Monday, November 23, 2015

Djokovic on top

Novak Djokovic has been the clear #1 on the men's tennis tour in 2015 and to cap off an incredible year, he went on to win the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by beating Roger Federer in the finals.

It was a bit of a comeback because Novak lost to Roger when they met in the round-robin elimination round. He won his other two matches, moving him into the semis were he brushed aside an overmatched Rafa Nadal (much to my chagrin) before taking down Federer in the finals. This was an important tournament for Novak because his wins over Rafa and Roger now mean that he is dead even in his head-to-head with both (23-all with Nadal and 22-all with Federer). Considering where they all are in their respective careers, Novak is highly likely to notch more wins over the two which means he may end his career with winning head-to-head match-ups against the rest of the big four (including Murray).

How awesome have Novak's results been this year? He won three of the four majors, reaching the finals of the fourth. He won the year-end championships. He also won 6 ATP 1000 masters titles, a feat no other player has achieved. He now has 26 ATP 1000 Masters title, only 1 behind the current record-holder Nadal. He won 6 of the 8 he played (he skipped Madrid) and in the 2 ones he didn't win, he got to the finals. He now has almost twice as many points as Andy Murray who is currently ranked #2. Novak has also now been at #1 for 174 weeks, and only four male players have been #1 longer than him. (He just surprassed John McEnroe who was #1 for 170 weeks).

Given how he is playing and how no one else seems close to his level at the moment, I wouldn't be surprised if he racks up more Grand Slams and eventually ties or even surpasses Rafa and Peter Sampras who both have 14 (Novak has 10). Roger, Rafa, and Novak have utterly dominated men's tennis over the last 13 years and it's amazing to have seen three of the best male tennis players even play against each other in the same era.

No comments: