On Sunday Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in four sets to win the Australian Open and kick off 2013 in impressive fashion. With the victory Djokovic became the first man to win the grand slam of Asia three consecutive times. It seems odd that names like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and even the great Roger Federer never accomplished this feat. The Aussie Open has always been the enemy of consistency for the ATP given factors such as the sometimes extreme heat, geographic distance from the US and Europe and possible off-season hangover, given that it is the first major tournament of the year.
Novak’s dominance in Melbourne can be attributed to two major improvements in his game, a massive serve, which showcases itself primarily on the hard court and stellar conditioning. It is not an exaggeration to claim that Djokovic could be in the best shape of any male athlete on the planet. Novak was always a crafty player with good movement and power but going into the 2011 season, Novak stepped up his game in order to put his name beside Federer and Nadal. 2011 would see Djokovic win three out of four grand slams losing only on the clay of Roland Garros. In 2012 he would win the Aussie Open and go to the final in two other slams. All in all Novak has reached 11 consecutive major semi finals, the second longest streak in the Open era behind Roger Federer’s 23. The “Joker” is a long way from Roger but eclipsing the great one is looking more and more like a realistic future for Novak.
Novak is 25 and began his streak in 2010 at Wimbledon after just turning 23. He won his first major (the 2008 Australian Open) at 20. Federer began his seemingly unbreakable streak just before his 23rd birthday and won his first major one year earlier. When it comes to staying healthy, Novak has played in every grand slam since he began his ATP career in 2005. Roger has kept his grand slam appearance streak since 2000 so Novak has a ways to go but he is certainly on the right track.
Obviously the person standing on the other side of the court is just as important a factor in a player’s success and the field of competition is always changing. When Federer started his run, Pete Sampras had retired and Andre Agassi was in his swan song. With the absence of competition truly on his level (no disrespect to Andy Roddick or Marat Safin) Federer was able to feast on the ATP on hard court and grass to collect a great many of his titles. Djokovic is in a spot where Federer is now in his thirties and it is likely that soon he will not be able to keep up with Novak. One major thorn is Roger’s side was Rafael Nadal who could be penciled in as the French Open champion for most of Roger’s career. Rafa is still very much relevant especially on clay but his run and gun style of play has battered his body to a degree that Novak may soon rise above him on all surfaces and take more than the one French Open title that Federer managed. The major threat to Djokovic and the lone reason why he may not catch Roger is last year’s US Open winner and Novak’s most recent victim on Rod Laver, Andy Murray. Murray has the conditioning, movement and power to be the number one pest for Novak in the coming years but like Nadal he does not treat his body very kindly on the court so I wouldn’t be surprised if he misses his share of slams as well.
With no other realistic threats in the near future we could see the exuberant Serb put together one maybe two more 3 slam seasons and there is also a chance that he could become the third player in Men’s tennis history to hit the single season grand slam. I believe this will be the year that tells the story. Barring injury, Djokovic should do his victorious Hulk Hogan style shirt tear in at least one more major and two more would not surprise me. If he does manage to put together three or unbelievably all four slams in 2013, Roger may need to begin saying his goodbyes to a great deal of his amazing records. As a huge Federer fan, I must say I’m a bit worried but I’m also excited to see some fantastic matches and maybe a few new impressions and colorful interviews from the clown prince of tennis.
