Ranking the Top Candidates for 2014 ATP Player of the Year
The curtain is preparing to drop on the 2014 ATP season. The encore is just around the corner in the shape of the ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 9-16. This means there is still an opportunity to come to the fore, steal the show and in the process be crowned player of the year.
The tennis gods have been generous in their distribution of the game's most distinctive honours. All of the Grand Slams were won by different competitors, including two of the most surprising winners in recent memory.
Marin Cilic beat Kei Nishikori in the U.S. Open final to alert those who had become foolishly blinkered in the midst of the Big Four's dominance over the last six years. The Croatian was thus able to stake a meaningful, if slightly hopeful, case for inclusion in the player of the year category.
The warning signs were there to be heeded prior to Cilic's win in New York. Stan Wawrinka had issued them when he recorded an unexpected win over Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open.
That Grand Slam shocks should bookend the 2014 season seems as fitting a reason as any to declare this one of the most enthralling years on tour. Novak Djokovic has remained his dominant self, dispatching most with ease but occasionally coming unstuck.
The players in contention for the ATP crown won't shock or incite cross-examination from pundits. Nonetheless, they have merited their places in this list based primarily on their contribution to the tour over the past 10 months.
The list also gives acknowledgement to those players who would be in contention for the award were it not based on rankings.
Honourable Mentions
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Cilic will not yearn for the tour's ultimate recognition. A first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows will leave him in a state of contentment most players on the circuit can still only dream about.
At the time of writing, Cilic sits in fifth place in the Race to London rankings, making him seem all but sure of being able to shake up the tour again by excelling at the World Tour Finals.
His season cannot be deemed as anything other than a success; however defeat to Andy Murray at the China Open was the inevitable comedown all champions endure.
Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov enhanced their burgeoning careers by reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon. They would have been worthy inclusions were it not for the precarious nature of their positions in the Race to London.
Tomas Berdych has also produced a solid, if unspectacular, season. The Czech advanced to the semis and quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Roland Garros, respectively.
Stan Wawrinka
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Stan Wawrinka's fourth spot in the rankings may not be secure yet, but his first Grand Slam win was a catalyst for changes within the game.
His victory in the Australian Open over Nadal had ramifications that ran deep below the surface. According to BBC Sport, Marin Cilic said that "Wawrinka opened the doors for us from the second group. Most of the guys now have bigger belief they can do it at the Grand Slams. It's a bit of a change-up this year."
That both Cilic and Nishikori, having beaten Roger Federer and Djokovic, respectively, competed in the final at the U.S. Open suggests that the shift is in motion.
Wawrinka's lofty position also owes to his win in Monte Carlo over Federer. The 1,000 points on offer supplemented the healthy total he had attained by winning in Australia.
It is almost too scientific to only concentrate on the dissection of where points were won in the attempt to become player of the year. This is why Cilic's comments add somewhat of a human element to the worthiness of Wawrinka's position.
Indeed, if the right-handed Swiss did reconfigure mindsets within the "second group," then it is almost unarguable that his place in this list is deserved.
Kei Nishikori
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It would not take a tennis statistician specialising in the most convoluted of figures to recognise that 2014 has been significant for Nishikori.
A bittersweet U.S. Open was the moment his promise and ability came to the fore, defeating Raonic, Wawrinka and Djokovic on his route to the final.
Cilic's comfortable margin of victory at the last hurdle shouldn't take anything away from what was an inspired tournament for Nishikori. Victory over Raonic in the Japan Open final on Saturday confirms to the casual tennis fan that there is nothing fleeting about Nishikori.
He is here to stay.
Titles in Memphis, Barcelona and Kuala Lumpur will provide only a measly inch of the satisfaction that Nishikori would have taken from winning his first Grand Slam.
Yet, these strong performances have aided him immensely as he currently occupies a place in the top six in the Race to London.
CNN.com's Kieron Monks wrote that Nishikori "has blazed a trail through history," referring to his starring role in the revolutionizing of Asian tennis. As a poster boy for this journey that Monks alludes to, Nishikori will have to negotiate with the pressure that comes with such a position.
The ATP Player of the Year title will belong to one of the candidates discussed in the following slides, but Nishikori's second breakthrough has got the tennis world talking.
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Rafael Nadal
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Give Nadal a tennis ball on the baking clay of Roland Garros and the rest will take care of itself. The French Open was indeed one of the Spaniard's vintage moments in 2014.
When everything clicks, as it so often does at the French Open, Nadal is unstoppable. Murray and Djokovic both fell to the undisputed champion in May.
That particular formality aside, Nadal has struggled to light up the tour. Djokovic saw him off in both the Rome and Miami finals.
Shock defeats to Nick Kyrgios and Alexandr Dolgopolov at Wimbledon and Indian Wells, respectively, had everyone inevitably thinking aloud about when the crop of young players will charge at the old.
Yet, Nadal followed up a defeat to Djokovic in Rome with a victory over him at Roland Garros. It is typical of the man.
His place at No. 2 in the rankings is merited. Nadal has earned the opportunity to slip and not be chastised.
While he won't find a way past Djokovic to the top of the ATP rankings, he possesses the edge over the chasing pack.
The Guardian's Simon Cambers wrote that "getting himself to the point where he could win again in Paris took an awful lot of emotional and mental effort."
This is perhaps where the edge lies for Nadal. Few can match him in this way, meaning on any given day, Djokovic's biggest rival for the player of the year title would be the game's most distinguished fighter.
Roger Federer
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Fundamental to the artist are his strokes. Federer's remain golden.
He is, as is widely acknowledged, a rare breed. For so long the people's champion, the 33-year-old reached eight finals this season, winning three and marginally missing out on another Wimbledon title in the process.
In an age in which his biggest rival, Nadal, has been dubbed the fighter, Simon Briggs of the Daily Telegraph labels Federer the "survivor." Briggs also questions whether Nadal could "ever be as great, for as long, as Federer has been."
It is true that Federer always finds a way to endure and return time and again. He reached the semi-finals in three of the four majors this year.
The pain was etched into his face as Djokovic defeated him in the Wimbledon final, his features worn momentarily by another great battle.
He then made the final in his two following tournaments, winning the Cincinnati Masters against David Ferrer.
While Djokovic has shone on a different level this season, Federer continues to find a route towards the top of the rankings and stays in contention for the ATP Player of the Year award.
Tennis' 21st century hero continues to perform to a standard that will see him inducted into the trivial debate about the greatest player who ever lived. However, for this year, he may have to surrender his inadvertent pursuit of the player of the year title to this list's final candidate.
Novak Djokovic
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Much of the talk surrounding the game has been devoted to the proximity of what Cilic termed the "second group" to the game's bona fide stars.
Yet, Djokovic's performance against Berdych in the China Open final proved that there is considerable ground for the chasing pack to cover.
Berdych took two games late in the second set to stop Djokovic from completing a staggering double bagel.
The Serbian has excelled in the Masters 1000 events this year, winning in Indian Wells, Miami and Rome. He also utilised every weapon in his arsenal to win in five sets against Federer in the Wimbledon final.
This is a man in his prime.
Tennis correspondent David Law tweeted that "Djokovic is actually getting better."
His four-year run of winning at least one Grand Slam corroborates the notion that Djokovic is the most complete player on tour. His touch shows no sign of deserting him.
The possibility of winning three ATP World Tour Finals in a row could become a reality when Djokovic defends his crown next month.
The ATP website conceded "it will be a near impossible task to overthrow the World No. 1" if his good form continues.
Djokovic has that in abundance. He should beat both Federer and Nadal to the ATP Player of the Year award thanks to the confident, peerless tennis he is playing.
Make no mistake about it. The award is his to lose.
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