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)
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)
In the latest ATP Ranking list as of March 21, Novak is again ranked second player in the world! As a result of beating Roger Federer in the semi-finals of Indian Wells and winning the BNP Paribas trophy with a fantastic victory over Rafael Nadal in the finals, the best Serbian tennis player has climbed to no. 2 in the rankings again this week, overtaking the Swiss, who has dropped to position no.3. Nole won 910 points more than last year, going 4 steps further at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. He now has 8,710 ATP points, 430 more than Federer. Spaniard Rafael Nadal still holds the no.1 world ranking. “ It makes me feel great. It's the crown for my achievements this year. I think I deserve it. I think I've played the best tennis of my life in the last three months. I have been very dedicated, very professional, and I want to keep on going ”, said Nole of returning to the no.2 ranking for the first time since last October. ATP top 10 as of March 21: 1. Rafael Nadal (Spain) 12,630 2. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 8,710 3. Roger Federer (Switzerland) 8,280 4. Robin Soderling (Sweden) 5,735 5. Andy Murray (Great Britain) 5,545 6. David Ferrer (Spain) 4,510 7. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 4,320 8. Andy Rodick (USA) 3,260 9. Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 3,095 10. Jurgen Melzer (Austria) 2,695 SOURCE:Novak Djokovic Official WebSite (read more)
He is unbeatable on the ground, unstoppable in the air... (VIDEO) In order to show you their fastest tennis racquet ever, HEAD Tennis has Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic play the fastest tennis game ever. At over 150 mph, Djokovic needs all the power and speed he has to beat the wind drag, with the help of the HEAD Tennis YouTek IG SPEED MP 18/20 racquet, it almost looks easy...
The best Serbian tennis player of all time, Novak Djokovic, came back from a set down to defeat top seeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2 hours and 25 minutes in a blockbuster final at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday! Nole won his twenty-first career title and third of the season, and extended his perfect record this year to 18-0 which adds further weight to the argument that our champion is currently the best player in the world! This is Nole’s sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, and his second in Indian Wells (he beat Fish in 2008 finals). Novak saved four break points in the fifth game of the first set, but Nadal converted his fifth opportunity when the Serb fired a forehand over the baseline. Two more breaks of serve followed and the Spaniard closed the set 6-4 in 48 minutes. Something similar happened in the second set, only this time things went better for Djokovic. We saw three consecutive breaks of serve with Novak breaking Rafa twice, in the sixth and eighth games. He saved a break point and converted his sixth set point to take it 6-3 in 1 hour. That was a huge confidence boost for Nole and he was soon 4-0 up with a double break in the decisive third set. Nadal couldn’t do much till the end of the match . Djokovic earned his first ever victory over the Spaniard in a final with two more comfortable holds of serve for 6-2. " It was just the question of momentum," said Novak after the match. "I managed to hold that very important game at 5-3 and then I was on a roll. I felt that this is the time when I had to use my opportunity and step in and be more aggressive and take it to him, and that's what I did. Again, it was just a couple of points in the end of the second set that kind of turned the match around. " SOURCE:Novak Djokovic Official WebSite (read more)
The stage was set for the world no.2 rankings battle between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals on Saturday. Third seeded Djokovic reached his third final of the season with a fantastic 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 victory over the Swiss in 2 hours and 6 minutes and will retake the no.2 position on Monday, March 21! The Serbian extended his unbeaten run to 19 straight matches, including a 17-0 record in 2011. This was Nole's third consecutive win over the 16-time Grand Slam champion. He defeated Federer in both their meetings this year en route to the Australian Open and Dubai titles. The 2008 Indian Wells champion made a break in the fifth game of the first set. He faced two break points in the very next game, but saved them both with great serving. The best Serbian tennis player sealed the game with a fantastic volley for 4-2 lead. Federer was serving to stay in the set when Nole brought up two set points at 15-40. The Swiss saved the first but hit wide on the second and Djokovic took the set 6-3 in 43 minutes. Nole lost his momentum in the second set. He was broken twice, in the third and ninth games, and Federer won it 6-3. The 23-year-old Belgrade native broke Federer’s serve already in the opening game of the decisive third set and then saved two break point opportunities before holding for 2-0. The Swiss broke back in the fourth game to equalise the result, but Djokovic found his rhythm again, put the pressure on Federer and broke his serve two more times, in the fifth and seventh games for 5-2 lead. Nole faced a break point in the eighth game but held and closed the set and match 6-2. " Before the three consecutive wins, he had three consecutive wins, so it's changing," said Novak, "but I feel I've been more confident stepping on the court to face him than I have been in the last few years and I'm just happy about it. " " That was the biggest test of the tournament for me today. Any time I play Roger, it's a big challenge. He's a great champion, especially in the later stages of a tournament when he plays his best tennis. I played fantastic in the first set and then lost that break at the start of the second and got him back into the game. I was really fortunate to get the crucial break at 2-2 in the last set. " SOURCE:Novak Djokovic Official WebSite (read more)
