Monday, April 4, 2011

ATP List: Novak moves closer to Rafa!

    With the title at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Novak has consolidated at number two in the ATP Ranking list.
 
    The best Serbian tennis player has been rewarded with 990 points (he lost in the second round last year) and he now has 9,700, which is 1150 more than Federer whom he beat three times this year. The 23-year-old Belgrade native has 3,170 points less than top-ranked Nadal, whom he defeated in the first two Masters tournament finals of the season.

   Novak is first in the ATP race list, which leads to the ATP World Tour Finals in London. He has 4,725 points, and is followed by Federer and Nadal with 1,990 and 1,690 points.
 
After a one week break, Nole will continue his phenomenal year on clay season. The next stop for our champion, who has improved to 24-0 in 2011, is Monte Carlo, the third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the season, which begins on April 10.
 
ATP top 10 as of April 4:
1.(1) Rafael Nadal (Spain) 12,870
2.(2) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 9,700
3.(3) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 8,550
4.(5) Andy Murray (Great Britain) 5,545
5.(4) Robin Soderling (Sweden) 5,420
6.(6) David Ferrer (Spain) 4,600
7.(7) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 3,900
8.(9) Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 2,925
9.(10) Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 2,660
10.(11) Gael Monfils (France) 2,600
 
" I know I had the best start of the season, no question about it. It's the best four months in my life," Djokovic said. "But it's only the start of the season. I think it's a bit early to talk about getting that top spot in the rankings. It's still quite a big difference. Rafa is definitely the best player in the world now. "
 
For Novak to get that top ranking he knows he needs to carry his early-season hard court form over to the European clay court season and beyond.
 
" If I want to have a shot at the number one ranking, I need to play consistently well throughout the whole year. We all know that clay court is his (Nadal's) favorite surface, but these wins are going to give me a big confidence boost for the upcoming clay court season. "
 
Rafa sees the situation differently given the Serbian's recent form.
 
" I think he's going to be no.1," he said. "I don't feel like he's breathing on my neck, but he won two tournaments in a row right now, very big tournaments and one grand slam. The normal thing is he will be number one in the next month and a half, two months. I don't know, it depends on my results on clay," said Nadal. "But I am going to fight for me. If I am solid, if I play a very good clay court season, we will see what the situation is afterward. "

  SOURCE: Novak Djokovic Official WebSite
                              (read more)

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Impressive Novak wins epic Miami final, remains unbeaten in 2011!

   Novak Djokovic's tremendous start to 2011 continues!

   The world no.2 continued his dominance this year with his second win over top-seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal in ATP finals.

   Novak came back from a set down to beat the Spaniard 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in 3 hours and 21 minutes in the Miami heat on Sunday for his seventh ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy!
  It is Djokovic’s 22nd career title and second at the Sony Ericsson Open.
 
The unbelievable final match at Key Biscayne was 25th encounter of the top two players in the world. Nadal leads their head-to-head 16-9, but Nole now has a 9-5 record against the Spaniard on hard courts.

 
  Novak held to love in the opening game of the match with four big forehands. He was broken for the first time at the event in the third game, and then again in the fifth. The 23-year-old Serb had several opportunities to break Nadal’s serve in the fourth and sixth games, but the Spaniard held to consolidate the breaks for 5-2 lead. Nole managed to break back once, but Rafa closed the set 6-4 in 56 minutes.
 
  Novak raised the level of his game at the beginning of the second set. We saw the best point of the set at 15-0 as Djokovic sealed a stuning rally with an amazing reply to a drop shot at the tightest of angles. The Belgrade native made a break in the second game and held to increase his lead to 3-0. He served out the set comfortably 6-3.
 
  There were no breaks in the dramatic decisive third set so it went into a tie-breaker. Nole was calm and focused; he produced the big shots when it mattered most and won it 7-4.

  SOURCE: Novak Djokovic Official WebSite
                               (read more)