2008 ATP Tour Year in Review

January

• Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open, marking his first Grand Slam singles title.
  
• In Chennai, India, Rafael Nadal defeats Carlos Moya, 6-7(3), 7-6(8), 7-6(1), in the longest three set match since 1993.
  
• Russian Mikhail Youzhny defeats Rafael Nadal, 6-0, 6-1, to win singles title at Chennai Open in India.

February

• Teenage tennis sensation Kei Nishikori who was ranked No. 244 shocked American James Blake to win Delray Beach International Tennis Championships, becoming the first Japanese man to win an ATP singles title since 1992.
  
• Entering the main draw at the Zagreb Indoors as a lucky loser and ranked No. 209, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky defeats top-seed Ivan Ljubicic to win claim the title and become the first lucky loser to win an ATP singles title since 1991.
  
• Spaniard Nicolas Almagro wins two singles titles this month, the Brasil Open and the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco.

March

• Mardy Fish stuns No. 1 Roger Federer, 6-3, 6-2, in the semifinals at the Masters Series Indian Wells.
• Novak Djokovic defeats Mardy Fish in three sets to win the Masters Series Indian Wells title.
• Andy Roddick wins Dubai Tennis Championships, earning his second title of the year after winning the SAP Open in San Jose in February.
• American Sam Querrey wins Tennis Channel Open, earning his first career singles title.
  
• Russian Nikolay Davydenko upsets Rafael Nadal in straight sets to win the Sony Ericsson Open title in Miami.
• For the first time since 2000, Roger Federer did not win a tournament in the first three months of the season.

April

• Roger Federer wins his first tournament of the year by defeating Nikolay Davydenko on clay courts at the Estoril Open in Portugal.
• Rafael Nadal wins titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo and at the Open Sabadell Atlantico in Barcelona.
• Spaniard Marcell Granollers upsets James Blake to win the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas.
• Chilean Fernando Gonzalez wins the BMW Open in Munich, marking his 10th career title.

May

• Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, to win fourth straight French Open title. Nadal became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1981 to win four straight French Open titles. Nadal also became just the seventh player to win a grand slam singles title without losing a set.
• For Roger Federer, losing the final set 6-0 in the finals at the French Open marks the first time he has lost a set at love in a grand slam match since 1999.
• Rafael Nadal losses to former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first round at the Masters Series Rome, marking just his second clay court loss in 109 matches.
• Sweden defeats Russia 2-1 to win World Team Cup, which was held in Germany.

June

• Rafael Nadal defeated five-time defending champion Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-7(8), 9-7, to win his first career Wimbledon title, in what many believe was the greatest tennis match in the history of the sport. It was the first time since 1966 that a Spanish man had won the singles title at Wimbledon.
• In the second round at Wimbledon, Marat Safin easily defeated Novak Djokovic en route to a semifinal performance.
• Serbian Janko Tipsarevic stunned former Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in four sets in the second round.
• Ivo Karlovic, David Ferrer, Nikolay Davydenko and Roger Federer won smaller tournaments in the month of June.

July

• Veteran French player Fabrice Santoro defeats Prakash Amritraj to win his second straight Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships title in Newport, Rhode Island.
• Gilles Simon wins Indianapolis Tennis Championships by defeating Russian Dmitry Tursunov in the finals.
• Andy Murray wins Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio.
• In his first tournament since winning his heroic Wimbledon title, Rafael Nadal wins Rogers Cup in Toronto.

August

• After 237 consecutive weeks ranked No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Roger Federer falls to No. 2 in the rankings, as Rafael Nadal takes over the top spot.
• Rafael Nadal wins Gold Medal at Beijing Olympics, while Chilean Fernando Gonzalez won the Silver Medal and Novak Djokovic took home the Bronze Medal.
• Having already won two singles titles in July in Stuttgart and Kitzbuhel, Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro wins his next two tournaments in Los Angeles and Washington D.C.
• Croatian Marin Cilic wins his first career ATP title at the Pilot Pen Tennis in New Haven, Connecticut.

September

• Roger Federer wins the U.S. Open title, marking his 13th career grand slam singles title. Federer now stands one grand slam title shy of Pete Sampras’ record of 14.
• Juan Martin Del Potro’s winning streak of 23-matches comes to an end when Andy Murray beats him in the quarterfinals at the US Open.
• In a rematch of the Australian Open final, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga gets revenge on Novak Djokovic at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, winning 7-6(4), 6-4, to win his first ATP title.
• Israeli Dudi Sela reaches his first career ATP final, losing to Andy Roddick in the championship match at the China Open in Beijing. Sela became the first Israeli to reach a ATP final since 2001.
• Tomas Berdych won the AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships, earning his first title since the summer of 2007.

October

• Andy Murray wins the Masters Series Madrid.
• Swedish tennis legend Jonas Bjorkman teams with Kevin Ullyett to capture the Stockholm Open doubles title, marking the last time he will ever play a professional tennis tournament in Sweden due to retirement.
• Roger Federer defeats rival David Nalbandian to win the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in his hometown of Basel.
• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga completes his memorable BNP Paribas Masters campaign in his home country by defeating David Nalbandian to win his first Masters Series Shield and earn a spot in the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.

November

• Novak Djokovic wins the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai by defeating Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1, 7-5.
• After a 17 year professional tennis career, Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman officially retires for the ATP Tour. Bjorkman played 1,791 matches in his singles and doubles career, winning 709 in doubles and 414 in singles. Throughout his noteworthy career, Bjorkman earned $14.5 million in tournament prize money.