I wonder how Nadal will take the news, he’s #2…again. Not long ago, there was the everlasting debate of when Rafa would take the Great Federer’s #1 spot, then it happened. The tennis world was on it’s head, in awe, it’s can’t be! Oh but it was. Now the same thing has been buzzing since the start of the 2011 tennis season – Can Novak Djokovic Become #1?
On Monday, July 4th, Novak Djokovic will be crowned as the #1 tennis player in the world. He secured the top spot of the South African Airways 2011 ATP rankings with this win this morning over and impressive Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The Serb played some exceptional semifinal tennis ousting Tsonga 7-6(4), 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-3. With this win, Nole will take Nadal’s place and be at the deserving #1 spot – after all he’s only lost one flippen tennis match this year! He still has to play the Wimbledon Final still, so he’s gotta stay extremely focused.
Djokovic will face 2010 defending champion, and soon to be world #2, Rafael Nadal. Rafa took out Andy Murray in 4 sets (more on Murray in a minute). This will be the 28th time the two have met and the second time they have met in a Major Final – 2010 US Open (Nadal won in 4). However, the last 4 of their meetings in 2011 have been in Djokovic’s favor and two of those wins were on clay courts – remember Nadal is the “King of Clay”.
If I had to predict a winner for this years 2011 Wimbledon Champion I would, without hesitation, put all my money on Novak Djokovic. He is by far a much more confident player this year and he’s now got the #1 ranking, which I can imagine is a HUGE confidence booster. It will be a 5 set match for sure and it will be entertaining without doubt.
I have to say a little something about Andy Murray…. I like the guy, he’s a good player, powerful, agile, and all around good guy. One of the things I think is holding him back to use his full potential is what’s going on upstairs (his head), he’s a loose cannon. It’s nothing compared to what he was a few years ago, but he’s still preventing himself from closing out leads and matches. The only thing that’s beating him is himself.
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Besides Djokovic playing much more confidently this year, I wonder if Nadal will be affected mentally by his last four losses to Djokovic — and in finals, to boot! Should be an exciting match.
I was also closely watching Murray’s facial expressions after Nadal won, and yeah I feel bad for the guy. He’s got skill, but he didn’t execute at his best all the way through the match.
I’m pretty sure Nadal will feel something after being knocked down to #2. I’m sure it will hurt a lot more when he loses on Sunday. Murray needs to see a head doc, there’s something really stopping him from playing at his full potential, it’s quite sad.