Italian translation at settesei.it
It’s not quite March Madness, but the March Masters tournaments of Indian Wells and Miami do constitute a unique part of the tennis season. Though the conditions are different on opposite sides of the continent, it’s hot, and many players are contesting their first important matches since the Australian Open.
I queried my match database to come up with the best career performers at these two tournaments. Setting aside a few players who have done well in just a couple of showings, here are the top twelve active players, by win percentage at Indian Wells and Miami. (Incidentally, they are the only twelve with winning percentages over 60%.)
Player W L Titles Win% Novak Djokovic 40 8 4 83.3% Rafael Nadal 57 13 2 81.4% Roger Federer 73 19 5 79.3% Andy Roddick 58 19 2 75.3% Juan Martin Del Potro 19 7 0 73.1% Andy Murray 25 11 1 69.4% Lleyton Hewitt 42 21 2 66.7% Ivan Ljubicic 37 20 1 64.9% Tomas Berdych 25 14 0 64.1% James Blake 37 21 0 63.8% Jo Wilfried Tsonga 13 8 0 61.9% Stanislas Wawrinka 14 9 0 60.9%
Del Potro is highest on the list among those without a title at either event. Roddick’s place so high on the list serves as a reminder that this is his kind of territory–hard courts in the heat. If he hadn’t played so poorly in his last two events, it would be tempting to pick him as an underdog this month.
If you’re interested in this sort of thing, I hope you’ve started playing around with Tennis Abstract. One of the latest features to come online is the ability to make multiple selections from a single menu. For instance, on Ivan Ljubicic’s page, select “Career” from the “Time Span” menu, then open up the “Events” menu on the left-hand side, then select both Indian Wells and Miami, which will show you the matches (and their stats) that add up to his 37-20 record at these tournaments.