Roger Federer may have lost his grip on the title of world No. 1, but he is still the top of the class on grass courts.
With Wimbledon right around the corner, Federer's sparkling record on grass is once again coming into focus. He owns 14 titles on the surface, including seven championships at historic Wimbledon. That's more than the rest of the active players on tour combined.
While he may have lost the substantial lead he has over the rest of the world overall, he remains head and shoulders above when it comes to winning on grass.
| Player | Winning Percentage |
|---|---|
| Roger Federer | 87.4 |
| Andy Murray | 83.1 |
| Rafael Nadal | 78.1 |
| Novak Djokovic | 77.9 |
| Lleyton Hewitt | 76.6 |
| Jo-Wilfried Tsonga | 74.3 |
| Juan Martin del Potro | 70.7 |
| David Ferrer | 70.4 |
| Tomas Berdych | 69.7 |
| Richard Gasquet | 68.3 |
[Stats via ESPN.com]
The names following Federer are a who's-who of the next wave of top players, though not in the standard order. Reigning Wimbledon champion Andy Murray ranks second behind Federer, with his serve and counterattack style vibing well with the slower speeds and lower bounces that make up the characteristics of the grass courts.
"A lot of people try to say that the surfaces, they are all very similar now, but from a player's perspective, there is a huge difference between playing clay-court and grass-court tennis," Murray said. "The movement is totally different."
The rest of the big four, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, both post winning percentages on grass that are lower than their overall records. Winning more than 77 percent of your matches is hardly something to scoff at, but for Nadal it represents a full five percent drop from his overall record of 83 percent, which is the best of the Open era.
Wimbledon, with it's unique seeding style, weighs grass court success when determining the draw. For this reason, Djokovic be rewarded with the top seed ahead of Nadal, while Murray and Federer lay claim to the third and fourth spots, ahead of Stan Wawrinka.
Wawriknia, the reigning Australian Open champion and third-ranked player in the world, understands his situation. "I knew that with my past two years on grass didn't have any results, so for sure my ranking will drop a little bit for the seedings."
The 32-year-old Federer has claimed three titles in the last two seasons, with two of them coming on grass courts. He may not remain on the top of the world, but until he is eliminated from any tournament the grass must be considered the King's court.
