One Grand Slam down, one win. 2015 has got off to a pretty regular start for Novak Djokovic, and following his 50th career title just a few days ago, life couldn’t be much better.
The Serb collected his fourth Indian Wells Masters trophy in California ahead of the Miami Open seeing off both Andy Murray and world number two Roger Federer in the final, in fairly hostile circumstances.
With a crowd well behind the Swiss superstar, and a battling Federer, Djokovic had to get over a second set blip to win the tie-break, and get his year off to the best possible start, and perhaps a season full of Grand Slams.
He told BBC Sport, “Nothing has been handed to me. I had to earn this, to fight for it with all the commitment to my everyday routine with my team. Hopefully I can use this confidence for the rest of the season. It’s a great start.”
And it certainly is. Bookies already have him as favourite for the US Open and Wimbledon in the tennis odds, and is second only behind Rafael Nadal for the French, although that’s hardly surprising.
His victory in California certainly shows he’s ready for the year, his beating of Andy Murray was dominating, breaking the British number one three times beating him in straight sets with consummate ease.
It’s the second time this season the 27-year-old has coasted past Murray, beating him in the Australian Open final in January, as well as wins against three other top ten seeds on the circuit.
Which sets him up for another great year. This time last year he’d had only one win to his name, again another victory over Federer at Indian Wells, but with an Australian Open win and Dubai final on top of a Davis Cup win against Croatian Mate Delic, he looks well in form for an incredible season.
He’s tournaments in Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome before the next Grand Slam, and with plenty of practice on clay to come, he could snatch his first French Open title from the King of Clay Rafa Nadal.
In fact, Novak himself hit the nail on the head recently in an interview with CNN. He said, “I think the four of us guys who have been dominating the men’s side for the last seven, eight years have been moving the borders and raising the standards of the performance of the play and making each other better players, making each other improve, so that’s something that’s always in the back of my mind.”
This season is going to be another high-quality season, and with Djokovic working harder than ever, it only means one thing: another huge season for the Serb.