Generational Rivalry: Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner evenly split four majors in back-to-back seasons

Going into the Davis Cup Finals, Alexander Zverev led Daniil Medvedev at the top of the list of men’s match win leaders this year, 59-58. But Medvedev then went 5-0 at the Davis Cup Finals—with Zverev not competing at the event this year—and the Russian surpassed the German to finish at the top of the list for 2021.

Seven men finished with 50 or more tour-level wins this year, with Jannik Sinner just missing the cut by one win (he went 49-22 this season).

MEN’S MATCH WIN LEADERS FOR 2021 (tour-level)
63: Daniil Medvedev (63-13)
59: Alexander Zverev (59-15)
57: Casper Ruud (57-17)
55: Novak Djokovic (55-7)
55: Stefanos Tsitsipas (55-19)
53: Andrey Rublev (53-23)
52: Cameron Norrie (52-25)

Medvedev didn’t just go 5-0 at the Davis Cup Finals, he also went 10-0 in sets, which included straight-sets wins over former Top 10 players Pablo Carreno Busta and Marin Cilic, the only two players to even take him to a tie-break. The Spaniard pushed him to a 6-2, 7-6 (3) scoreline in the group stages, while the Croat pushed him to a 7-6 (7), 6-2 scoreline in the final on Sunday.

Medvedev's 63 tour-level wins this year are a personal best—before 2021, his most in a year was 59 in 2019.

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Leaving Wimbledon in mid-July, Medvedev was 29-8 on the year, which put him at No. 6 on the list of men’s match win leaders, but a 34-5 run on hard courts through the end of the season propelled him to No. 1 by year's end.

And the Russian wasn’t the only player making a big push up this list since Wimbledon—in fact, none of the Top 3 at the end of the year (Medvedev, Zverev and Ruud) were even in the Top 5 at the end of the grass-court season.

MEN’S MATCH WIN LEADERS FOR 2021 LEAVING WIMBLEDON (tour-level)
39: Stefanos Tsitsipas (39-10)
36: Andrey Rublev (36-11)
34: Novak Djokovic (34-3)
32: Matteo Berrettini (32-7)
31: Cameron Norrie (31-14)
29: Daniil Medvedev (29-8)
27: Alexander Zverev (27-11)

Leaving Wimbledon, Ruud was tied for No. 8 on the list with Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik (they all had 24 wins at the time).

The Norwegian then went on a 13-match winning streak that brought him three straight titles at Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbuhel, and a quarterfinal showing at the Masters 1000 event in Toronto. Suddenly, Ruud was near the top of the list.

The seven men who accumulated 50 or more tour-level match wins this year were also the only seven players to do it, male OR female—Anett Kontaveit and Ons Jabeur led the women’s tour this year with 48 wins each. There was unprecedented depth on the women’s tour this year, with nine women splitting the 12 biggest titles (Naomi Osaka, Barbora Krejcikova, Ashleigh Barty, Emma Raducanu, Garbine Muguruza, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Camila Giorgi and Paula Badosa).

Meanwhile, seven men split the 13 biggest titles on the men’s tour (Djokovic, Medvedev, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Norrie, Hubert Hurkacz and Rafael Nadal).

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