by Michael Lemort
Roger Federer might still be the best player of all time and Rafael Nadal is still the best clay-court player in tennis history but no doubt that Novak Djokovic has realized the best season that any player has ever done in term of consistency, and no doubt that what he is achieving is part of history as well.
We just need to look at those numbers to be aware of this performance : 11 titles out of 16 tournaments played (plus four finals and one quarterfinal), three majors won out of four (the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, plus a final at the French Open), the ATP World Tour Finals for the fourth year in a row (a new record) and six Masters 1000 out of nine (knowing that he reached the final in Montreal and Cincinnati and didn’t play Madrid).
Djokovic has finished the year with 82 wins and 6 losses (including one in the Round Robin of the ATP Finals last week that he ended up winning). Three of these defeats happened against Federer (ranked number 3 at the ATP), one against Murray (number 2) and another one against Wawrinka (number 4). The last one was against the Croatian Ivo Karlovic (ranked 23) during his first tournament of the year in the quarter final of Doha in January. That was his worst result of the year since he reached the final of his 15 other tournaments. And he can keep improving that performance at the beginning of 2016. He also finished the season with 16585 points at the ATP ranking and Andy Murray, number two, is 8000 points behind, another record.
His 2011 had already been an amazing year for him and nobody thought anyone could do better in the future but he did. Even though he realized an amazing first eight months that year with 41 wins in a row (64 wins and 2 losses between January and September), 10 titles, 3 Majors and 5 Masters 1000, he could not finish the season as well as he started it (70 wins and 6 losses at the end).
Will he be able to do better again in 2016? Knowing that he is still looking for a first crown at the French Open and a first Olympic title, it is something totally conceivable. And that would be one of the stakes of this upcoming season.
Novak Djokovic