muller.balazs's blog

As the tennis circus approaches the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne, we are all looking forward to a super season, possibly the most entertaining and exciting one in a long time.     
 

After winning his first US Open title and third Grand Slam of the year, Novak Djokovic is now undisputedly the best player on tour who deservedly holds the nr. 1 ranking as well.
 
The fact that he held off the pressure and managed to win at Flushing Meadows was not such a big surprise, considering the stellar season he has had so far. But in doing so, for the first time, he managed to beat both Federer and Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament.
 

It is now once again time in the tennis world to say good-bye to the red dirt and focus on the green lawn courts.
 
Roland Garros has just ended and the second Grand Slam of the year is of course worth a few reflections.

The Masters tournament in Madrid last week was special in many ways. Novak Djokovic managed to maintain his astonishing winning run in 2011 by beating Rafa Nadal in the final, paving the way for a serious challenge of the Nr. 1 ranking before the end of the year.

Nadal went into the tournament as the huge favourite, playing on his favourite clay surface and in front of his home crowd in the Spanish capital.

The start of the 2011 season has been slightly unexpected with Novak Djokovic joining the top two elite players of the game - Nadal and Federer, now forming a super trio that is way above the rest.

While previous predictions of this year mainly featured Rafa and Roger, who (just like during the past few years) would own the men's game and decide the Nr. 1 ranking among themselves, the situation is now more complicated with Nole as another serious contender for the Nr. 1 spot.

The name of 20-year old Canadian Milos Raonic was hardly known by anyone a few months ago. Now, he's the hot topic of the tennis community after his impressive start to the 2011 season.
 
He recently won the 250 event in San Jose and followed it up with an equally strong performance in Memphis last week, as runner-up to first seed Andy Roddick.
 
In fact, Roddick found it incredibly difficult to overcome the spirited young Canadian, only managing to do so in 3 hard-fought sets.
 

Reflecting a bit on the Australian Open, one of the biggest questions now is of course how Roger Federer will be affected by his semi-final loss against Novak Djokovic.

Losing that match must have been particularly painful, especially since Novak also ousted the Swiss at the 2010 US Open semis.

I have a feeling that after having enjoyed such a superb indoor season at the end of last year, including easy wins over Djokovic 4 times, Fed must have felt a huge confidence going into his fatal OZ semi-final clash.

The 2011 season got underway with a slightly unexpected winner of the Australian Open - Novak Djokovic. This is not a huge surprise, of course, considering Nole's recent form and newly found self confidence.
 
The majority of the tennis community most likely expected a final showdown between the two giants, Federer and Nadal, but this was not to be the case this time.
 
Djokovic showed an impressive quality of play over the two weeks, culminating in his 3 sets win over Fed in the semi-final, probably his best match ever.