We continue our look at the career of Novak Djokovic today.
2013: Sixth Grand Slam title and 100 weeks at No. 1
Djokovic began the 2013 season by defeating Murray in the
final of the 2013 Australian Open to win a record third consecutive Australian
Open trophy and the sixth Grand Slam of his career. A week later, he
participated in a Davis Cup match against Belgium, where he defeated Olivier
Rochus in straight sets to give the Serbian team a 2–0 lead.
On 2 March 2013, Djokovic won the thirty-sixth professional
single's title of his career by defeating Tomáš Berdych in the final of the
Dubai Tennis Championships. Another solid week of tennis saw Djokovic reach the
semi-finals at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, before losing to del
Potro, bringing an end to his twenty-two match winning streak. The following
week, Djokovic went into the Miami Masters as defending champion, but lost in
the fourth round to Tommy Haas in straight sets.
In April, Djokovic played for Serbia as the country faced
the United States in the Davis Cup quarter-finals. Djokovic clinched the tie
for his team by defeating John Isner and Sam Querrey. Later that month, he
defeated eight-time champion Nadal in straight sets in the final of the
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to clinch his first title in Monte Carlo. In May, he
was defeated by Grigor Dimitrov in three sets in the second round of the Mutua
Madrid Open in Madrid. The following week, he lost to Berdych at the
quarter-final stage of the Rome Masters.
Djokovic began his French Open campaign with a straight
three sets win over David Goffin in the first round and also defeated Guido
Pella in straight sets in the second round. In the third round, Djokovic
defeated Dimitrov in three sets. In the fourth round he came back from a set
down and defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in four sets and in the
process he had reached a 16th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final. Djokovic
then lost to Nadal in the semi-final in five sets.
In the finals of the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic
lost to Murray in straight sets. At the Rogers Cup, he lost to Nadal in the
semi-final in three sets. Later, Djokovic lost to Isner in the quarter-finals
in Cincinnati. Djokovic went on to reach the US Open final, where he met Nadal
for the 37th time in his career . He went on to lose in four sets. In early
October, Djokovic collected his fourth Beijing title by defeating Nadal in the
final in straight sets. He also collected his second Shanghai Rolex Masters
title, extending his winning streak to 20–0 over the last 2 seasons at the hard
court Asian swing of the tour. Djokovic won his 16 Masters 1000 title in Paris
at the end of the season, beating David Ferrer in the final. At the 2013 ATP
World Tour Finals Djokovic retained the trophy, beating Nadal in straight sets.
2014: Second Wimbledon title, four masters & return to
No. 1
Djokovic began the year with a warmup tournament win, the
2013 Mubadala World Tennis Championship. At the Australian Open, he won his
first four matches in straight sets, against Lukáš Lacko, Leonardo Mayer, Denis
Istomin and number 15 seed Fabio Fognini respectively. He met Wawrinka in the
quarterfinals of the tournament, the second consecutive year the two had met at
the event. Despite coming back from two sets to one down, Djokovic fell 9–7 in
the fifth set, ending his 25–match winning streak in Melbourne, as well as his
streak of 14 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals. The week of 27 January marked
the first time since 2011 that Djokovic has not been a Grand Slam title holder.
Djokovic also would play in the Dubai Tennis Championships
but lost to eventual champion Roger Federer in the semifinals. However,
Djokovic would avenge his loss to Federer, winning his third Indian Wells
Masters title, beating Federer in the final. Continuing his good run, he beat
world No. 1 Nadal in the final of the Miami Masters in straight sets. Suffering
from a wrist injury which hampered him throughout the Monte-Carlo Masters,
Djokovic lost the semifinals to Federer in straight sets. After returning from
injury, Djokovic won his third Rome title by beating Nadal in the final of the
Italian Open. He subsequently donated the $500,000 in prize money that he had
received to the victims of the 2014 Southeast Europe floods.
Djokovic reached the final of the French Open losing only
two sets in six matches, but lost in the final to Nadal in four sets. It was
Djokovic's first defeat in the last 5 matches between both. At the Wimbledon
Championships Djokovic defeated Roger Federer in the final in five sets. With
this victory he replaced Rafael Nadal again as the world number one. Djokovic
played at the Rogers Cup, losing to eventual first-time champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
in straight sets. He followed that with a loss to Tommy Robredo at the
Cincinnati Masters. At the US Open, Djokovic reached the semifinals, where he
lost in four sets to Kei Nishikori.
Djokovic returned to Beijing with a fifth trophy in 6 years,
defeating Murray in the semifinal and Berdych in the final. He was beaten by
Federer in semis of Shanghai Masters next week. He then won Paris Bercy masters
title, without losing a single set, beating Raonic in the final.
In the world tour finals, Djokovic created a record by
winning three round robin matches with a loss of just 9 games. By reaching the
semis, he also secured the year-end number 1 ranking for the third time, tying
him with Nadal at fifth position. He was awarded the World Tour Finals trophy after
Federer withdrew before the finals. This marked the 7th title of the season for
him and the 4th title at the World Tour Finals.
2015: Three Majors, six masters, 11 titles & ranking
points record
Djokovic began the season at the Qatar Open in Doha, where
he won his first two rounds for the loss of just 6 games, however lost in the
quarterfinals against Ivo Karlović in three tight sets. He rebounded from this
defeat well at the Australian Open, where he made it through the first five
rounds without dropping a set. In the semifinals he faced defending champion
Stan Wawrinka, the man who beat him the previous year. He twice lost a set
lead, however came roaring back in the fifth to take it to love, and set up a
third final against Andy Murray. After splitting the first two sets in
tiebreakers, Djokovic suddenly found his form after dropping his serve at the
start of the third set, going on to win 12 of the last 13 games to record a
four set victory over the Scot, and win an Open Era record-breaking fifth title
in Melbourne, overtaking Roger Federer and Andre Agassi.
Additionally he moved into equal eighth on the all-time list
of men with the most Major titles, tying Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors, Ken
Rosewall and Fred Perry.
He next competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships and lost
to Roger Federer in the final. After 2 weeks, Djokovic defeated John Isner and
Andy Murray en route to his 21st Masters 1000 title, beating Federer in three
sets in Indian Wells. In Miami, he defeated David Ferrer and John Isner en
route to winning his fifth title defeating Andy Murray in three sets. With his
22nd Masters title, Djokovic became the first player to complete the Indian
Wells – Miami title sweep three times. In April, Djokovic clinched his second
Monte-Carlo Masters by beating Tomas Berdych in the final. Djokovic withdrew
from the 2015 Madrid Masters. He won the title for the fourth time at the Rome
Masters, making it 4 out of 4 titles in Masters 1000 events entered by Djokovic
in 2015.
He continued his good form on clay at the French Open, by
reaching the final without dropping a set in the first five rounds, including a
quarterfinal clash with Nadal and a five set semifinal victory over No. 3 seed
Andy Murray which took two days to complete. This meant he became only the
second man to have won against Nadal at the French Open. However, he lost the
next match and the tournament to No. 8 seed Stan Wawrinka in four sets, after
having prevailed in the first set and being up a break in the fourth set and up
40–0 on Wawrinka's serve in a subsequent game. He lost six of the final seven
games of the match. With this loss, Djokovic was denied his first victory at
the French Open and a personal career Grand Slam. Five weeks later, he
rebounded again from a tough loss in Paris, just like 2014, coming from two
sets down to beat Kevin Anderson in the fourth round, and then going on to
claim his third Wimbledon title in his fourth final at the All England Club,
with a four set win over Roger Federer.
Prior to the final Grand Slam event of the year, Djokovic
had the chance to become the first man in history to complete the full set of
Masters 1000 titles in Cincinnati, and reached the final for the fifth time,
however he was once again beaten by Federer, making it a fifth straight defeat
in a Cincinnati final. At the 2015 US Open, Djokovic reached the final for the
sixth time in his career, achieving the feat of reaching all four grand slam
finals in a single calendar year. In the final of the tournament, he faced
Federer once again, defeating him in four sets to win his third grand slam
title of the year, his second title at Flushing Meadows, and his tenth career
grand slam singles title, becoming the fifth man in the Open Era to win ten or
more Grand Slam singles titles, as well as only the third man to reach all four
Major finals in a calendar year.
He returned to Beijing in October, winning the title for the
sixth time, defeating Nadal in straight sets in the final to bring his overall
record at the tournament to 29-0. Djokovic then reached the final of the Paris
Masters, where he defeated Murray in straight sets, taking his fourth title
there and a record sixth ATP Masters 1000 tournament in one year. After losing
to Federer in the round-robin stage of the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals he took
on the third seed again in the final. He beat Federer in straight sets winning
his fifth World Tour Finals title and he became the first player to win four
consecutive end-of-year finals tournaments.
Part Four Coming Tomorrow...
Tipster Street.
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