THE NEXT POINT ANNUAL 2011 JESSE PENTECOST Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................. 2 The Australian Summer .......................................................................... 4 The Australian Open .......................................................................... 15 The Golden Swing and the US Spring (Part One) ................................. 38 Davis Cup First Round .......................................................................... 65 The US Spring (Part Two) ..................................................................... 69 The Clay Season ................................................................................ 103 The French Open ............................................................................. 139 The Grass Season .............................................................................. 159 Wimbledon ....................................................................................... 168 Davis Cup Quarterfinals ...................................................................... 190 The US Summer ................................................................................. 194 The US Open ................................................................................... 226 Davis Cup Semifinals .......................................................................... 250 The Asian Swing ................................................................................. 255 The European Indoors ........................................................................ 273 The World Tour Finals ...................................................................... 293 Davis Cup Final .................................................................................. 307 Summary ............................................................................................ 314 (Cover photo copyright: Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated) 1 Introduction 2011 was Novak Djokovic’s year. The story for the first nine months was that he won everything, across three continents and at all levels. In doing so he achieved the No.1 ranking, and once and for all tore apart the duopoly that had controlled men’s tennis for half a decade. The story for the last two months was that he stopped winning – we’d all become habituated to it – and the supplementary debate over where his season therefore fit in the scheme of the greatest ever. Consensus seems to place it third, behind Federer’s 2006 and Laver’s 1969. Despite a flaccid finale, it’s right up there. The strangest aspect of Djokovic’s titanic year was not the manner of its unfolding, for once underway, the internal logic grew so compelling that even by Indian Wells the question was raised of how he could realistically lose. No, the most astonishing thing was that it came from nowhere. Djokovic had been the third best player in world for four years, and 2010 had ended in a flurry of largely unremarkable losses to Federer and Nadal (he went 1-6 against them after Wimbledon). He was undoubtedly imposing in winning Serbia’s first Davis Cup, but he’d only faced down a second-rate French squad. There was simply no way to know what was coming. Talk of gluten-free diets and magical hyperbaric pods came later, but never served to complete the picture. Somehow, it just all came together in Australia, and didn’t come unstuck until October. As it had been for years, the talk as the players trickled into Melbourne was of the top two. Nadal claimed three consecutive majors in 2010, the first man to do so since Laver. He was the world No.1, and would achieve the ‘Rafa Slam’ with victory in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Federer ended the season in scathing form, taking his fifth title at the tour finals with wins over Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Soderling and Ferrer for the loss of a single set. He claimed the warm-up in Doha. They were the runaway favourites for the Australian Open. Djokovic’s campaign commenced some weeks earlier at the Hopman Cup, in Perth, with an entirely forgettable match against Andrey Golubev. The Serbian opened slowly, but eventually prevailed in three sets. It was an utterly inconsequential 2 encounter, and indeed being an exhibition event it does not even figure on the official record. Nevertheless, Djokovic would not lose until May, ironically falling one match short of equalling McEnroe’s 27 year old record for best ever season beginning. This match is useful, however, for it reminds us that other things happened besides Djokovic this year. Golubev would go on to post his own heroic streak, by losing 18 consecutive matches, just three short of the record set by Vince Spadea. No one saw that coming, either, although of course no one was looking. The lesson in both cases, as in so many others, is that it is impossible to anticipate sudden change. Few anticipated Milos Raonic’s ascent, except perhaps the man himself. Certainly no one predicted that Alex Bogomolov might finish at No.34, including the man himself. In compiling this Annual, the temptation is not inconsiderable to appear knowing about these trends afterwards and prescient about them beforehand. The season has its own shape, and to imply that it therefore had a pre-ordained narrative that I’d somehow divined would require only simple editing. A nipped phrase here, and a tucked prediction there . But what would be the point? Far better to leave these pieces mostly untouched, that they may retain some of the delight and surprise I felt while writing it. Consequently, the only editorial effort has been to fix the most embarrassing grammatical errors and solecisms, which in my defence were mostly committed due to exhaustion. As an Australian fan, I am used to enjoying tennis in the very small hours of the night, but I wasn’t used to writing about it afterwards. It has been quite a ride. Thank you for reading. Jesse Pentecost Melbourne, December 2011. 3 The Australian Summer (January) Tremendous Ball Striking Hopman Cup Djokovic d. Golubev, 4/6 6/3 6/1 Anthony Hudson began his post-match interview with Serbia’s sweat-slicked Ana Ivanovic by declaring ‘You’re looking pretty hot’, and it only grew more awkward from there. Positively radiant from exertion, victory and genetics – although not in that order – she is doubtless accustomed to strong men developing gallant stammers as they gain proximity. For my wife’s sake I lambasted Hudson’s effort as roundly as she, but privately I conceded that I would probably fare no better. Ivanovic’s beauty is not of the haunting variety, which isn’t to say that it doesn’t stay with you. The lingering effects might explain why her compatriot Novak Djokovic began his match so distractedly, pushing and prodding while his opponent Andrey Golubev carved and blasted. For the first set we at home were treated to the commentary stylings of Lleyton Hewitt, who was determined to point out whenever he could that Golubev is a ‘tremendous striker of the ball’. I cannot say for certain if Hewitt was more impressed by Golubev’s skills, or the phrase itself. Down a set, Djokovic picked it up a few notches and began to strike some tremendous balls of his own, clearing out whatever cobwebs had accrued in the short weeks since the Davis Cup final. By the third set Golubev wasn’t striking the ball very tremendously at all and Hewitt had long since fled the premises. Djokovic romped home. 4 Diverting Grotesqueries Brisbane International, First Round Stepanek d. Kamke, 5/7 6/1 6/4 Becker d. Verdasco, 6/1 6/7 6/4 If one were to compile a crib sheet on Radek Stepanek - who today saw off the sporadically promising Tobias Kamke in three sets - there are three important things to know: 1. He is unorthodox and aggressive, with strangely effective strokes, capable volleys and excellent court sense. 2. He was once engaged to Martina Hingis and is now married to Nicole Vaidisova, despite being the least fetching male tennis player since Petr Korda. Now that is punching above your weight. 3. Like Korda, he embodies a rich tradition in Czech tennis of wearing disturbingly horrible t-shirts, a tradition that stretches back at least to Ivan Lendl. 2010 saw Stepanek in some humdingers, surpassed only by Srdjan Djokovic at the US Open. Quite aside from an entertaining tennis match, I was curious to see what new sartorial travesty Stepanek might unleash in Brisbane. I was hoping for something memorably hideous, so you can imagine my disappointment at discovering the match would not be televised. Instead, the featured encounter saw Fernando Verdasco facing Benjamin Becker. Frustratingly, it was looking very much like I’d have to write about actual tennis. But then the players appeared on court, and I saw what was on Verdasco’s head. Verdasco’s monumental semifinal against Rafael Nadal at the 2009 Australian Open was astonishing for any number of reasons, not least of which was the fact that even after five hours of solid exertion and litres of sweat, not a hair of his ‘faux-mo’ had broken formation. Undoubtedly Verdasco took a lot from this match besides confidence in his choice of hair product. However, despite oscillating form over the past 24 months, his hair style has been the one constant: his hair-helmet has been his rock, his armour. It wasn’t broke - clearly it’s unbreakable - so why try to fix it? 5 For whatever reason, try he did. Gone is the rigid, glistening faux-mo. In its place is an actual mo, and not a good one. There’s doubtless a Samson metaphor lurking somewhere in the