Clay Rankings into RG

[daniel_rst]

This has taken me a lot longer to put together that I had hoped, but the release of the RG draws gave me the kick in the rear I needed.

Most of you have probably seen the SET Ratings site where I use statistics to rank players based on the quality of their wins and losses. It's quite possible in this process to look at matches only on a certain surface to get surface-specific rankings. To make a long story short, here (*** for the first time ever ***) are the up-to-date clay-court only ratings/rankings:

1 Nadal, R. (ESP ) 2366
2 Federer, R. (SUI ) 2277
3 Coria, G. (ARG ) 2230
4 Ferrero, J. (ESP ) 2146
5 Gaudio, G. (ARG ) 2115
6 Gasquet, R. (FRA ) 2077
7 Puerta, M. (ARG ) 2064
8 Ferrer, D. (ESP ) 2060
9 Volandri, F. (ITA ) 2044
10 Davydenko, N. (RUS ) 2037

I was a little surprised myself to see Nadal at the top of the list given his age, but he's been on fire for the last 6 months. I was also pleased to see JCF as high as he was. The rest of the list is available here.

Just as a comparison, here are the overall ratings (not surface-specific):

1 Federer, R. (SUI ) 2463
2 Hewitt, L. (AUS ) 2288
3 Nadal, R. (ESP ) 2253
4 Agassi, A. (USA ) 2156
5 Roddick, A. (USA ) 2147
6 Coria, G. (ARG ) 2127
7 Safin, M. (RUS ) 2091
8 Ljubicic, I. (CRO ) 2067
9 Ferrero, J. (ESP ) 2047
10 Henman, T. (GBR ) 2039

Best regards,
Daniel

 

[gifted_shotmaker]

Thanks daniel. The clay rankings are how I pictured them except it is surprising to see Ferrero ranked so high. Why is it surprising to see Nadal? He has dominated the field on clay so far.

 

[daniel_rst]

I looked a little more closely at JFC's clay court record. This year on clay he has lost to Nadal twice, Coria, and Davydenko. He didn't play many matches on clay when his career was really slumping in late 2004. That may be why he is still up there in the rankings. Coincidently, JFC's peak clay rating in 2003 is very close to Nadal's current rating.

 

[gifted_shotmaker]

I looked a little more closely at JFC's clay court record. This year on clay he has lost to Nadal twice, Coria, and Davydenko. He didn't play many matches on clay when his career was really slumping in late 2004. That may be why he is still up there in the rankings. Coincidently, JFC's peak clay rating in 2003 is very close to Nadal's current rating.

oh really, thanks for the info again. If I'm not mistaken, 2003 was the year JCF won the Roland Garros. It would really be a coincidence if Nadal went on to win.

 

[gugafanatic]

Puerta is definitely a surprise canditate on that list. Daniel are those rankings based on this yrs clay court results only??

 

[daniel_rst]

Puerta is definitely a surprise canditate on that list. Daniel are those rankings based on this yrs clay court results only??

Effectively, yes, but that's not exactly how it works.

Puerta has beaten Moya 3 times this year and won Casablanca. He's beaten many other top players on clay this year including Acasuso, Mantilla, and Volandri. I'm not that surprised to see him up there, but that is why these ratings are interesting.

 

[rhubarb]

Thanks Daniel, I'm really glad you got this updated before Roland Garros

 

[Jonnyf]

roddick is 28th thats good 4 him on clay

 

[magic_game]

daniel,

do you mind doing this going into the USO? I would also like to please see some predictions threads from you also. It looks like very interesting way to look at things from how you do this, and maybe I'm not speaking for everyone, but it would be nice for me to see you do this.

thanks

 

[arosen]

Wow, Fed #2 on clay, makes me think he might actually win the French some day.

 

[daniel_rst]

daniel,

do you mind doing this going into the USO? I would also like to please see some predictions threads from you also.

Thanks for the kind words. I do plan to do this. Unfortunately, tennis handicapping is not my full-time job, so I don't always have as much time as I would like to committ to it. However, I will do my best to get the information I have out [after I place my bets, that is! ].