#5. Kei Nishikori- 8/10
The Japanese began 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International before reaching his third Australian Open quarter-final where he was beaten by eventual champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Following the Australian Open, Nishikori won his fourth consecutive Memphis Open Title. He then reached the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters for the first time in his career before going down to Rafael Nadal. This was followed by his second Masters 1000 final at the Miami Open where he lost to Novak Djokovic.Nishikori began his clay-court season by reaching the final of the Barcelona Open, only to lose to Rafael Nadal. This was followed by back-to-back semi-final appearances at Madrid and Rome, where he lost to Djokovic on both occasions. He ended his clay-court season with a fourth round exit at the French Open where he was beaten by Richard Gasquet.Nishikori had a relatively poor grass-court season as he had to retire from his second round match at the Halle Open due to a hip injury. At the Wimbledon, Nishikori reached the fourth round before being forced to retire against Marin Cilic due to an injury. However, Nishikori rebounded well by reaching the final of the Rogers Cup. This was followed by winning the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics which made him the first Japanese person to win an Olympic medal in tennis in 96 years.Following the Olympics, Nishikori reached his second Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open where he beat Wimbledon and Olympic champion Andy Murray in the quarter-finals before going down to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka in four sets. After a disappointing Asian Swing, Nishikori reached the final of the Basel Masters where he lost to Marin Cilic.At the World Tour Finals, Nishikori won his opening match against Wawrinka but lost his next two games against Murray and Cilic, both in straight sets. However, his 4-4 sets record was enough to send him in the semi-finals where he was bashed by Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-1.Nishikori had quite a decent ATP World Tour this year and gets a rating of 8 for his performances this year.
#4. Stan Wawrinka- 7.5/10
It may come as a surprise that the three-time Grand Slam champion gets a rating of only 7.5 but barring his US Open triumph and his semi-final appearance at the French Open, the Swiss has had a relatively subdued year.Wawrinka began 2016 by successfully defending his title at the Chennai Open without dropping a single set throughout the entire tournament. This was followed by a fourth round exit at the Australian Open where he was beaten by eventual semi-finalist Milos Raonic in five sets.
After a shocking second round exit at the Open13, Wawrinka won his second title of the year at the Dubai Tennis Championships. At his first Masters 1000 tournament of the year at Indian Wells, Wawrinka lost in the fourth round to David Goffin and he ended his hard-court season with a shocking second round defeat to Andrey Kuznetsov at the Miami Masters.Wawrinka began his clay-court by reaching the quarter-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters where he was beaten by eventual champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. This was followed by disappointing performances at Madrid and Rome where he bowed out in the second and third rounds respectively. Prior to the French Open, he won his third title of the year at the Geneva Open. At Roland Garros, Wawrinka reached the semi-finals where he was beaten by eventual runner-up Andy Murray in four sets.Wawrinka had a poor grass-court season where he lost to Fernando Verdasco at the opening round of the Queen’s Club Championships before falling to a resurgent Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round of the Wimbledon. Following the Wimbledon, he reached the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup where he was beaten by eventual runner-up Kei Nishikori. Due to a back injury, Wawrinka had to pull out of the Rio Olympics. He returned to action at the Cincinnati Masters where he was eliminated in the third round.At the US Open, Wawrinka avenged his defeats at the Wimbledon and Rogers Cup to Del Potro and Nishikori respectively to beat them in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. In the final, Wawrinka was up against Djokovic. Despite dropping the first set, Wawrinka came back to win the match in four sets, thus winning his third Grand Slam title.Following the US Open, Wawrinka reached the final of the St. Petersburg Open where he was humbled by rising talent Alexander Zverev. This was followed by further disappointing results at the Shanghai Masters, Swiss Indoors and Paris Masters where he was beaten in the third round, quarter-finals, and second round respectively.
At the World Tour Finals in London, Wawrinka won against Marin Cilic but lost to Murray and Nishikori and was eliminated in the round-robin. As a result, Wawrinka dropped to No.4 in the rankings courtesy of Raonic reaching the semi-finals of the competition.
#3. Milos Raonic- 8.5/10
After reaching a career-high ranking of World No.4, Raonic began to struggle with injuries and as a result, fell out of the Top 10 to end 2015 ranked 14th in the world. However, this year’s ATP World Tour has been Raonic’s best so far and the kind of performances he has produced this year, there’s no telling that it will remain the best of his career.The Canadian began his year by winning the Brisbane International where he beat Roger Federer in the final. This was followed by his second Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open where he shocked 4th seeded Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round.
He lost to Andy Murray in a five-setter where he was dominating until the third set before an adductor injury prevented him from inflicting any further damage on Murray. This injury would keep him out for more than a month.He returned to action at the Indian Wells Masters where he reached the final only to lose to Novak Djokovic. He ended his hard-court season by reaching the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters where he was beaten by Nick Kyrgios.
Raonic began his clay-court season with quarter-final appearances at the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Madrid Open before exiting the Italian Open in the second round. He ended his clay-court season by exiting the French Open in the fourth round where he was stunned by 55th ranked Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.Raonic had an impressive grass-court season where he reached the final of both the Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon, losing to Murray on both occasions. At the latter tournament, he reached his first ever Grand Slam final by defeating Roger Federer in the semi-finals. In the process, he became only the second Canadian after Eugenie Bouchard to reach a Grand Slam final.Raonic began the US Open Series by reaching the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup which was followed by a fifth defeat of the year to Murray in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.
At the US Open, Raonic was ousted in the second round by Ryan Harrison, possibly due to cramps. At the Asian swing, Raonic reached the semi-finals of the China Open before withdrawing from his semi-final match due to an ankle injury he sustained during the quarter-finals. However, his semi-final appearance was enough to book his place at the World Tour Finals in London.After exiting the Shanghai Masters in the third round, Raonic reached the semi-finals of the Paris Masters and yet again, he had to withdraw from his match against Andy Murray due to a quadriceps tear he sustained during his quarter-final match against Tsonga. His withdrawal gave Murray the No.1 ranking.At the World Tour Finals, Raonic won his match against Gael Monfils before losing to Djokovic 6-7, 6-7 in an exciting game. He beat Dominic Thiem in his final round robin match to advance to the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in his career. In the semis, he was up against Murray. In a match that was the longest in the history of the tournament, Raonic went down 7-5, 6-7, 6-7. However, his performances in the tournament earned him a new career-best ranking of World No.3.This year was the year of Raonic’s resurgence and even though he had to deal with a few injuries, he came back well. Hence, he gets a rating of 8.5.
#2. Novak Djokovic- 9/10
The Serb began the year brilliantly by winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open which was followed by a record-equalling sixth Australian Open title where he beat Andy Murray in the final in straight sets.
A quarter-final defeat to Feliciano Lopez at the Dubai Tennis Championships ended a 42-match winning streak for Djokovic. He ended his hard-court season by consecutive wins at Indian Wells and Miami.Djokovic’s clay-court season began with a shocking second round defeat to Jiri Vesely after which, he rebounded well by winning the Madrid Open by beating Murray in the final before falling to him in the final of the Italian Open. Djokovic ended his clay-court season by winning his maiden French Open title after defeating Murray in the final. This made him only the eighth player to achieve a Career Grand Slam. Following this achievement, the possibility of Djokovic completing a Golden Grand Slam was imminent.However, this possibility was wiped off at the Wimbledon where Djokovic was stunned in the third round by 28th seeded American Sam Querrey. This marked his earliest exit at a Grand Slam since his third round exit at the 2009 Roland Garros.
However, Djokovic bounced back to win the Rogers Cup without dropping a single set throughout the course of the competition. This was followed by another shocking defeat at the opening round of the Rio Olympics where Djokovic lost to eventual silver-medalist Juan Martin Del Potro in what was a rematch of their encounter at the bronze medal play off during the London Olympics four years back.Djokovic then returned to a Grand Slam final at the US Open where he was humbled by Stan Wawrinka in four sets. Djokovic then lost to Roberto Bautista Agut in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters which kept his World No.1 ranking on the stake. A quarter-final defeat to Marin Cilic at the Paris Masters while Andy Murray reached the final pushed him down to World No.2. Murray would eventually go on to win the tournament.In order to regain his place at the top of the rankings, Djokovic had to win the ATP World Tour Finals in London. After winning all his round robin matches, Djokovic comprehensively beat Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals to set up a final encounter with Murray for the World Tour Finals crown and the World No.1 ranking. Djokovic was beaten 3-6, 4-6 and will be ending 2016 as World No.2.Nole had a very good start to 2016 but after the completion of his Career Grand Slam, he began to struggle with his form and consistency which eventually cost him his No.1 ranking. However, due to some terrific performances in the year, Djokovic gets a rating of 9.
#1. Andy Murray- 9.5/10
Andy Murray had a brilliant 2016, and was unarguably the most consistent player on Tour. He began his year by reaching a fifth Australian Open final – where, again, he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in straight sets. He ended his hard-court season with successive third round exits at Indian Wells and Miami.
Murray began his clay-court season by reaching the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters where he was beaten by eventual winner Rafael Nadal before reaching the final of the Madrid Open where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in three sets.
He finally won his first title of the year by winning the Rome Masters where he beat Djokovic in the final in straight sets. This made him the first British player to win the title since Virginia Wade in 1971, and the first British man since George Patrick Hughes in 1931.
The talented Scot ended his clay-court season by reaching his first ever French Open final before once again losing to Djokovic in four sets.
Following the French Open, tennis legend Ivan Lendl rejoined Murray’s coaching staff as his new coach, following the news of Murray’s split with French Grand Slam winner Amelie Mauresmo.
Murray then had a brilliant grass-court season where he won a record 5th Queen’s Club title which was followed by his second Wimbledon title and third Grand Slam title overall.
After skipping the Rogers Cup, Murray made history at the Rio Olympics where he became the first ever player, male or female, to win two successive Olympic golds in the singles tournament. Murray’s 22-match winning streak came to an end after he lost to Marin Cilic in the final of the Cincinnati Masters which gave the Croat his first Masters 1000 title.
Murray entered the US Open as a heavy favorite but was upset in the quarter-finals by Japanese Kei Nishikori after a thrilling five-setter that lasted almost four hours.
The Asian swing was the start of another winning streak for Murray as he won the China Open and the Shanghai Masters, beating GrigorDimitrov and Roberto Bautista Agut in the finals respectively. His consecutive victories meant that if Murray won the Paris Masters and Djokovic couldn’t reach the final, then Murray would overtake the Serb at the top of the rankings.
While Murray beat Tomas Berdych in the quarters to take on Milos Raonic in the semi-finals, Djokovic lost his last eight tie to Marin Cilic which meant that another win would make Murray the new World No.1. Raonic withdrew from the semi-final before the start of the match which gave Murray a walkover and subsequently the number one ranking, thus becoming the first British man to attain the No.1 ranking since the introduction of the rankings in 1973.
Murray eventually won the tournament with a win over John Isner in the final.
However, his ranking wasn’t completely safe as he had to win the ATP World Tour Finals in London in order to end the year as World No.1 – such had been Djokovic’s early 2016.
After winning all his group games against Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, and Stan Wawrinka, Murray beat Milos Raonic 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 in an epic semi-final that lasted for 3 hours and 38 minutes, making it the longest match in the history of the World Tour Finals.
In the final, Murray faced Djokovic for a dramatic finish of the 2016 ATP World Tour that would decide the winner of the World Tour Finals and the year-end World No.1. Murray won in straight sets to win his maiden World Tour Finals and to end the year as World No.1
To sum it all up, 2016 was Murray’s year where he put in a sea of consistent performances with only a few glitches. Hence, he gets a rating of 9.5 for his performances this year and we can hope to see him in even better form next year around.
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