US Open Tennis 2011: Rafael Nadal and Top Slam Champions of 2011

With the end of the 2011 US Open, the Grand Slam season is over.

Rafael Nadal who last year won three of four Grand Slams, won only one this year, the French Open. He achieved the Career Slam last year at the US Open.

Rafa had won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010. Should he have won the Australian Open this year, he would have been the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.

While Laver did achieve the Grand Slam (as a matter of fact he did it twice), Rafa could've had a piece of history, since no one other than Laver has been able to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time.

We saw six different Slam Champions for the eight Singles finals this year.

On the women we had four different winners at each tournament. Three were first time winners, none of them ranked in the Top 4 in the world.

That was a total contrast to the men's side where the top top players in the world won all four. The top ranked player in the world won three, while the No. 2 won the remaining one.

The competitive difference in both categories is astounding.

In the men's side, the Top 4 players have dominated tennis for the past few years. And the top ranked player has won three of the four Grand Slams each of the last two years.

The Grand Slam finals in the men's draws have been fought by a combination of those Top 4 players.

This brings to the forefront an old debate. What do you prefer to see in tennis, wide open competition or a dominant player winning most tournaments?

Tennis fans are split on this issue. Most of them would say that they have mixed feelings on it.

There are the ones that like to see new, fresh faces disputing the finals of the big tournaments. While there are the ones that like to see the top players dominate, and show their greatness.

It's easier to follow one player, and identify with him/her than many. No matter what you like, you got your wish granted this year.

Let's take a look at Rafa and the other top Slam Champions of 2011.

Kim Clijsters

Grand Slam Title: Australian Open

Finals Opponent: Na Li

Finals Score: 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

The win here represented the first Australian Open for Clijsters, and her fourth career Grand Slam title—she had won the US Open in 2005, 2009 and 2010.

Clijsters entered the tournament as the third seed and had to face former No. 1 Dinara Safina in the first round.

She double-bagled Safina and didn't face a seeded opponent until the quarterfinals, where she defeated 12th seed Agnieszka Radwańska in straight sets.

Clijsters then took out second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3. Up to this point Clijsters had not dropped a set.

She went on to defeat a determined Na Li—ninth seed—denying her of becoming the first Asian Grand Slam winner.

The set she lost to Na was the only set she lost all tournament.

Na Li

Grand Slam Title: French Open

Finals Opponent: Francesca Schiavone

Finals Score: 6-4, 7-6 (0)

Na Li became the first Asian to win a Grand Slam of tennis.

Thanks to this result Li Na, 29, began to appear in fourth place in the female rankings and that was excellent news for the WTA because her success is linked to some amazing audiences.

A record 116 million viewers in China, saw Li in the French Open finals.

Li validated her strong play from earlier in the year when she reached the finals of the Australian Open, where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

Li entered the tournament as the sixth seeded player.

Her first seeded opponent was ninth seed Petra Kvitova in the fourth round, which she defeated in three sets.

From then on, she did not drop a set, which was an amazing feat considering her next three opponents were seeds No. 4 Victoria Azarenka, No. 7 Maria Sharapova and No. 5 Francesca Schiavone—who was the defending champ.

Interesting fact was that Schiavone had eliminated Li in the fourth round the year before, and she used that as motivation for this year.

Petra Kvitova

Grand Slam Title: Wimbledon

Finals Opponent: Maria Sharapova

Finals Score: 6-3, 6-4

21-year-old Petra Kvitova had reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2010, where she lost to Serena Williams.

The two-time defending champion Serena Williams was making just her second appearance of the year—due to health issues—and was eliminated by Marion Bartoli in the fourth round.  

Kvitova entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed. She reached the fourth round without losing a set.

She started facing seeded players in the third round, where she matched up against No. 29 Roberta Vinci, and then faced No. 19 Yanina Wickmayer in the fourth round.

Her two toughest matches came in the quarterfinals and semifinals, where she had to battle three sets to No. 32 Tsvetana Pironkova—one of the best matches of the tournament—and No. 4 Victoria Azarenka.

Kvitova just overpowered No. 5 seed Maria Sharapova in the finals to win her first Grand Slam title.

Kvitova was the first left-hander to make the finals since her idol Martina Navaratilova did it in 1994—where she lost to Conchita Martinez.

Samantha Stosur

Grand Slam Title: US Open

Finals Opponent: Serena Williams

Finals Score: 6-2, 6-3

The most surprising Grand Slam winner of the year had to be Samantha Stosur. Not because she was the least expected, but because of who she defeated and how.

Stosur defeated heavily favored Serena Williams easily in straight sets.

She had defeated Serena twice before, so it was not like she didn't stand a fighting chance. But she was facing the best woman on tour, who happened to be an American, at the finals of the US Open, in New York, on 9-11's 10th anniversary.

But Stosur rose to the occasion and played like a champ with total control of the match. She left no chance to Williams, who had reached the final without dropping a set in the tournament.

Stosur entered the tournament as the ninth seed. She had her first big test, and her toughest match of the tournament in the third round against No. 24 seed Nadia Petrova.

She defeated Petrova 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5. Then in the next round, she played the longest tiebreak—32 points—in Grand Slam history, in her three-set win over No. 25 seed Maria Kirilenko.

In the quarterfinals she defeated No. 2 seed Vera Zvonareva, to some a surprise, but she had defeated her six straight times across all surfaces.

In the semis she had to go three sets against unseeded Angelique Kerber, before dispatching Serena in the finals.

Stosur became the first Australian female player to win a US Open title since Margaret Court did it 38 years ago.

Rafael Nadal

Grand Slam Title: French Open

Finals Opponent: Roger Federer

Finals Score: 7–5, 7–6(3), 5–7, 6–1

At the beginning of the year, Rafa was not only on top of the rankings, he was on top of the world.

He had completed the Career Slam when he won the US Open and was about to complete a Rafa-Slam had he won the Australian Open at the beginning of the year.

He failed to achieve this, and his year has been subpar to Rafa's high standards.He has been better than everyone else, just not as good as Novak Djokovic.

But if you are Rafa, you are used to being the best and being No. 1.

At least this year, he won the French Open. Rafa defeated Roger Federer—again—in a nearly four-hour contest, equaling Bjorn Borg's record six French open titles.

It was a hard fought contest that saw Federer steamroll Rafa at the beginning of the first set, but Rafa, the ever resilient, stormed back and won that ever important first set.

Rafa's path to the title was not an easy win. Maybe the toughest of any other Grand Slam winner this year.

He had to come back from two sets down in the first round to beat a feisty John Isner in five sets.

His final three matches were against No. 5 seed Robin Soderling, No. 4 Andy Murray and his final against Federer.

As you might remember, Soderling had eliminated Rafa a year before, and Federer—besides their long history—had stopped Novak Djokovic's 41-win unbeaten streak to start the year.

Definitely it was vintage Nadal here, as he won his 10th Grand Slam title.

Novak Djokovic

Grand Slam Titles: Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open

Finals Opponents: Andy Murray (Australian Open), Rafael Nadal (Wimbledon, US Open)

With the victory at the US Open, Djokovic became the most indisputable No. 1 one since Rod Laver in 1969.

Since Rod Laver's Grand Slam in 1969, only five players had won three in a season: Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, Roger Federer, Nadal and now Djokovic.

This year Djokovic has beaten Nadal six times, Federer four and Murray twice. He has lost only to  Federer and Murray, and no one besides these three have come close to beating him.

His domination is reflected by the rankings. He leads with more points than any other player since there's been a world ranking. Djokovic totals 14,720 to 10,620 by Nadal, and has some room to expand in the second half of the year.

Novak Djokovic was the Slam Master in 2011.

He won three out of four Grand Slams, and is having what could probably end up being the greatest tennis year in history.

For him to be able to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time, next year he would have to repeat at his best Slam so far, the Australian Open and then win the French Open—the only Slam he has not won.

If he does that next year, he would not only have a Nole-Slam, he would have completed a Career Slam.

That is what everyone will be watching for next year.