Tennis power rankings: Djokovic head and shoulders above the rest
Published:
The 2014 tennis season is in the books, with Roger Federer penning the final, surprising prose by withdrawing from the ATP World Tour Final to hand Novak Djokovic the easiest of title defences.
Not resting on our laurels, though, we’ve quickly switched focus to next year’s Australian Open with this new set of tennis power rankings:
Although he never got the chance to match himself against Federer for the 38th time, the Serbian looked uncompromising at the O2, dropping his first and only set in the semi-final and never conceding more than three games prior to that.
His form in the run up to the ATP World Tour Finals was patchy and continued at the O2, but his 2014 has been stellar having claimed three titles, including earning himself the defending champion’s tag for next year’s first major.
The back injury that prevented him from taking the court in the Greenwich showpiece halts his ascent any further up this list, but his age-beating-success of a year still places him high.
Winner of five tournaments during 2014 and a finalist in another five, Federer should be very confident of challenging for his first Aussie Open since 2010, having been a semi-finalist in every edition since.
The Japanese’s showing in London, where he dismissed Andy Murray and David Ferrer but lost to Djokovic and Federer, neatly summarises his standing in the game currently.
Perhaps not quite ready to challenge at the skinny end of the sport, a breakthrough US Open final appearance is a step in the right direction heading Down Under.
Murray turned himself into a relentless winning machine in order to just reach the Finals, but appearing in six tournaments in six weeks took its toll eventually, losing heavily to Federer in the final group game.
Such an unforgiving schedule, coupled with his gruelling offseason regime, could prove costly in early 2015.
When his body allowed, the Spaniard played fearsome tennis, winning four titles and claiming a ninth French Open in the process.
Questions just remain over Nadal’s fitness rather than his form having missed the London event.
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