This article is brought to you by Datawrapper, a data visualization tool for creating charts, maps, and tables. Learn more.
Point after point
Hello, Marten from the app team here. This week I’m taking a closer look at the top-ranked players in professional tennis.
2024 will go down as the year in which one of tennis’s all-time greats, Rafael Nadal, left the big stage of professional sport to retire after 23 years on the tour.
Alongside Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, a trio sometimes referred to as the “Big Three,” Nadal dominated men’s professional tennis for over two decades. Throughout his career, he won a staggering 82.6% of his singles matches (1080 wins, 228 losses) and amassed 92 ATP singles titles including 22 majors along the way. The Big Three as a whole have won 66 of the possible 87 major titles since 2003.
Numbers like that give an impression of total dominance. But they don’t tell the whole story. A closer look reveals that even the most dominant players lose nearly every other point.
I find that quite remarkable! The differences between top-level players in points won are vanishingly small. And still, a tiny difference in points makes for a huge difference when extrapolated to games, sets, matches, and ultimately championships.
When I first learned about this, I was flabbergasted. When you think of Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, you think of pure dominance, athleticism and effortlessness. It doesn’t cross your mind that they also deal with constant small defeats. The ability to overcome these defeats time and time again again, to take on every new point with everything they’ve got, is what ultimately sets them apart.
But don’t just take my word for it — let’s hear it straight from the maestro, Roger Federer himself, in his commencement speech to Dartmouth graduates earlier this year.
When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot. You teach yourself to think: […] It’s only a point. Here’s why I am telling you this: When you’re playing a point, it is the most important thing in the world. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you. […] The truth is, whatever game you play in life... sometimes you’re going to lose. A point, a match, a season, a job — it’s a roller coaster, with many ups and downs. And it’s natural, when you’re down, to doubt yourself. To feel sorry for yourself. […] But negative energy is wasted energy. You want to become a master at overcoming hard moments. That to me is the sign of a champion.
And this marks the end of my Weekly Chart. May you have a wonderful holiday break and may you overcome whatever hardships life throws at you in 2025. Before it arrives, my colleague Rose will have one last 2024 Weekly Chart for you next Thursday.
Comments