It was another year when one-man show continued on the ATP world tour like last many years. But this time it was not Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal who was dominating the business. It was Serbian Novak Djokvic who broke the hegemony. No doubt Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are widely regarded to be two of the greatest players to swing a racket, but they were left in the shade by Novak Djokovic in 2011. When Djokovic helped guide Serbia to a first Davis Cup title in December 2010, little did he suspect that those two wins in Belgrade would be the beginning of an astonishing 43-match unbeaten streak stretching all the way to June.
With three Grand Slam and five Masters titles, the world number one ranking, a 70-6 win-loss record and a record prize money haul of $12.6 million, Novak Djokovic was arguably the king of tennis this year. He had been unbeaten in 43 matches in the first half of the season, dating back to the Davis Cup final in Dec 2010, until the run ended against 16-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the French Open semifinals.
The streak brought him the second Australian Open title and all the season’s opening four Masters at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Rome, defeating Rafael Nadal in the finals of all of them. The loss to Federer at the French Open did not dent Djokovic’s self-belief and after taking a brief break, he went back on the winning track. The Serb defeated Nadal to win the Wimbledon and ended the Roger-Rafa duopoly at the All England Club of the past eight years. In the process, Djokovic also took the Spaniard’s world number one spot.
In the US Open final, Djokovic destroyed Nadal again after he had rallied past Federer from two sets, and two match points down, in a breathtaking semifinal. Djokovic, who had ended each season ranked No.3 in the world behind Federer and Nadal for four long years, admitted that at times he was “a little bit” frustrated beat Nadal six times out of six, Federer four out of five and world number four Andy Murray two in three, with the Briton’s win coming courtesy of an injury retirement in Cincinnati.
Djokovic’s backhand is the best in the business and his return is also in a class of his own. But unlike his predecessors at the top of the game, his success isn’t dependent on those one or two factors, rather a combination of technical acumen, consistency, a suffocating array of athleticism, effective defence and movement.
Novak Djokovic ruled the first nine months of the tennis season while longtime dominator Roger Federer rose to the occasion in the closing weeks to sweep the table in a superlative end to the 2011 ATP season. The Swiss with 16 Grand Slam titles continued on a record-setting pace as he came back from a six-week pause in the autumn to win three straight events indoors and set himself up as a major figure once again.
The 30-year-old, whose late-season fitness proved legendary compared to younger rivals Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, won his hometown event in Basle, the Paris Masters and the season-ending World Tour Finals in London. Federer should have plenty in the tank for 2012 after a season which slumped by his own unworldly standards - it was the first since 2002 that he did not win at least one Grand Slam title, ending with four trophies and his 70th career title.
Djokovic, 24, went into the off-season with satisfaction, but perhaps slightly troubled by his collapse due to injury and fatigue after winning three of the four Grand Slams, Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon.
Abdominal and shoulder problems compromised what had been a superb showing as he limped into London and left again in the group stage. The season still counts as the best of his career. Going into November, the Serb had lost only two matches and the four additional that he dropped in the final month of play hardly made a difference in a season of 10 titles and the number one ranking.
Nadal also had something of a down year, winning all of his three ATP titles on spring clay in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros before ending the season with the Davis Cup trophy as well after a gruelling 11 months. Andy Murray headed to his usual December training base in Miami hoping for better luck after the groin strain which forced him to quit London. The Scot has failed to live up to expectations on some fronts, thought his treble sweep of the autumn Asian titles did lift his spirits before the late-season injury crash.
The women’s game ended in controversy, with Dane Caroline Wozniacki standing atop the rankings against and still without a title at a major. Breakthrough Wimbledon champion and year-end winner Petra Kvitova took second from Maria Sharapova and has already emerged as a tough rival to Wozniacki, whose relationship with golfer Rory McIlroy attracts as much attention as her tennis.
Although Kvitova’s win at Wimbledon (beating Sharapova in the final) was magical, her performance at the year-end WTA championships was the more impressive result — at least for her long-term prospects.
Rebounding from the pure shock of having won Wimbledon in just her 13th appearance at a Grand Slam event, the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic recovered her composure by the early fall and went on a 12-match winning streak to end her year. Kvitova won all five of her matches at the season-ending championships, winning back-to-back three-setters over Stosur and Victoria Azarenka, respectively, in the semis and final. By the time it was over, Kvitova was breathing — hard — down the neck of year-end No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and had amply demonstrated that her win at Wimbledon was no fluke.
Australian Samantha Stosur achieved a dream by winning the US Open while Kim Clijsters didn’t play after June due to injury and was hoping for a comeback at the Australian Open.
Serena Williams returned after nearly a year away, reaching the US Open final while sister Venus confirmed she is fighting illness with plans to resume play in the New Year.
Clijsters claimed her fourth grand slam title, beating Li Na to win the Australian Open, but a catalogue of injuries brought an abrupt end to her season. Li went one better in Paris, beating defending champion Francesca Schiavone to become the first Asian major winner. Despite a slump in form after Roland Garros, the 29-year-old Li was listed by Forbes as the eighth highest-earning female athlete in the world in July. As China’s most successful sporting export, she is expected to top that list in 2012.
Like Murray, Caroline Wozniacki’s hunt for a grand slam continues, but she finished the season as world No. 1 for a second straight year ahead of Kvitova, who jumped more than 30 places up the rankings in 2011.
Another most significant event on the tour was revolt at US Open. Nadal wasn’t so calm at the rain-affected U.S. Open. Furious that organisers told him he had to play on a court that he felt was wet, Nadal snapped at tournament referee Brian Earley, “It’s the same old story. All you think about is money.” Nadal, Murray and Andy Roddick marched into the referees’ office later on the second Wednesday and let their feelings be known. “We don’t feel protected,” Nadal said in a TV interview. “Grand Slams, they win a lot of money, and they are just working for that, not us. They are calling us on court, and it’s still raining.”
Spain’s Davis Cup win — their fifth since 2000 — at least provided a silver lining to a difficult season, but Nadal said dropping the team competition from his schedule in 2012 would be part of his mission to turn around his fortunes. The 2012 season is ready to rock and roll with Djokovic defending the first of 10 titles in Australia believing that lightning can strike twice; Wozniacki seekig her first Grand Slam title. But the old horses are all geared up to keep them at bay. So here goes an interesting season.