It’s been an amazing year for men’s tennis and it seemed almost fitting that it should end as it began. Novak Djokovic stormed to victory in the Masters Cup at the weekend and in so doing secured his most prestigious title since his swaggering success in the Australian Open in January. After a comparatively quiet few months in the middle of the year, the big Serb carefully sized up the Shanghai stage before dramatically reminding the tennis world of his breath-taking capabilities.
In the eagerly anticipated season finale Nikolay Davydenko was brushed aside in straight sets 6-1, 7-5. It was undoubtedly a classy performance and saw the Russian struggle to cope with Djokovic’s conviction and precise hard hitting.
In a week where stamina took its toll on his rivals, the Serbian No.1 looked positively sprightly after this win. Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise – he drove away from the arena in a brand new sports car with a cheque for $1.74m tucked in pocket and a former Miss World on his arm. Nice work if you can get it…
Making his mark
The win in China, following on from the Melbourne success, semi-finals at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadow and Masters Series victories in Rome and Indian Wells has now seen the Serbian progress to within 10 points of Roger Federer in the ATP rankings. As it turns out if he’d beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his last Masters Cup round-robin match he would have actually finished the year in the No.2 slot. Unfortunate some might say, but it should prove only a minor regret given the confidence the 21-year-old holds in attaining his long-term dream.
‘Certainly I believe that I have the quality to reach the top spot in the upcoming year, in the next couple of years, the next 10, or whatever,’ Djokovic said in the wake of his latest triumph.
‘That is my lifetime goal, but I’ve learned a lesson. If I pay too much attention to the rankings, things don’t go the right way. So I just want to improve my game. I know there is still room for improvement, and I just want to get my game to the highest possible level. Then the results will come.’
Court Djoker
It is obvious that despite a yearning to be successful, it is not victory alone that drives Djokovic. Throughout his fledgling career, he has recognised that tennis fans take very kindly to players who don’t take themselves too seriously. His entertaining cameo following last year’s US Open quarter-final defeat of Carlos Moya saw him impersonating rival challengers from the ATP tour much to the amusement of the assembled audience. In the build up to Wimbledon he repeated the feat for the cameras, targeting the routines of Nadal and Sharapova in particular; the high jinks won him legions of fans and even ruffled a few feathers in the locker room.
Young man’s game
For all his joking, his concentration on court is second to none and the raw energy he exudes is something special to behold. Consistency is the key to his development in 2009 and with several other young tyros breathing down his neck he knows that one slip could be costly.
As things stand six of the current top ten are under the age of 24 and all seem capable of defeating each other on their day. Off the back of an amazing season Rafael Nadal will be eager to steal Djokovic’s Australian Open title and further consolidate his No.1 position. Andy Murray has proved himself a true contender after a sterling second half of the year and with Tsonga injury-free and del Potro demonstrating a youthful fearlessness 2009 should be explosive.
Image courtesy of Quentin Shih