Who’ll Be The King Of Clay In 2017?

We take a look at who’s had the most success on clay during the past 52 weeks, using the FedEx ATP Performance Zone.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray all performed strongly on the red dirt over the past 12 months, according to the FedEx ATP Performance Win-Loss Index.

So, at the start of the European clay-court swing, it will be interesting to watch on as Nadal bids to capture a 10th title at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and at Roland Garros. Will Djokovic hit top form as he did to clinch the Mutua Madrid Open and become the eighth player in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros crown? Or can World No. 1 Murray continue his incredible improvement on the surface?

Nadal has put together a 17-2 match record (0.895) on clay over the past 12 months, highlighted by his ninth Monte-Carlo and Barcelona titles. He now stands on the brink of breaking Guillermo Vilas’ career clay-court titles mark of 49, which he currently shares.

Djokovic has the second-best winning percentage on clay courts at 0.889 (16-2) over the past 12 months, while Murray went 18-3 (0.857), winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia crown (d. Djokovic) and finishing runner-up in Madrid and Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic both times).

From 2005-14, Murray had gone 63-37 on clay, a winning percentage of 63 per cent. Since then, he’s won 90 per cent of his clay-court matches (35-4), and is only two wins shy of his 100th clay-court match victory.

The “Big Four” of Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have won 58 of the past 63 Masters 1000 tournaments going back to Nadal’s 2010 Monte-Carlo crown.