Tennis year is now split into 2 halves

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timnz

Legend
I was just reflecting on how the tennis calendar has changed. It seems clear now that there are now two clear halves of the year. It also explains why consistently Nadal has always done better in the first 1/2 a year and Federer increasingly favouring the end of the year (though he has had a good run this year so far).

Basically the tennis year has two halves. The first half is slow court tennis and the second half is medium paced tennis (fast court tennis doesn't exist anymore).

First 3 months - Slow Hard Court season:

- Warm-up events for Australian Open - Slow hardcourt slam
- Australian Open
- Finishing up with Slow Hard Court Masters 1000 events of Indian Wells and Miami

Second 3 months of the year - Clay Court Season (by definitiion Slow)
- Mostly European but some US Clay Court events
- Masters 1000 events - Monte carlo, Rome, Madrid on Clay
- French Open on Clay

So first 6 months of the year is Slow Court season

Next 1/2 a year is medium paced

June/July - Short Grass Court season - medium paced

July-September - North American medium paced hard court season

Sept-Novemeber - European/Asian Hard courts/Indoor hard courts finishing with WTF

Summary: From january to end of French Open - Slow court tennis
From Queens Club to WTF - Medium paced tennis

Interesting that it is almost exactly split in half with French Open and Queen club being the change over.

As recently as the 90's it wasn't that clear cut at all. After the Australian Open you had the fast indoor season with events like Philly and Milan. And as far back as Laver's time he would be playing a clay event straight after Wimbledon.
 
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Nice summary!

Admittedly, I've always had a tendency to look at it this way, too. For the top players, the period after Wimbledon is the longest break they get during the season, so I tend to see the 1st half of the year from Doha to Wimbledon, and the second half the USO Series to WTF. But the way you look at it, it makes a lot of sense.

Federer usually does well in both halves, but he is the best indoor player of the current era (and this is a huge margin, the next closest being Murray, and then Tsonga). The rest of the year preceding the indoor stretch is more evenly tied between either Federer/Djokovic, Djokovic/Nadal, Federer/Nadal or all three of them pretty even.
 
Yes, leaving aside tourneys like golden swing and some indoors in between AO and IW and other some clay tourney played between Wimby and Rogers Cup, Thats the main idea, provide the players with same speeds, similar surfaces.etc to avoid having to adapt week by week, resulting in less injuries and withdraws.
 
First 3 months - Slow Hard Court season:

- Warm-up events for Australian Open - Slow hardcourt slam
- Australian Open
- Finishing up with Slow Hard Court Masters 1000 events of Indian Wells and Miami

Who has won the most tournaments in the first 3 months?


Second 3 months of the year - Clay Court Season (by definitiion Slow)
- Mostly European but some US Clay Court events
- Masters 1000 events - Monte carlo, Rome, Madrid on Clay
- French Open on Clay

Who has won the most tournaments in the clay court season?

June/July - Short Grass Court season - medium paced

July-September - North American medium paced hard court season

Sept-Novemeber - European/Asian Hard courts/Indoor hard courts finishing with WTF

Who has won the most tournaments from September / November?
 
It ends after the USO and starts up again with the AO. In between is a time for the top players to cash in on appearance fees culminating in the year end exhibition in London. The tennis proletariat can pick up a few bucks and points here and there.
 
When Djokovic wins tournaments they become slower and slower :rolleyes:

Basically: blue clay, red clay, green clay, navy clay, am I right? :confused:
 
jm1980 said:
When Djokovic wins tournaments they become slower and slower :rolleyes:

Basically: blue clay, red clay, green clay, navy clay, am I right? :confused:
Click to expand...
What you're saying would be funnier if we couldn't clearly see how slow the surfaces are these days. :)
 
Grieve if you wish for fast courts, but they're not coming back, nor should they. Players hit the ball much faster generally than a quarter century ago, so an adjustment of the courts has been necessary.
 
I'm beginning to see the season divided into 2 parts where the first part ends with the final of the USO, and the second part being a mere afterthought. Certainly the big hardware is gone, and the YEF is nothing but an invitational tournament, based on merit, but still not a "real" tourney...
 
xFedal said:
First 3 months - Slow Hard Court season:

- Warm-up events for Australian Open - Slow hardcourt slam
- Australian Open
- Finishing up with Slow Hard Court Masters 1000 events of Indian Wells and Miami

Who has won the most tournaments in the first 3 months?


Second 3 months of the year - Clay Court Season (by definitiion Slow)
- Mostly European but some US Clay Court events
- Masters 1000 events - Monte carlo, Rome, Madrid on Clay
- French Open on Clay

Who has won the most tournaments in the clay court season?

June/July - Short Grass Court season - medium paced

July-September - North American medium paced hard court season

Sept-Novemeber - European/Asian Hard courts/Indoor hard courts finishing with WTF

Who has won the most tournaments from September / November?
Click to expand...

Federer has won 26 titles in the first 3 months. Djokovic has won 19, and Nadal has won 12, 6 of them on clay.

Nadal has won 36 titles during the clay swing. Djokovic has won 11, and Federer 10.

Federer has won 30 titles from the beginning of the grass season to the USO (1 of them on clay). Nadal has won 16 (5 of them on clay) . Djokovic has won 8.

Federer has won 21 titles on the remaining of the season, from the beginning of the indoor tour to the Master cup. Djokovic has won 17, Nadal has won 3.

Federer has won 87 titles in total. 29% of them until Miami, 11% during the clay season, 34% from Halle to USO, 24% during the indoor season.
Nadal has won 67 titles in total. 17% until Miami, 53% during the clay season, 23% from Halle to USO, and only 4% indoor.
Djokovic has won 55 titles in total. 34% until Miami, 11% during the clay season, 14% during the summer, and 30% during the fall season.

Percentage are rounded and for this reason the sums aren't exactly 100%.

Federer is very consistent all year-long, I believe his titles would be even better spread if not for Nadal. Likewise Djokovic could have won a few titles more on clay without Nadal. He could also have a more heavenly spread title list (pretty sure that's very bad english, sorry) if he had more success at Cinci ;-).

Nadal is bad indoors and too good on clay, but equally good during the winter and the summer.
 
Flash O'Groove said:
Federer has won 26 titles in the first 3 months. Djokovic has won 19, and Nadal has won 12, 6 of them on clay.

Nadal has won 36 titles during the clay swing. Djokovic has won 11, and Federer 10.

Federer has won 30 titles from the beginning of the grass season to the USO (1 of them on clay). Nadal has won 16 (5 of them on clay) . Djokovic has won 8.

Federer has won 21 titles on the remaining of the season, from the beginning of the indoor tour to the Master cup. Djokovic has won 17, Nadal has won 3.

Federer has won 87 titles in total. 29% of them until Miami, 11% during the clay season, 34% from Halle to USO, 24% during the indoor season.
Nadal has won 67 titles in total. 17% until Miami, 53% during the clay season, 23% from Halle to USO, and only 4% indoor.
Djokovic has won 55 titles in total. 34% until Miami, 11% during the clay season, 14% during the summer, and 30% during the fall season.

Percentage are rounded and for this reason the sums aren't exactly 100%.

Federer is very consistent all year-long, I believe his titles would be even better spread if not for Nadal. Likewise Djokovic could have won a few titles more on clay without Nadal. He could also have a more heavenly spread title list (pretty sure that's very bad english, sorry) if he had more success at Cinci ;-).

Nadal is bad indoors and too good on clay, but equally good during the winter and the summer.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your time to find this out, From this I see Djokovic strongest at the start of the year and at the end too. I wonder how Noles numbers will end up, he has chance to have the best spread, but Nadal has no way to turn around the indoor weakness.
 
What you say is basically true, but the two halves are themselves divided into two halves, and so there are also four quarters. That's worth pointing out, because the clay is still slower than the slow-hard courts, so quarter 2 is slower than quarter 1, and the Asian and indoor hard court swing after the US Open is now faster than the US hard courts of the summer, so quarter 4 is faster than quarter 3.

timnz said:
I was just reflecting on how the tennis calendar has changed. It seems clear now that there are now two clear halves of the year. It also explains why consistently Nadal has always done better in the first 1/2 a year and Federer increasingly favouring the end of the year (though he has had a good run this year so far).

Basically the tennis year has two halves. The first half is slow court tennis and the second half is medium paced tennis (fast court tennis doesn't exist anymore).

First 3 months - Slow Hard Court season:
.
- Warm-up events for Australian Open - Slow hardcourt slam
- Australian Open
- Finishing up with Slow Hard Court Masters 1000 events of Indian Wells and Miami

Second 3 months of the year - Clay Court Season (by definitiion Slow)
- Mostly European but some US Clay Court events
- Masters 1000 events - Monte carlo, Rome, Madrid on Clay
- French Open on Clay

So first 6 months of the year is Slow Court season

Next 1/2 a year is medium paced

June/July - Short Grass Court season - medium paced

July-September - North American medium paced hard court season

Sept-Novemeber - European/Asian Hard courts/Indoor hard courts finishing with WTF

Summary: From january to end of French Open - Slow court tennis
From Queens Club to WTF - Medium paced tennis

Interesting that it is almost exactly split in half with French Open and Queen club being the change over.

As recently as the 90's it wasn't that clear cut at all. After the Australian Open you had the fast indoor season with events like Philly and Milan. And as far back as Laver's time he would be playing a clay event straight after Wimbledon.
Click to expand...
 
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