-court and 11 clay-court titles, plus four grass-court titles including two Wimbledons.
12. A 12-match winning streak in five-setters; he is 15-1 in five-set matches, the lone loss to Matteo Berrettini at the 2022 Australian Open.
13. Surpassed 13,000 ranking points for the first time after the Australian Open this year, reaching a career-high 13,650.
14. Titles in 14 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Monaco, Netherlands, Qatar, Spain, UK and USA.
15. Fifteen career big titles (seven majors, eight Masters 1000s); runner-up at the 2024 Olympics and the 2025 ATP Finals.
16. Made a winning ATP Tour debut at 16, beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Rio de Janeiro in 2020, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 7-6 (2).
17. Seventeen Top-10 wins in 2025 (17-4 vs Top 10 that year).
18. Broke into the Top 10 at 18 on April 25, 2022.
19. First Grand Slam title at 19 at the 2022 US Open.
20. A perfect 20-0 record in Grand Slam first-round matches.
21. $21,354,778 earned in 2025, the second-highest single-season prize money total in ATP history behind Djokovic’s $21,646,145 in 2015.
22. Completed the Career Grand Slam at 22 with the Australian Open this year, the youngest man ever to do so.
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