Who were the Top 5 match win leaders on the ATP and WTA Tours in 2020?
Though the tennis season was significantly shortened this year, there were a lot of players who still managed to pile on the wins...
Though the tennis season was significantly shortened this year—it was suspended for five months from early March to early August due to COVID-19—there were a lot of players who still managed to pile on the wins, from Australia in January all the way to the indoor season in November.
Here are the Top 5 match win leaders for both tours in 2020:
#5 (TIED): Simona Halep and Garbine Muguruza (23 wins each)
Kicking off the women’s Top 5 are a pair of two-time major champions and former No. 1s who both racked up 23 wins this year—Halep went 23-3, while Muguruza went 23-7. But while the Spaniard’s best result was one final at the Australian Open, the Romanian picked up the 20th, 21st and 22nd WTA titles of her career in Dubai, Prague and Rome, all from a career-best 17-match winning streak.
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#4: Sofia Kenin (24 wins)
It was an absolute breakthrough season for Kenin, who not only won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, but also reached her second Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. In fact, two thirds of her wins on the season came at the majors—her 24-9 record on the year can be broken down to 16-2 at majors and 8-7 everywhere else. Before 2020, she was 11-11 in her career at the four big ones.
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#2 (TIED): Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina (29 wins each)
Not only are Sabalenka and Rybakina tied for second-most wins on the women’s tour this year with 29, but they also had identical 29-10 records. In terms of where the wins came, Rybakina may have the upper hand—16 of hers came at the Premier level or higher, while 15 of Sabalenka’s did. But the Belarusian finished the year much stronger, going 17-5 since the restart, while the Kazakh went 8-6. Of note: in WTA finals this season, Sabalenka was a perfect 3-0 compared to Rybakina's 1-4 mark.
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#1: Elise Mertens (34 wins)
The Belgian didn’t win any titles in 2020, but she was a fixture in the later rounds of tournaments, advancing to the quarterfinals or better at eight of the 13 events she played—including reaching her third career Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open. Her 34-13 record on the year also took her to her seventh and eighth career WTA finals at Prague (falling to Halep) and Linz (falling to Sabalenka).
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#4 (TIED): Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev (28 wins each)
The two tallest players in the Top 10—both 6’ 6”—Medvedev and Zverev also kick off the men’s Top 5 for most wins this year with 28 each. Medvedev’s record was a slightly better 28-10, compared to 28-11 for Zverev, but they both had big breakthroughs after the restart, the German reaching his first major final at the US Open and the Russian winning his biggest career title at the Nitto ATP Finals.
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#3: Stefanos Tsitsipas (29 wins)
The Greek was nearly in a three-way tie with Medvedev and Zverev but snuck out a 29th win in the last week of the season at the ATP Finals, edging Andrey Rublev in the round-robin stage, 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (6), after facing match point. The highlight of his 2020 season came earlier in the fall at Roland Garros, where he reached his second Grand Slam semifinal—his first came at the Australian Open in 2019.
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#1 (TIED): Novak Djokovic and Andrey Rublev (41 wins each)
When it comes to wins in 2020, no one came close to Djokovic and Rublev, who finished with 41-5 and 41-10 records on the year, respectively. No woman reached 35, and no other man even reached 30. The Serb won four ATP titles, including his 17th career Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and his 35th and 36th career Masters 1000 crowns, while the Russian captured five ATP titles, including three 500s—the biggest titles of his career. No one else won more than two ATP titles all season.
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