Top 5 men's tennis players of 2018

The 2018 tennis season concluded just a few days ago in London with Alexander Zverev defeating Novak Djokovic to win the ATP World Tour Finals.

The season had it all, with a lot of exciting matches taking place, the "Big 3" asserting their dominance in the Grand Slams, a few unexpected players rising up the ranks, a few big players falling down in the rankings, and a lot more.

While Roger Federer won the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, Rafael Nadal won the French Open, and Novak Djokovic went on to win Wimbledon and the US Open titles.

The Serb finished the year as the world no. 1 as well despite being ranked no. 22 in June. Apart from these three, there were many other players who shone throughout the season.

So, let's take a look at the top 5 men's players of the year:

Honourable mentions:

Kevin Anderson and John Isner.

#5 Alexander Zverev

The young German prodigy continued his good run of form from last year, performing quite consistently this year as well. However, he would have hoped to have performed better in the Grand Slams, with his best result coming at the French Open, where he reached the quarter-final.

Nonetheless, his performance at the Masters and the 500s were quite good. He won the third Masters title of his career at Madrid, defeating Dominic Thiem in the final. He came close to winning the Rome title as well but fell to Nadal at the final hurdle. He won the Washington Open title as well later on in the year.

He qualified for the World Tour Finals as the world no. 4 and played some exceptional tennis against Djokovic in the final to win the biggest trophy of his career.

Come 2019, he will hope for better results at the Grand Slam level.

#4 Juan Martin del Potro

BNP Paribas Open - Day 14

It was unfortunate that the big Argentine had to sit out of the World Tour Finals due to an injury. The tournament would have been a lot more exciting with him in it.

However, he had a fantastic year - probably his best since coming back from his wrist injury. He performed consistently well at the Grand Slams apart from the Australian Open. He reached the semifinals of the French Open and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, losing to Nadal in both matches. He went one step higher at the US Open, where he reached the final, only to lose to Novak Djokovic.

He won his biggest title of the year at Indian Wells where he defeated Roger Federer in the final after saving three match points.

He is currently recovering from his injury and will hope to get back to full fitness before the Australian Open.

#3 Roger Federer

2018 Australian Open - Day 14

Despite him not being on top of his game for a larger part of the year, the Swiss Maestro came away with four titles, including one Grand Slam.

He began the year much the same way he did in 2017, winning the Australian Open in January by defeating Marin Cilic in the final. Shortly after that, he went on to win at Rotterdam, which gave him world no. 1 title once again.

However, he did stay no. 1 for too long, as he lost to Juan Marin del Potro in the final at Indian Wells and then suffered a shock defeat to Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first round at Miami, thus giving the world no. 1 ranking back to Nadal.

He was shocked in the quarters at Wimbledon by Kevin Anderson and was upset by John Millman in the fourth round of the US Open as well. However, he went on to win the title at Basel - his 99th overall and played extremely well at the Paris Masters as well.

He ended his season with a defeat to Zverev in the semis of the Tour Finals.

#2 Rafael Nadal

2018 French Open - Day Fifteen

Despite missing all the tournaments after the US Open due to injuries, Rafael Nadal is the number 2 player of the year. This shows how dominant he was throughout the year, especially in the clay season, where he won 2 Masters titles at Monte-Carlo and Rome, the Barcelona title, and his 11th French Open crown.

Unfortunately, he had to withdraw mid-match at the quarters of the Australian Open and the semis of the US Open against Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro respectively.

However, he defied expectations when he reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships, where he lost an epic 5-set encounter to Novak Djokovic, who would go on to win the title.

He held the world no. 1 ranking for the majority of the year before losing it to Djokovic towards the end of the season.

He is currently recovering from an injury and will hope to get back to his best come January.

#1 Novak Djokovic

Day Thirteen: The Championships - Wimbledon 2018

After the disastrous first half of the season he had, no one would have predicted Novak Djokovic to even qualify for the World Tour Finals.

He was upset by Hyeon Chung at the 4th round of the Australian Open and by Marco Cechinato at the quarters of the French Open and was shocked by many other lower ranked players in the first half of the year.

However, his season turned around when the grass season began. He reached the final of Queens Club and then went on to win the third Wimbledon title of his career, defeating Kevin Anderson in the final, not before beating Nadal in the semis in a match which lasted for over five hours.

Shortly after Wimbledon, he achieved the Career Golden Masters when he won the Cincinnati Open, defeating Federer in the final. He went on to win the US Open as well and the Shanghai Masters which followed. He reached the final of the Paris Masters and the Tour Finals as well but fell to two youngsters in the form of Karen Khachanov and Alexander Zverev respectively.

He ends the year as the world no. 1.