Tournaments 68 Most tournament finals Rafael Nadal (10) | Most tournament titles Rafael Nadal (8) | |
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Duration 31 December 2007 – 9 November 2008 Categories Grand Slam (4)
ATP Masters Series (9)
ATP International Series Gold (10)
ATP International Series (42) Prize money leader Rafael Nadal ($6,773,773) | ||
The ATP Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The ATP Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP Masters Series, the International Series Gold and the International Series tournaments.
Contents
Schedule
This is the complete schedule of events on the 2008 ATP Tour, with player progression documented until the quarter-final stage.
January
The opening week of the year featured three tournaments, across the regions of Oceania, South East Asia, and the Middle East. All three of these events began on December 31, 2007. One of the semi-finals in Chennai, India, between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moyá featured a notable match in the history of the ATP Tour, with Nadal coming out on top in three sets. The contest was significant because it was the longest three-set match since 1993, when Andrei Cherkasov defeated Andrea Gaudenzi in three sets at the ATP Tel Aviv. Both matches ran for three hours and fifty-four minutes. Two further tournaments were played in the week prior to the Australian Open; both were in close proximity to the Grand Slam tournament, in Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia.
The Australian Open saw Novak Djokovic claim his first Grand Slam title, and also saw him becoming the first representative of Serbia to win a Grand Slam title. Djokovic was able to beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals and consequently broke up his monopoly of hard court slam titles, of which he had won the last five. The event also saw the shock emergence of French player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who reached the final and drew comparison with Muhammad Ali due to his appearance and audacious style of play. This was the first Australian Open to take place on the new Plexicushion surface, which was designed to have lower heat retention and a more predictable bounce.
On January 28, the Viña del Mar tournament commenced in Chile. This was the first event in a series of South and Central American clay court tournaments.
February
The month of February saw Andy Murray and Michaël Llodra sustain their good form from the start of the season, with both picking up their second titles of the year. Nicolás Almagro became the third player to win a second title, with both his wins coming during February. He completed the month with a win-loss record of 14–1 (including two Davis Cup ties for Spain).
Elsewhere, several players continued to lay down important milestones in the history of the ATP Tour. Kei Nishikori, world number 244, shocked number 1 seed James Blake at Delray Beach and became the first Japanese man in nearly 16 years to win an ATP title (the last to do so was Shuzo Matsuoka, at the ATP Seoul in 1992). Sergiy Stakhovsky, playing at the Zagreb Indoors, became the first man since Christian Miniussi, at the São Paulo event in 1991, to win an ATP Tour event after entering the tournament as a lucky loser. The feat had only been achieved a total of four times since the inception of the tour. Stakhovsky's win-loss record on the main tour prior to the final had been 6–13.
March
In March, fewer tournaments were competed, with two of them (Indian Wells and Miami) taking place over a two-week period and being played in conjunction with Women's Tennis Association (WTA) events. These were the first Masters Series events of the year. Novak Djokovic, a finalist at Indian Wells in 2007, was able to go one better there, defeating surprise finalist Mardy Fish. However, Djokovic was unable to maintain his good form, and lost to Kevin Anderson in his first match at the Miami event. Aside from this victory, Anderson had made an earlier breakthrough in Las Vegas, reaching the final before losing to Sam Querrey. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Andy Roddick was in impressive form, dispatching Rafael Nadal and Djokovic before defeating Feliciano López in the final.
World number 1 Roger Federer's slump in form continued, with the Swiss making a first round exit in Dubai, and failing to the reach the final of either Indian Wells or Miami. This was the first time since the year 2000, long before Federer became number 1, that he had not won a title in the first three months of the year. Rafael Nadal's coinciding trophy drought meant that this was the first time since 1999, when Pete Sampras and Carlos Moyá occupied the world number 1 and 2 spots, that neither of world's top two players had won a tournament prior to the start of the European clay court season.
April
April was a month that augured better for out-of-form world number 1 Roger Federer, who won his first title of the year in Estoril, and reached the final of Monte Carlo for the third year in a row. However, it was Rafael Nadal who proved to be most efficient, winning both tournaments he played on his favoured clay surface. By the end of the month, Nadal had taken his overall record on clay to 108 wins out of his last 109 matches. Countryman David Ferrer also had a successful month, winning in Valencia and reaching the final of Barcelona.
At the Munich event, Fernando González won the tenth title of his career. The event also saw the re-emergence of Younes El Aynaoui, who was the oldest man (36) to reach the semi-final stage of an ATP level event since Jimmy Connors at the SAP Open in 1993. Connors was 40 at the time of his achievement.
May
May saw the culmination of the European clay court swing, with Rafael Nadal adding two further titles to his tally (including the French Open). Nadal had three titles to defend, in Barcelona (held in April), Rome, and Monte Carlo (in addition to playing in Hamburg) in consecutive weeks, and criticized the ATP Tour for scheduling this way, calling it "impossible". Nadal said that his second defeat in 109 clay court matches, against Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome, could be partially attributed to a foot injury he sustained as a result of the scheduling. The Rome Masters Series event was beset by injuries, with the semi-final opponents of both Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka retiring; several other high-profile retirements occurred earlier in the tournament. The 2008 clay court season was condensed because American television broadcasters requested that the US spring hard court season finish a week later, due to scheduling requirements. This was as a result of the 2008 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, which started a week later than usual; the Olympics were also a factor in a general restructuring of the tour, and American James Blake suggested that the Davis Cup should not be played in Olympic years. Djokovic also called for the ATP to "take care of the players".
The second Grand Slam tournament of the year saw Nadal beat Roger Federer for the fourth year in a row, and for the third year, in the final. Nadal produced his most comprehensive victory over Federer at Roland Garros, and became the first man since Björn Borg (1978–81) to win four French Open titles in a row. Nadal further cemented his place in history by becoming only the seventh man to win a Grand Slam title without losing a set. For Federer, the defeat saw him lose his first set to love in a Grand Slam since the 1999 French Open, against Pat Rafter. Gaël Monfils delighted the French crowd by becoming the first home player to reach the semi-finals since 2001.
Nikolay Davydenko also won his third Hypo Group Tennis International in four years, and in team competition, the Sweden team of Robin Söderling, Thomas Johansson, and Robert Lindstedt won the World Team Cup, thus giving Sweden its first victory since 1995.
June
At the 2008 Queen's Club Championships, defending champion Andy Roddick made a strong showing running to the semifinals. But there, he met number two Rafael Nadal and fell. Third ranked Novak Djokovic reached the final, but fell to the Spaniard Nadal in two tough sets. Meanwhile, top-ranked Roger Federer came to the 2008 Gerry Weber Open on grass courts looking for a title. He won the tournament, beating the home-favored Philipp Kohlschreiber in Halle, NRW, Germany, in the final. While Federer played impressive tennis, Kohlschreiber procured a magnificent win over James Blake in the semifinals before falling to Federer. Mikhail Youzhny and Mischa Zverev won their first of two titles together in 2008 as well at the tournament. Nikolay Davydenko stayed behind and won the 2008 Orange Warsaw Open on the Polish red clay, beating a spirited Juan Mónaco in the final. The Russian also reached the doubles final with Yuri Schukin but fell to Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in a super tiebreak.
The following week, with one week until the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. With both tournaments of the week taking place on grass, it would be the only week in the season when all tournaments were played on grass courts. David Ferrer pulled through as the top seed to win the title in 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands at the 2008 Ordina Open, beating Marc Gicquel with relative ease in the final. Mario Ančić and Jürgen Melzer won the doubles title. Croatia's Ivo Karlović defended his title for the second successive year at the 2008 Nottingham Open, winning over Fernando Verdasco.
Wimbledon turned out to be a stunning tournament with lots of television coverage. Marat Safin blew out Novak Djokovic in front of millions on television in straight sets. The upset came in the second round, when the former number one Russian continued his run of form all the way through to the semifinals, beating Andreas Seppi, Stanislas Wawrinka and Feliciano López in succession to reach the semifinals against number one and five-time defending champion Roger Federer. Rainer Schüttler defeated James Blake in a rocky five setter that was also televised to go on and make a run to the semifinals. However, Nadal beat Schüttler to race into the final without the loss of more than one set, having had won Hamburg, Roland Garros, Queen's Club, and racing into the Wimbledon final. However, the final that was contested between Federer and Nadal was won by the Spaniard 9–7 in the final set and watched by many. Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić beat Jonas Björkman and Kevin Ullyett in a long four set final that saw the first two sets be decided by split tiebreaks, but then the Canadian–Serbian team dominated, also on television. Samantha Stosur and Bob Bryan captured the mixed doubles title, defeating Katarina Srebotnik and Bob's twin Mike Bryan in the final.
Statistical information
List of players and titles won (Grand Slam, Masters Cup and Olympic titles in bold), listed in order of number of titles won:
The following players won their first title:
Titles won by nation:
Point distribution
Points are awarded as follows:
Glossary
(€): All prize money and fees for ATP Masters Series, International Series, and Challengers played in Europe must be paid in euros (€). In most cases they are calculated at the 0.85 USD/EUR exchange rate, but it varies and is often rounded throughout the 2008 ATP Official Rulebook.
(^): Tennis Masters Cup: maximum number of points that can be assigned to the player at this round (after he qualified to the semifinal with 3 round-robin wins)
(m): Tennis Masters Cup: minimum number of points that can be assigned to the player at this round (after he qualified to the semifinal with 1 round-robin win)
+H: Any Challenger or Futures providing hospitality shall receive the points of the next higher prize money level in that category. Monies shown for Challengers and Futures are on-site prize amounts.
Points are assigned to the losers of the round indicated. Any player who reaches the second round by drawing a bye and then loses shall be considered to have lost in the first round and shall receive first round loser's points (5 for Grand Slams and all AMS events). Wild cards at Grand Slams and AMS events receive points only from the 2nd round. No points are awarded for a first round loss at International Series Events, Challenger Series, or Futures Series events.
Players qualifying for the Main Draw through the qualifying competition shall receive qualifying points in addition to any points earned, as per the following table, with the exception of Futures.
(*): 5 points only if the Main Draw is larger than 32 (International Series) or 64 (ATP Masters Series)
In addition to the points allocated above, points are allocated to losers at Grand Slam, Tennis Masters Series, and International Series Gold Tournaments qualifying events in the following manner:
(**): 3 points only if the Main Draw is larger than 32 (International Series Gold) or 64 (ATP Masters Series).
Sources
Singles
Grand Slams and Masters Series in bold. Points are shown in order of scoring. The second row shows the result and the week in which it was achieved. Italics indicate that a player is not yet eliminated from a tournament.
18 events count towards the race, split as follows:
If a player has a valid forfeit or may not enter the Grand Slam or Masters Series, he may count the other events towards the race.
Race updated: 2008-10–27
Masters Cup entrants
The top eight players who qualify on the ATP Race (8 teams for doubles) will compete in the year-ending finale, in Shanghai, China, from November 9 through November 16. World no. 1 Rafael Nadal has withdrew his name due to a foot injury.
As of October 5, the following entrants remain entered in the competition:
Doubles
Unlike the ATP Singles Race, the Stanford ATP Doubles Race uses only the best fourteen tournaments on a team's ranking with no mandatory tournaments counting towards the ranking.
Points distribution (Singles & Doubles)
(*) 1 point only if the Main Draw is larger than 32 (International Series) or 64 (Tennis Masters Series).
Prize money leaders
As of 17 November 2008Retirements
Following is a list of notable players (winners of a main tour title, and/or part of the ATP Rankings top 100 (singles) or top 50 (doubles) for at least one week) who announced their retirement from professional tennis, became inactive (after not playing for more than 52 weeks), or were permanently banned from playing, during the 2008 season: