Right now the man they call Nole, is playing like he is the number one ranked tennis player in the world. Novak Djokovic has completed the Indian Wells and Miami double as he pushed his match winning streak to 24-0. Djokovic captured the last two ATP Masters 1000 events by defeating Rafael Nadal in the finals of both. While the rankings reflect his rise to number two, he is making a case to be the year end number one player. If you include his two Davis Cup wins for Serbia back in December 2010, Djokovic is 26-0 in his recent matches. More importantly, he is 5-0 against his main rivals. He is 3-0 against Federer this season and 2-0 against Nadal.
Djokovic has four titles to his name this year; they include the Australian Open, BNP Paribas and Sony Ericsson Open, plus a minor title in Dubai. As mentioned before he beat Nadal in the last two events coming from a set down to defeat his opponent. Before Djokovic’s win two weeks ago in Indian Wells, Nadal had beaten Djokovic in the previous five finals. Djokovic has renewed confidence in his game after his big wins for Serbia in Davis Cup. Novak took that momentum to the first major and has gone on a tear that compares to the likes of Ivan Lendl.
Djokovic has conquered many hurdles in this time period. The two main hurdles were Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Prior to the US Open semifinals Djokovic rarely beat Federer in major semifinals, but since that win, he has beaten Federer three more times. Djokovic has gotten the Nadal monkey off of his back. Djokovic looked to be going down the same path with Nadal. Do enough to get to the final and just run out of steam when playing Nadal, but Djokovic brought his game to another level and defeated Nadal not once but twice to earn valuable ranking points. Djokovic is one of the favorites going into the clay court season; however, the red dirt has not been kind to Djokovic in the past.
This time last year, Novak started to fade and his game was in a state of confusion. Nadal on the other hand loves the clay surface and usually takes his game to a whole other level especially at the French Open. Nadal is the favorite heading into the French Open, but if Djokovic continues his stellar play, he will be the other favorite to win in Paris. But first comes an ATP 1000 Masters Event in Monte Carlo, where Nadal is the six time defending champion. But Djokovic will look to ride his momentum into the clay season and close the gap between Nadal and himself.
The forgotten man in all of this is Roger Federer, while Federer may be fading, look for him to be a major player at Wimbledon and the summer hard court season. While clay is not Federer’s best surface, he has been the second best player on clay over the past few years behind Nadal. At age 29, Federer looks to add to his major win totals. After a good start to the season, Federer cannot get past the semifinals of an event and is 0-4 against Nadal and Djokovic in lopsided losses. Look for him to bounce back and finish the season strong. As for Djokovic and Nadal, right now they are the undisputed number one and two players in the world of tennis. Look for this rivalry to build over the years.