The 5 best Masters 1000 performers in the 2019 ATP season

The 2019 ATP season drew to a close with the conclusion of the revamped 'Davis Cup' Finals at the Caja Magica in Madrid. And there were a number of standout performances from players old and new throughout the year.

While the Big 3 of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer continued their Grand Slam stranglehold for the third straight season, the winds of change were beginning to blow across the horizon in the next two categories of events on the tennis calendar.

The season-ending ATP Finals saw the crowning of a brand-new champion in tournament debutant Stefanos Tsitsipas, while the Masters 1000 Series saw five different winners in the first five events of the year for the first time since 2003. Three players - Dominic Thiem (Indian Wells), Fabio Fognini (Monte Carlo) and Daniil Medvedev (Cincinnati, Shanghai) picked up their first titles in the category during the season.

The old guard, however, stamped their mark on another Masters 1000 season as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic became the first three players (in that order) to contest a staggering 50 Masters 1000 finals.

Let us now look at the standout Masters 1000 performers in 2019, in terms of win%.

#5 Dominic Thiem (Won - Indian Wells)

Indian Wells

Long considered a clay-court specialist due to his exploits on the slowest surface of the game, it was on hardcourt that Dominic Thiem made his Masters 1000 breakthrough.

Playing his third career Masters 1000 final at the season's first Masters 1000 tournament of the season at Indian Wells, Thiem recovered from the loss of the first set to deny Roger Federer a record-breaking 6th title at the tournament by triumphing 7-5 in the third. In the process, Thiem became the 67th different player to lift a Masters 1000 title and the first since Karen Khachanov (2018 Paris).

The Austrian failed to build on his momentum as he fell in the first hurdle at the next Masters 1000 stop in Miami (lost to Hubert Hurkacz) and in the second round at Monte Carlo (lost to Dusan Lajovic). He returned to a third-straight Madrid Masters semifinal where he lost to eventual winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets, before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the opening round in Rome.

Back on hardcourt, Thiem made back-to-back quarterfinals at Montreal (lost to Daniil Medvedev) and Shanghai (lost to Matteo Berrettini) before ending his Masters 1000 campaign for the season with a third-round appearance in Paris (lost to Grigor Dimitrov).

With a 15-7 win-loss record in Masters 1000 tournaments in 2019, Thiem recorded a higher success rate (68%) in 2019 compared to his career success rate of 58% in the tournament category.

#4 Daniil Medvedev (Won - Cincinnati, Shanghai)

Daniil Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev kicked off his Masters 1000 season on an indifferent note, falling to 113rd-ranked Filip Krajinovic in the second round at Indian Wells. He went a step further at the next Masters 1000 stop in Miami before losing to eventual winner Roger Federer in the third round.

The young Russian made his first Masters 1000 semifinal (lost to Dusan Lajovic) on the clay of Monte Carlo after beating top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Fresh off a first career final on clay in Barcelona (lost to Dominic Thiem), Medvedev endured opening round losses at the Madrid Masters (lost to Guido Pella) and at the Rome Masters (lost to Nick Kyrgios).

Medvedev finally made his move at the 6th Masters 1000 event of the season in Montreal, where he reached his first title match at the tournament category (lost to Rafael Nadal). A week later Medevedev became the third first-time Masters 1000 winner of the season and 69th overall, when he beat Belgian David Goffin in straight sets in the Cincinnati final.

Continuing his sizzling hardcourt form which saw the young Russian reach five consecutive title matches in as many tournaments (Washington DC, Montreal, Cincinnati, US Open, St. Petersburg), Medvedev made it six in a row when he reached a third-straight Masters 1000 final in Shanghai. There, he beat Sascha Zverev for the second Masters 1000 title of his career.

At the season's last Masters 1000 stop in Paris, Medvedev fell in the opening round to Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, to end the season with a 22-7 win-loss record (76%) in Masters 1000 tournaments for the season. That is significantly better than his career success rate of 59% in the tournament category.

#3 Novak Djokovic (Won - Madrid, Paris)

Novak Djokovic

One of only two players to have won over 30 Masters 1000 titles, Novak Djokovic started his 2019 Masters 1000 campaign with early exits at Indian Wells (2nd round - lost to Phillipp Kohlschreiber) and Miami (3rd round - lost to Roberto Bautista Agut). He then lost to Daniil Medvedev in the Monte Carlo quarterfinals.

At the next stop in Madrid, Djokovic did not drop a set en route to winning his third title in the Spanish capital. It was the then-World No. 1's 33rd Masters 1000 title, to go level with Rafael Nadal's all-time record of most titles in the tournament category.

In his first opportunity to take the outright lead in the all-time Masters 1000 titles leaderboard, Djokovic reached his 9th final in Rome only to fall to Nadal in a three-set title match. Djokovic then reached the semifinals in Cincinnati where a loss to eventual winner Daniil Medvedev prevented the Serb from becoming the first player to win all nine Masters 1000 titles multiple times.

Defending champion Djokovic fell to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Shanghai quarterfinals before winning a record 5th Paris Masters title by beating Denis Shapovalov in the final. In the process, Djokovic (353) became the first player after Roger Federer (381) and Rafael Nadal (384) to record over 350 Masters 1000 match wins - and also the third member of the Big 3 to contest 50 Masters 1000 finals.

The Serb's 2019 Masters win-loss record of 23-6 (79%) was a shade under his career success rate of 82% in the tournament category. Djokovic's 23 match wins in 2019 Masters 1000 tournaments is the most by any player during the season. However, he is third in this list, as the two players above him recorded a superior win% during the 2019 season.

#2 Roger Federer (Won - Miami)

Roger Federer won his lone Masters 1000 title of 2019 in Miami

Roger Federer, in his 22nd professional season on tour, started the Masters 1000 stretch of the season with a run to a third-straight final at Indian Wells. After failing to convert three championship points on serve in the Indian Wells final last year against Juan Martin Del Potro, Federer fell in the 2019 Indian Wells final to another first-time winner in the tournament category - Dominic Thiem.

Having failed in his bid to become the first six-time winner at Indian Wells, Federer reeled off five wins in a row before dethroning defending champion John Isner to lift his 4th Miami title, first Masters 1000 title of the year, and 28th of his career. It made Federer the oldest player to win a Masters 1000 title.

Opting to play on clay for the first time since a truncated 2016 season, Federer reached consecutive quarterfinals in Madrid (lost to Thiem) and Rome (walkover against Stefanos Tsitsipas). He then endured his earliest Cincinnati exit in 11 years (lost to Ivo Karlovic in the 2008 3R) when he fell to young Russian Andrey Rublev in straight sets.

In what turned out to be final Masters 1000 stop of the year, Federer saved five match points in an incredible second set of his quarterfinal against Sascha Zverev in Shanghai before falling in three sets. Federer ended 2019 with a 17-4 Masters 1000 win-loss record (81%), which is a shade better than his career win-loss record of 78% in the tournament category.

#1 Rafael Nadal (Won - Rome, Montreal)

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal won his first four Masters 1000 matches of the year at Indian Wells before withdrawing from his semifinal against Roger Federer owing to an injury.

Back in the familiar environs of his favorite surface of clay, the 11-time champion lost to eventual winner Fabio Fognini in the Monte Carlo semifinals before falling short to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Madrid last-four.

At the next Masters 1000 stop of the calendar in Rome, Nadal reached his 11th final in the Italian capital, where he took on fellow 33-time record Masters 1000 titlist Novak Djokovic. It was the Spaniard who took the outright lead in the all-time Masters 1000 leaderboard as he dropped only one game either side of a 4-6 second set to lift a record-extending 9th Rome title.

Nadal arrived at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal as the defending champion, and he booked a title match against first-time Masters 1000 finalist Daniil Medvedev. In a lopsided final, Nadal dropped only three games as he recorded his 5th title at the tournament from as many finals.

In the process, the Spaniard recorded his first successful title defence at a hardcourt tournament, as he lifted his record-extending 35th Masters 1000 title.

With his triumph in the title match, Nadal (381) broke a tie with Roger Federer for the most Masters 1000 match wins. The Spaniard entered the last Masters 1000 tournament of the calendar in Paris where he won three matches before withdrawing from his semifinal against Denis Shapovalov owing to an injury.

Nadal ended the 2019 Masters 1000 season with a stunning 22-2 match wins record (92%), which is higher than his career success rate of 83% in the tournament category.