Kudos Novak!
Novak Djokovic took home his second Masters tournament of 2007 by defeating Roger Federer in a tight three-set match, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (2). In winning the tournament, he defeated the top 3 players in the world - Roddick, Nadal, and finally Federer (after winning, Djokovic took over the no. 3 spot from Roddick). No one has accomplished such a feat since Boom Boom Boris Becker 13 years ago. Not that he had anything to prove, as Djokovic has been in the top 10 more or less all year, and won the Sony Ericsson, but beating Canas in the final is a whole lot different than beating the Greatest Player of All Time. I could babble on and on about how well he played, big points, etc, but I think that would be rather boring. What was most impressive was after having a complete mental letdown and getting smoked in the second set, he was able to muster up the mental and physical strength to win the third. Honestly, if I polled everyone in the stands at the start of the final set, how many would have picked Djokovic? My guess would be 27, but I think that is a generous number.
While I’m extremely happy for Djokovic, at the sime time I feel pretty awful for him, as well as the other young guns (eg- Nadal, Gasquet, Berdych). I realize Federer has looked a tad more beatable this year, but he has still won two majors and is the heavy favorite to win a third; but overall, he really hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down. I just can’t see him relinquishing that ranking anytime within the next few years. The problem for Djokovic et al., is that by the time Federer is truly challenged for the top spot (Nadal has closed the gap, but getting all the way to number one is still like climbing Everest, and Nadal might have reached base camp 1), there will probably be at least a few new ‘young guns’ on the scene that make it just as hard for Djokovic and Nadal to reach the top. Bottom line is that Men’s tennis is so deep with talent right now, and should be in the near future, that it is hard enough to reach number one WITHOUT having to deal with Federer. Take Federer out of the equation and Roddick probably has two or three more Grand Slams, Nadal probably one Wimbledon title, and Djokovic would be a favorite alongside Roddick at next year’s Australian and US Open. Disclaimer - I am in no way suggesting that anyone “Jeff Gillooly” Federer, merely playing out a hypothetical.
Over on the WTA side of things, Ana Ivanovic made it one helluva weekend for Serbia as she defeated Nadia Petrova in straight sets to take home the LA title. Ivanovic moved up to a career high ranking of #4, right behind her compatriot, Jelena Jankovic, giving Serbia two women in the top 5 for the first time in probably forever. I’ll be honest, not much research went into that last statement, so if someone feels like doing it and proves me wrong, go ahead. So now, Serbia has three of the top ten tennis players in the world, if you combine the top 5 from the ATP and WTA. The U.S. has one (thank you Andy Roddick; Serena is #8). Here is some research I did, Serbia’s population checks in at a little over 10 million people, while the U.S. is almost 30x that amount at about 30 million people.