Novak Djokovic started this year in amazing fashion, notching his second Australian Open title and thus becoming a multiple grand slam title winner. Not wanting to rest on these laurels, Djokovic has used that AO win to build momentum and steamroll past everyone else. In fact, he has yet to lose a match in 2011. His 24-match winning streak is the best start to a year since Ivan Lendl won 29 consecutive matches to kick off 1986 (McEnroe holds the men's record with a staggering 39 wins before his first loss in 1984). This streak includes three wins over Roger Federer and, unfortunately, two over Rafael Nadal as well.
(That those two wins over Rafa came in finals of Masters tournaments are rather awful for any Nadal fan like myself, but its good to know that Rafa remains immensely competitive on hard courts, especially when you consider the fact that hard courts are Novak's best surface.)
Djokovic's amazing 2011 has allowed him to firmly supplant Roger Federer as world #2. He's now nipping at the heels of Rafa, who is ahead of Novak by less than 4000 points but has a ton of points to defend over the clay court season leading to Wimbledon. Hopefully Rafa can defend most, if not all, the points he won between April and July and thus remain at #1.
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