10 Records the Big Four can break in 2016

The members of the quartet have had an exemplary run in 2015.
Novak Djokovic thrilled us with his career best performance by playing sublime tennis and producing near-perfect results in 2015. In his most physically draining year, he clinched three of the four Grand Slams, won 82 matches and 11 titles overall, held the No.1 ranking for 179 weeks and became richer by a whopping $21,646,145 prize money. ‘‘Djokovic will break every conceivable record’’ is what Bogdan Obradovic, the captain of the Serbian Davis Cup team had to say about the player.

On the other hand, Roger Federer made it to the finals of Wimbledon and US Open, showing no signs of fatigue or slowing down, hence putting a stop on the speculations regarding retirement. Rafael Nadal came out of injury and thus had a sluggish start earlier last year, failing to pick up momentum but now he seems to be back on track in 2016, winning the Mubadala title and reaching the finals of Doha, losing to Djokovic. Likewise, Andy Murray won 4 titles and led Great Britain to Davis Cup victory last year.

After a power packed year, 2016 looks even more promising and the expectations for great results is apparent. With great results will come new records. So, let us have a look at the top 10 records which the Big Four is expected to break/ has broken this year.

10) ATP Ranking Points

Novak Djokovic has maintained the top form last year by clinching the first title of 2016 at Doha by beating Nadal in the finals. This marks his 60th career title and a 24-23 H2H lead overall against Nadal. With this win, he has the most points in ATP World Tour Rankings at 16,790 breaking his own record of 2015 of 16,145. He is almost twofold ahead of the No.2 player Murray in the tally.

9) 5th Queen’s title

Andy Murray will aim at defending the title at Queen’s prior to Wimbledon for a record fifth time. As of now, eight people are tied on the record for most titles at the coveted grass tournament. They are Major Ritchie, Anthony Wilding, Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.

8) Consecutive weeks at world no.1

Novak Djokovic has been on the top position for a long while now. He has held the spot for a total of 181 weeks and stands as the fifth person to do so. It is also his 80 consecutive week at the top which matches that of Ivan Lendl. He is way ahead of other players in the ranking points, and can even relax the whole year and still maintain the spot. This means that he will easily surpass the record set by Pete Sampras for 82, Jimmy Connors for 84 consecutive weeks and subsequently the other leaders.

7) All time prize money

Currently, Roger Federer is the all time leader in prize money at $97,303,556. He is followed by Djokovic and Nadal who are closely behind at $94,050,053 and $75,888,125. With the kind of year that Djokovic had last year, he is sure to overtake Federer if he continues the great run. Murray is behind at the fifth position, closely behind Pete Sampras. He is also expected to cross him and take the fourth position.

6) Aces

If all goes right, Roger Federer can become only the third player to crack into 1000+ aces club after Ivo Karlovic and Goran Ivanisevic. He currently has 9,510 aces to his name and the task doesn’t seem unlikely as he has served 597 aces alone in 2015. Following behind, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic might break into the 500 ace club this year.

5)  Career ATP Masters 1000 titles

Novak Djokovic is just one title short of completing a career ATP masters 1000 titles. All eyes will be on Djokovic at the Cincinnati Masters, where he will create history if he wins. The other players behind him with wins at 7 of the 9 tournaments are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Djokovic has been a runner-up at Cincinnati for 5 times earlier losing to Federer and Murray three and four times respectively. There are high chances that he takes home the trophy and becomes the first player to complete the checklist of the 9 most prestigious titles of the world tour.

4) Most Wimbledon titles

Roger Federer and Pete Sampras are tied with 7 Wimbledon titles each, the most at the event by any player till now. Federer achieved this feat in 2012 by beating the local hero Andy Murray in the finals. Since then, he has not been able to win a grand slam, and during this time he has applied different approaches in his game that have been successful, like the attacking style in the chip and charge technique famously known as SABR. Though not winning slams, he is growing stronger than before. A shot at the 8th title will be another feather on his cap.

3) 10 titles at Roland Garros

No player has won a Grand Slam as many times as Rafael Nadal, who has a total of 9 French Open titles to his name so far . The ‘clay king’ has not been able to defend his title for two times since his debut in 2005. With his form reviving and coming back on track in 2016, especially after a winning start at Mubadala, a shot at the 10th French Open isn’t far-fetched. Though there will be stiff competition from Djokovic, who is aiming for a career slam and Wawrinka who will be defending his title, let us not forget that Nadal has done the same 9 times before.

2) Career Grand Slam

Novak Djokovic has now won 10 Grand Slam titles, winning three of them last year. What seems to be a blot in his otherwise perfect achievements is the French Open drought. He has been a finalist on three occasions (2012, 2014, 2014) and all of them have been heart breaking to watch. He lost to Rafael Nadal twice and to Stan Wawrinka last year, all of them in 4 sets. Major competition this year will be provided by Wawrinka, Federer and Nadal. If he is able to find an answer to get past these three challengers, then he will become the 8 man to achieve the career slam feat.

1) Career Golden Slam

Rio Olympics will be round the corner in August this year. It will also be Federer’s last chance to compete for the career Golden Slam, an unquenched quest of so many years. The only other players to do so are Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal.  Andy Murray has also won at this event before in 2012. Federer has won the gold medal in doubles along with Stan Wawrinka. He will team up with Martina Hingis this time for a shot at the mixed doubles.