Stars Put Tennis on the Map  

Novak Djokovic is the number 3 player in the world in the ATP tennis rankings, only surpassed by two very familiar household names, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. After this last tournament, the Dubai Tennis Championships this past weekend, when talking about the best players in the world, you would be remiss if you only mentioned Nadal and Federer; you now must include Djokovic. He was the number 2 seed in the tournament, and defended the title against the number 1 seed Roger Federer in straight sets (6-3,6-3) for his third consecutive title in Dubai.

Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic have been on top of the tennis world for over 6 years and between them have won 21 of the last 23 Grand Slam events, with the exception of the 2009 US Open when Juan Martin Del Potro beat Roger Federer in the final. At the end of last year Djokovic started to gain more recognition by winning the Davis Cup with his fellow countrymen from Serbia, population of a little over 7 million people. He is the only other player, except for Del Potro, to have won a Grand Slam event during the time of the Nadal-Federer dominance. He has won two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open championships, becoming the first player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the Open Era to have reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam events. He is one of only two players to have defeated Roger Federer at the semifinal stage or later multiple times in Grand Slam tournaments, and also at consecutive tournaments (the other being Nadal). Djokovic and Nadal are two of only four current players on the ATP tour to have beaten Federer multiple times at Grand Slams.

During this year's Australian Open Novak Djokovic had a sensational tournament making it to the finals by dropping only one set in the second round to Ivan Dodig, and impressive victories over Thomas Berdych in the quarter finals, Roger Federer in the semifinals, and handily beating Andy Murray in straight sets in the final. Early on in his career he appeared to be very arrogant or possibly misunderstood, but now as he matures he has become quite the player to watch. He is one of the best movers on the tennis court and his great athleticism allows him to be very aggressive in his shot selection. His flexibility is tremendous which helps when he needs to play defense, and his almost perfect technique allows him to maintain form even under the most pressurized situations. If he is able to maintain his health he will be a definite favorite to win more titles this year.

In a few weeks the first Masters Series event of the year, the BNP Paribas Open, starts out in Indian Wells. Djokovic will be one of the main contenders for the men's title. The top players in both men's and women's tennis will be competing and there is nothing better than watching live tennis. The tournament dates are March 7-20, 2011 and if you get a chance to get out there it should be exciting tennis to watch.