Friday, November 11, 2016

Who's travelled furthest? Who's played most? 2016 season in stats

How many miles have Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka clocked up?
How many miles have Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka clocked up?

Having visited 31 countries across six continents, the 2016 ATP season concludes next week in London.

The ATP World Tour Finals will be the 67th tournament of the 11-month season, including the four Grand Slams and the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

All of the eight finalists have travelled thousands of miles, and spent hundreds of hours on court, but who is likely to be the most travel weary by the time they arrive in London?

The new world No 1 Andy Murray and world No 2 Novak Djokovic have played the same number of tournaments (17), but Djokovic has clocked up around 13,000 more air miles.

In terms of matches, Murray's win-loss record stands at 73-9 compared to Djokovic's 61-8.

Having lost early in Indian Wells and Miami, the matches have built up for Murray as the year has progressed, while Djokovic's dip in form has seen him play less later in 2016.

Neither, though, __can compete with tournament-newcomer Dominic Thiem, who has packed his schedule to play 27 events.

That appears to have taken its toll on the Austrian. Reflecting on his 2016 scheduling after losing to Juan Martin del Potro at the US Open, he said: "For sure I will adapt it. I never expected to play that many matches, of course, this year. But it happened obviously, and for sure next year I'm going to change it up a little bit."

In terms of matches played, Thiem (79) is second only to Murray (82).

Kei Nishikori has played the third-most matches among the finalists (75) and has also travelled further than anyone, aside from Marin Cilic.

The Croatian, who won his first ATP 1000 Masters title in Cincinnati in August, has racked up a remarkable 118,147.661 miles, in part due to playing at the Olympics and also three Davis Cup ties.

By comparison, another big server, Milos Raonic, has only travelled 60,725.975 miles, having not played in either the Olympics or the Davis Cup.

Marin Cilic has clocked up the miles this season
Marin Cilic has clocked up the miles this season

Raonic, though, has played more matches (65) than both Gael Monfils (59) and Stan Wawrinka (61).

In Monfils' case, his relative lack of matches is due to having lost in the first round of four tournaments, and also playing only three events after the US Open in early September.

US Open champion Wawrinka also struggled early in several tournaments, losing his first matches in Miami, Madrid, Queen's and Paris.

US Open champion Stan Wawrinka lost early on a few occasions in 2016
US Open champion Stan Wawrinka lost early on a few occasions in 2016

He admitted after playing three three-setters in Basel and losing in the quarter-finals that he was "exhausted".

"I spent a lot of energy at all levels here. And then there is the [ATP World Tour Finals] at the back. I want full motivation in London ... All season long, I've been occupied with that," he added.

Who will have enough left in the tank to challenge for the title in London?

*All mileage including travel to London for ATP World Tour Finals.

**Distance and tournaments only include singles events.

Check out our game-by-game coverage from all group matches at the ATP World Tour Finals in London - including Andy Murray - on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices and iPad and our Twitter account @skysportstennis.

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