The Career Of Novak Djokovic (Part Two)

Today we continue our look at the career of Novak Djokovic...

2009: Ten finals, five titles and emergence of the Big Four  

Djokovic started the year at the Brisbane International, where he was upset by Ernests Gulbis in the first round. At the Sydney International, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the semifinals. As defending champion at the Australian Open, Djokovic retired from his quarterfinal match with former world No. 1 Andy Roddick.

After losing in the semifinals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille to Tsonga, Djokovic won the singles title at the Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating Ferrer to claim his twelfth career title. The following week, Djokovic was the defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, but lost to Roddick in the quarter-finals. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Djokovic beat Federer in the semi-finals, before losing to Murray in the final.

Djokovic reached the final of the next ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on clay, losing to Nadal in the final. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, Djokovic failed to defend the title he had won the previous year, losing in the final.

Djokovic was the top seed at his hometown tournament, the Serbia Open in Belgrade. He defeated first-time finalist Łukasz Kubot to win his second title of the year. As third seed at the Madrid Open, Djokovic advanced to the semi-finals without dropping a set. There, he faced Nadal and lost despite holding three match points. The match, at 4 hours and 3 minutes, was the longest three-set singles match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era. At the French Open, he lost in the third round to German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Djokovic began his grass court season at the Gerry Weber Open where, after the withdrawal of Federer, he competed as the top seed. He advanced to the final, where he lost to German Tommy Haas. Djokovic also lost to Haas in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

During the US Open Series, Djokovic made the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal before losing to Roddick. At the Cincinnati Masters, Djokovic defeated third-ranked Nadal in the semi-finals before losing in the final to world No. 1 Federer. At the US Open, Djokovic made the semifinals, having dropped only two sets, defeating Ivan Ljubičić, 15th seed Radek Štěpánek and 10th seed Fernando Verdasco before being defeated by Federer.

At the China Open in Beijing, Djokovic defeated Victor Hănescu, Viktor Troicki, Verdasco, and Robin Söderling en route to the final, where he defeated Marin Čilić in straight sets to win his third title of the year. Djokovic then lost in the semi-finals of the inaugural Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 to Davydenko. At the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Djokovic defeated Jan Hernych to make it to the quarter-finals, where he recovered from a deficit to defeat Wawrinka before going on to win his semi-final against Štěpánek. In the final, he defeated home favourite and three-time defending champion Federer to win his fourth title of the year. At the last Masters 1000 event of the year at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, Djokovic won his first Masters 1000 title of the year by defeating Nadal in the semi-finals, before outlasting Gaël Monfils in the final.

Coming into the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London as the defending champion, Djokovic defeated Davydenko in his first round-robin match before losing his second match to Söderling. Despite victory over Nadal in his third round-robin match, Djokovic failed to make the semi-finals. Djokovic ended the year as the world No. 3 for the third consecutive year, having played 97 matches, the most of any player on the ATP World Tour, with a 78–19 win-loss record. In addition to leading the ATP World Tour in match wins, he reached a career best ten finals, winning five titles. Djokovic also played a large role in promoting Serbia to the 2009 World Group. On 6–8 March 2010, he played a key role in bringing Serbia to the World Group quarter-finals for the first time in its independent history, winning both singles matches in the home tie against the United States against Sam Querrey and John Isner.

2010: Davis Cup title and US Open runner-up 

 

Djokovic started his year by playing in the AAMI Classic, an exhibition event. In his first match, he defeated Haas before losing to Fernando Verdasco in his second. At the 2010 Australian Open, Djokovic lost a five-setter to Tsonga in the quarter-finals. Despite the loss, he attained a career-high ranking of world No. 2 and went on to reach the semifinals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, where he lost to Youzhny. At the Dubai Tennis Championships, Djokovic reached the final, this time defeating Youzhny to win his first title of the year.

Djokovic then took part in Serbia's Davis Cup tie against the United States on clay in Belgrade and helped his country reach its first quarter-final in the Davis Cup with a 3–2 victory, defeating Querrey and Isner. At the Indian Wells Masters, Djokovic lost in the fourth round to Ljubičić. At the Miami Masters, he lost in his opening match to Olivier Rochus. Djokovic then announced that he had ceased working with Todd Martin as his coach.

In his first clay-court tournament of the year at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, top-seeded Djokovic reached the semi-finals with wins over Wawrinka and David Nalbandian before losing to Verdasco. Djokovic again lost to Verdasco at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, this time in the quarter-finals. As the defending champion at his hometown event, the Serbia Open in Belgrade, he withdrew in the quarter-finals while trailing Filip Krajinović.

Djokovic entered the French Open seeded third. He defeated Evgeny Korolev, Kei Nishikori, Victor Hănescu, and Robby Ginepri en route to the quarter-finals, where he lost to Jürgen Melzer in five sets. Djokovic entered Wimbledon as the third seed, defeating Rochus, Taylor Dent, Albert Montañés, Lleyton Hewitt, and Yen-Hsun Lu en route to the semi-finals, which he lost to Tomáš Berdych in straight sets.

Djokovic then competed at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, where he lost to Federer in the semifinals. Djokovic also competed in doubles with Nadal in a one-time, high-profile partnership. This had not happened since 1976, when Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe as world No. 1 and No. 2 paired together as a doubles team. They lost in the first round to Canadians Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil. Djokovic then lost to Roddick in the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters.

As the third seed at the US Open, Djokovic came very close to losing in his opening round against Viktor Troicki in extreme heat. He then defeated Philipp Petzschner, James Blake, Mardy Fish, and number 17 seed Gaël Monfils, all in straight sets, to reach the US Open semi-finals for the fourth consecutive year. There, he defeated Federer in five sets after saving two match points with forehand winners while serving to stay in the match at 4–5 in the 5th set. It was Djokovic's first victory over Federer at the US Open in four attempts, and his first victory over Federer in a Major since the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic went on to lose to Nadal in the final, a match that saw Nadal complete his career Grand Slam.

After helping Serbia defeat the Czech Republic 3–2 to make it to the Davis Cup final, Djokovic competed at the China Open as the top seed and defending champion. He won the title for the second successive year, after defeating Maoxin Gong, Mardy Fish, Gilles Simon, and John Isner en route to the final. Djokovic then defeated Ferrer in the final. At the Shanghai Masters, Djokovic made a semi-final appearance, losing to Federer. Djokovic played his final tournament of the year at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic was placed in Group A along with Nadal, Berdych, and Roddick. Djokovic won his first round-robin match against Berdych. He next lost to Nadal. He defeated Roddick in his final round-robin match and advanced to the semi-finals, where he lost to Federer in two sets.

Djokovic went on to win his two singles rubbers in Serbia's Davis Cup finals victory over France. This started a long unbeaten run that went on into 2011. Djokovic finished the year ranked world No. 3, his fourth successive finish at this position. He was awarded the title "Serbian Sportsman of the year" by the Olympic Committee of Serbia and "Serbian Athlete of the year" by DSL Sport.

Serbia progressed to the Davis Cup final, following the victories over Croatia  and the Czech Republic . Serbia came from 1–2 down to defeat France in the final tie 3–2 in Belgrade to win the nation's first Davis Cup Championship. In the final, Djokovic scored two singles points for Serbia, defeating Gilles Simon and Gaël Monfils. He was the backbone of the Serbian squad, going 7–0 in singles rubbers to lead the nation to the title, although the honour of winning the deciding rubber in the final went to compatriot Viktor Troicki.

2011: Three Majors, five masters & ascent to No. 1 

 

Djokovic won ten tournaments in 2011, and set a new record for the most prize money won in a single season on the ATP World Tour . Boris Becker called Djokovic's season "one of the very best years in tennis of all time," adding that it "may not be the best statistically, but he's beaten Federer, he's beaten Nadal, he's beaten everybody that came around to challenge him in the biggest tournaments in the world." Rafael Nadal, who lost to Djokovic in six finals on three different surfaces, described Djokovic's performances as "probably the highest level of tennis that I ever saw." Djokovic was named 2011 ITF World Champion. He also received the Golden Bagel Award by winning 13 sets with the result of 6–0 during the season.

In the semi-finals of the 2011 Davis Cup, Djokovic played a crucial rubber match for Serbia against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, where he retired while trailing, after reaggravating a back injury sustained during the US Open tournament. This secured Argentina's place in the final. This marked Djokovic's third loss of his 2011 season, and his second retirement.

2012: Fifth major, 3 masters & return to No. 1   

Djokovic began his season by winning the 2012 Australian Open. He won his first four rounds against Paolo Lorenzi, Santiago Giraldo, Nicolas Mahut and Lleyton Hewitt, respectively. In the quarter-finals he defeated David Ferrer in three sets. In the semi-final, Djokovic beat Murray in five sets after 4 hours and 50 minutes, coming back from a two-sets-to-one deficit and fending off break points at 5-all in the fifth set. In the final, Djokovic beat Nadal in five sets, coming from a break down in the final set to win 7–5. At 5 hours and 53 minutes, the match was the longest final in Open Era Grand Slam history, as well as the longest match in Australian Open history, surpassing the 5-hour and 14-minute 2009 semi-final between Nadal and Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic was beaten by John Isner in the semi-finals at Indian Wells. He successfully defended his title in Miami. In the Monte Carlo final, he lost in straight sets to Nadal, unable to prevent Nadal from earning his record-breaking eighth consecutive title there. Djokovic also lost in straight sets to Nadal at the Rome Masters 2012 final.

Djokovic reached his maiden French Open final in 2012 by defeating Federer, reaching the finals of all four Grand Slams consecutively. Djokovic had the chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at once, having won last year's Wimbledon and US Open titles as well as this year's Australian Open, but was beaten by Nadal in the final in four sets. Following the French Open, Djokovic was unsuccessful in defending his Wimbledon title from the prior year, losing to Roger Federer in four sets in the semifinals.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Djokovic was chosen as the flag bearer for Serbia. On 2 August 2012, Djokovic defeated French fifth seed Tsonga and advanced to the semi-finals of Olympics, where he was beaten by Murray in straight sets. In the bronze medal match he lost to Del Potro, finishing 4th.

He successively defended his Rogers Cup title, dropping just a single set to Tommy Haas. Following the Rogers Cup, Djokovic would make the finals of the Cincinnati Masters but lost to Roger Federer in straight sets.

At the US Open on 9 September, Djokovic reached his third consecutive final at Flushing Meadows by beating fourth-seeded David Ferrer in a match suspended a day earlier due to rain. He then lost the final to Murray in five sets. Djokovic went on to defend his China Open title, defeating Tsonga in straight sets. The following week he won the Shanghai Masters by defeating Murray in the final. With Federer's withdrawal from the Paris Masters, Djokovic was guaranteed to regain his world No. 1 ranking. On 12 November 2012, Djokovic won the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals by defeating Federer in the final. Because of his achievements in the 2012 season, Djokovic was named the 2012 ITF World Champion in men's singles by the International Tennis Federation.

Part Three Coming Tomorrow...

Tipster Street.