Novak Djokovic plays chess with Boris Becker. pic.twitter.com/0hPrHLCvlS

— Mechanics’ Institute (@MILibrary) May 27, 2016

Novak likes board games

The Rules:

Each Man Gets Armies Based Upon Championship and Runner-up Finishes in 2016.  I simply cut two zeros off of the ranking points of any of these finishes to determine the number of armies.  In the case of 250 level events I will round up so a 250 win would result in 3 armies.  Antartica has no ATP or ITF events as of now.  So I will focus on the six populated continents.  Olympic gold and silver medals will be accounted for in the same manner as a Masters 1000 event.

Africa: Zero Armies for Either Player

Neither player competed in a tournament held in Africa.  Therefore, no armies are present there.

Asia: Murray’s 15 Armies > Djokovic’s 3 Armies

Novak Djokovic – 3 armies in Qatar

Andy Murray – 10 armies in Shanghai & 5 armies in Beijing

Australia: Djokovic’s 20 Armies > Murray’s 12 Armies

Each man’s armies are located near Melbourne

Europe: Murray’s 68 Armies > Djokovic’s 36 Armies

Novak Djokovic – 20 armies in Paris, 10 armies in Madrid, & 6 armies in Rome

Andy Murray – 25 armies in England, 22 armies in France, 10 armies in Italy, 6 armies in Spain, & 5 armies in Austria

North America:

Djokovic’s 42 Armies > Murray’s 6 Armies

Novak Djokovic – 12 armies in New York, 10 armies in California, 10 armies in Florida, and 10 armies in Ontario

Andy Murray – 6 armies in Ohio

South America:

Murray’s 10 Armies > Djokovic’s 0 Armies

Andy Murray – 10 armies in Brazil

TOTAL ARMIES:

Andy Murray – 111 & Novak Djokovic – 101 

This is the 2015 global reach of Tennis Abides

What Would Likely Happen?

I am not Sun Tzu.  However, I think Murray’s 10 army advantage is less helpful than his geographic clustering of forces in Eurasia.  In a game of Risk, Djokovic would need to make quick work of Murray’s 16 armies in the Americas and 12 armies in Australia and hope that his European forces could maintain themselves long enough for Djokovic to bring his Australian and North American units to Europe and Asia and help his European units.  It would be a battle of forces clustered in core vs. a set of forces owning the periphery.  Of course, Djokovic could add up to 16 units in England with an undefeated run toward a World Tour Final title.  16 more armies in Europe might tilt the balance in his favor.  So my game of Risk, like this race for number one needs to see what happens this week in London before a lasting conclusion can be drawn.  At the moment, Murray’s Risk position looks slightly stronger, but the board is not fully set.

Previous meetings between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic #AndyMurray https://t.co/IdnGT7lbo8 pic.twitter.com/3TR4QldGdU

— Mary (@uknewse) October 17, 2016