Men's Tennis: 5 Moments That Have Made Novak Djokovic's 2011

It has been a long season already, but still an unfinished one. There are still three months left for the ATP season of 2011.

As much as we may have the sense that the meaningful tennis season is over there are still two Master Series tournaments, and of course, that traditional excuse for a pseudo fifth major, the World Tour Finals in London.

But 2011 even in September has been a historic year, and if anybody's, certainly the year of Novak Djokovic. The Serb is a mind-blowing 64-3 this year, and a winner of three slams, ad nine tournaments overall.

We easily forget, then, that there has been quite an explosion of historic, epochal tennis seasons of late. 2009 and 2010, for instance, were supposed to be the carer-defining years of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Notwithstanding, of course, the breakout year of the latter in 2008, and Federer years before that, from 2004-7. counting broadly, we have had nearly a decade of historic tennis.

Djokovic’s efforts haven't come easy, and on the road to the top he had to endure, among others, the washover from Rafael Nadal's grand slam 2010, and Roger Federer's remarkable return to brilliance late last season.

At the end, though, it has been an usurpation, of the most vicious and gruelling, yet for it satiating, kind.

It has been historic in a sense not known before too, since, for the first time in seven years, a man not named Federer or Nadal has ascended to the very top. These are five moments that have defined the Novak Djokovic 2011.

Leading Serbia to the Davis Cup 2010

To start with there was leading the country to victory at the end of last year.

Playing a pivotal role in Serbia's victory over France certainly released the selfless tennis patriot within him.

It also released a sort of warm feeling not attainable or comparable to any sort of selfish, single championship.

Not only did he play for the winning team, he won the key fourth rubber that clinched the whole tie in itself.

It was a straight sets blowout against Gilles Simon, and with it, all the angst and frustration of the year, and of the years before.

Serbia hadn't won the Davis Cup before, and finally here was a vindication of its tennis excellence.

He didn't have to play not to lose, because, of all times, here he played to win, and neither entirely for himself. It was just the cathartic moment he had been waiting for.

He had done some good for the morale of his young but scarred nation, and with it, some good for himself. Djokovic was to go on without a loss for the next six months.

Defeating Roger Federer at the Australian Open 2011 Semifinals

Probably the next biggest thing after winning the Davis Cup with the home team was having a terrific tournament at Melbourne.

Novak played great all fortnight, and when he came up against Roger Federer, likely faced his greatest threat.

The Swiss, one might recall, was after all the heavy favourite for the tournament, having enjoyed a dominant end to 2010, which had carried on to 2011, when he won at Doha.

Djokovic, however, was quite unstoppable, and invoked the slight psychological edge he had (having beaten Federer at the 2010 US Open) to beat the Swiss again in straights.

How much confidence he derived from that was only to be seen when he demolished Andy Murray in the final, and indeed it could well be said that winning, and not losing.

That match gave him all sorts of freedom to do even more after that.

Downing and Outlasting Rafael Nadal at Miami

By the time Novak Djokovic met Rafael Nadal in the final of the Miami Masters, he had already achieved what many had thought impossible just four months before.

Djokovic won a slam, and then two more tournaments.

Here he was, then, facing the same opponent he had faced in the Indian Wells final a week before, and attempting to win the elusive Indian-Miami double that few had ever managed.

The task was tall, however, as in Nadal he faced someone conditioned well enough to last hours in the humid heat of Miami.

Djokovic stunned everyone, however, in winning—7-6 in the third, and effectively outpacing and lasting the fittest player on tour. If ever he should have sent a psychological blow to the Spaniard, he could hardly have done better.

Winning so tough certainly set him up well for the next few months, and for the victories he would have on clay.

Indeed in beating the world number one for a second straight time Djokovic was sending a message which reverberations would only come full-tilt at Wimbledon.

Beating Rafa for a Fourth Straight Time, on Clay, at Rome

As if he hadn’t achieved enough in winning at Miami. Djokovic went on to win even more.

At Madrid, he beat Nadal again—this time on clay, however, and hence worthier of the proverbial raising of the eyelids.

Was the Spaniard in trouble, even on his beloved red dirt?

Many nonetheless simply dismissed it—Madrid’s too fast, it isn’t really clay, Djokovic clearly had the advantage.

But he certainly turned any words of doubt and suspicion into ones of the most startled praise.

He bested the Spaniard, for a fourth straight time, in a fourth straight final, on clay which had no claim to being aided by altitude—at Rome.

There, in two gladiatorial sets Djokovic battered Nadal into submission, and very subtly shook the tennis world in ways it had never before known. (The aftershocks played no small part in Nadal’s very near miss against John Isner in the first round in Paris).

The king of clay had been beaten, but was he down and out?

It turned out, not quite yet, and Rome was to be Djokovic’s last tournament before the end of his 41 match winning streak at the hands of Roger Federer at the French Open. 

It was, however, to be but a brief reprieve before setting his eyes on the biggest prize of them all.

Winning Wimbledon for the First Time

Few could have foreseen this scenario the year before, and few even, a year later.

Roger Federer, having played the best French Open of his career, was expected to do even better on the surface he made home for many years, the lawns of Wimbledon.

Bounded out in surprising fashion by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Federer made a repeat of his semifinal against Djokovic an impossibility,

Federer handed the Serbian the biggest chance of his career—a Wimbledon final.

Not that Tsonga was a pushover, of course, but only that Federer was certainly the largest obstacle he would have had to face to reach the final.

When he got there after four sets he faced Nadal, yet again, for a fifth time in 2011.

In matchup few probably had anticipated Nadal and Djokovic made Wimbledon the scene of the latest addition to their saga.

The grunting was uproarious, the tennis stupendous, but in the end Djokovic overpowered the Wimbledon champion, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

With every stroke the crown of tennis had shifted, and in the end, changed places altogether.

It was a rough succession ceremony for Nadal, but he could only admit the truth—a period in his career had passed, and another begun, in that of Novak Djokovic.

Heading for Godhood? Yet Another Major in 2011, the US Open

The next step for any player who has attained the number one ranking is to defend it.

Djokovic had different ideas on his mind entering the US Open some two months after Wimbledon.

He had lost two finals there already, and was not ready to make it a third.

He narrowly won his semifinal clash against Roger Federer, when he had found himself down two sets to love, and match points in the final set, and faced—guess who—Nadal in the final.

The Spaniard had been at the receiving end of all his success in 2011, and but for three tournaments before Novak had had to defeat Nadal for all his victories.

This time, however, it was almost a mirror image of their first meeting in Indian Wells, when Nadal still had an aura of untouchability about him in the first set, and Novak still looked the hunter.

ON this occasion Nadal is was who had to play close, play tight, and play tough—just to keep up with the Serbian.

Djokovic held the novel role of favourite in a grand slam final against one of the greatest players ever. It rarely got to him, however, and Djokovic simply blasted past Nadal in the first two sets.

The third was tight, and seemed to hint at five sets, when he cramped, and Nadal regained some composure. But the fourth was a masterclass, and Nadal had no answer.

For the loss of just a game in that set Djokovic swept away the match, and tournament. It has been already a memorable 2011, and it has just about been all the story of Novak Djokovic thus far.