When winning a grand slam and finishing #2 in the world is considered a disappointing season, you know the expectations on you are really high. Such is the case for Novak Djokovic, who won the Australian Open in 2013, and finished #2 in the world behind Rafael Nadal. For Nadal, 2013 was more than just a bounce back season. It was reaffirmation of his greatness and a reminder that when healthy, there may be no one who has played the sport of tennis as well as he has. For Djokovic, it was a season where he realized that the level of play required of him to continue to dominate the ATP World Tour had just been raised.
Djokovic watched Nadal once again win the French Open and US Open, and also saw Andy Murray win Wimbledon. Djokovic no longer had Roger Federer to worry about, but in Federer's place he had to deal with a refreshed and rejuvenated Rafael Nadal and an Andy Murray who is playing the best tennis of his career. With these seismic changes in the tennis landscape occurring in 2013, Novak Djokovic enters 2014 with challenges that we didn't foresee as we entered 2013. He is no longer considered a lock to win any grand slam, whereas a year ago, he was the heavy favorite to win all but the French Open.
With these major changes in the tennis landscape occurring, the importance of winning the Australian Open is more important than it ever has been for Novak Djokovic. Winning the Australian Open would help Djokovic somewhat reestablish himself and let the tennis world know that he is still going to be a tough out at all grand slams, whereas failure to win the Australian Open would be disastrous. The reason why it would be so disastrous for Djokovic to fail to win the Australian Open is because the Australian Open is his favorite grand slam event. Not only is hard court Djokovic's surface of choice, but more specifically, his favorite surface is the hard courts of the Australian Open. No place is tougher to beat Novak Djokovic at (just ask Stanislas Wawrinka). If Novak Djokovic gets beaten on his favorite surface and favorite grand slam, I don't see any way he wins a grand slam in 2014. The French Open will not be viewed as even remotely possible, and as for Wimbledon and the US Open, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will be the favorites to win each event. Without winning a grand slam, Djokovic won't finish the year #1, and probably not even #2. A year without a grand slam would be a year of bigger regression than this year, and we'll be having the same conversation again in a year only with even more urgency.
In conclusion, Novak Djokovic has to win the Australian Open this year because it's the only way he can stay afloat in the conversation for the best player in the world. Right now, some people still believe Djokovic is the best player in the world in face of Rafael Nadal's incredible 2013 season in which he finished #1 in the world and won both the French Open and US Open. But if Djokovic doesn't win the Australian Open, there is no way that anybody can still think he's the best player in the world. Especially since if he doesn't win the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal will likely be the winner of it since Andy Murray is dealing with a bad back, Roger Federer's game has declined since 2012, and nobody outside of the "Big Four" is considered to be a serious grand slam threat. If Djokovic doesn't win the Australian Open, that would likely mean that Nadal will have won three of the past four grand slams with a firm grip on the world's #1 ranking going into his favorite grand slam, the French Open. No situation could be more pretty for Nadal and more disastrous for Djokovic at the same time.
---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @atp_guy
No comments:
Post a Comment