Health & Fitness
Rafael Nadal's 2013: One of the Best Years in Tennis History
Rafael Nadal's 2013: History in the making.
Updated 10/5/13: Rafael Nadal advanced to the final of the China Open and will face the winner of the Djokovic-Gasquet semifinal.
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Surprisingly to some,October is turning out to be one of the more important months in tennis history. Since returning in February from a seven-month injury layoff, Rafael Nadal has put together one of the greatest years in the history of men's tennis. Three major men's ATP tournaments remain in the year -- with two of them starting in October.
The Shanghai Masters, also called the China Open, just started this week. The Paris or BNP Paribas Masters, will start on October 28th. Finally, the 2013 ATP World Tour Finals will be played in London from November 4 to November 11. There is still a lot of tennis to be played, but Nadal's year currently places him amongst the greatest in history.
Applying some of the same sabermetric techniques used for baseball and other sports, I have analyzed tennis statistics and tennis history. My work applying Monte Carlo techniques to predict tennis matches and tournaments was published in the New York Times. We accurately predicted the winner of the women's draw. Nadal's dominance continues to surprise many, including our model. We have used sabermetric techniques, Monte Carlo simulations, and other analytical methods to study the greatest players in tennis history. We will publish the results at some point, but in the meantime, Rafael Nadal's 2013 is history in the making.
After returning in February from his injury, Nadal has been playing unbelievable tennis. Out of 13 tournaments, he has reached the finals 12 times, and won 10 titles. Some detractors will point out the fact that Nadal won just two Grand Slams in 2013: the French Open and the U.S. Open. Nadal missed the Australian Open due to his injury, and lost in the first round at Wimbledon (another black eye).
Still, Rafael Nadal has compiled some mighty impressive results in 2013:
- 61-3 match record (95.3% winning percentage)
- 14-1 match record in Grand Slams
- 10 tournament titles (out of 13 tournaments)
- 2 Grand Slams
As a comparison, please see the chart of other great years in men's tennis. If you like sports, please check out my sports blog: Who Will Win the Big Game?
For my other articles on topics such as taxes or schools, please subscribe to my Patch blog, or read:
- http://haddon.patch.com/groups/the-chin-says/p/new-jersey-and-high-taxes
- http://haddon.patch.com/groups/the-chin-says/p/haddonfield-school-district--comparables.
Carlton and his family have lived in Haddonfield for seven years. With a background in finance, business, and math -- Carlton enjoys applying numbers to explain the world around us. Carlton earned engineering degrees from MIT, and runs a fund management business.
Carlton Chin is running for the Haddonfield Board of Education. Please visit www.Vote4Chin.com and vote on November 5.
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