Novak Djokovic cruises to Rogers Cup Title

After winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic catapulted into the number one ranking in the world and will stay there after his victory in the Rogers Open Final over Mardy fish. Novak Djokovic has lost just one match all year and because of that, I think it is safe to start discussing this as the single greatest season in the history of the men’s game. Djokovic won the Men’s’ draw of the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Sunday, making history as the first player to win five Masters 1000 titles in one season. While his rivals had a hard time finding their games, Djokovic picked up where he left off at Wimbledon. On Sunday, he knocked out Fish in straight sets and the 24-year-old Serb and Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, is 29-0 this year on hard courts and 53-1 overall.

Winning the Rogers Cup in Montreal yesterday gives Djokovic his 9th title on the year. More impressively, no number one in the world has won the first tournament he’s played in since becoming number one since Pete Sampras, who was the last player to do so over 18 years ago in Hong Kong. Now we can truly appreciate the level of tennis that Djokovic is currently playing as not even the great Roger Federer, or Rafael Nadal or Andre Agassi were able to accomplish what Djokovic did yesterday. The first set of Sunday’s final should be disregarded, as Djokovic came out and simply toyed with a nervous Mardy Fish. From the start of the second set all the way through to the conclusion of the match, it is safe to say that Fish threw the kitchen sink and more at Djokovic, with unbelievable winners, movement and focus.

Yet, it was still not enough to take down the world number one. The scary part is that Mardy Fish’s best was not able to take down a vulnerable Djokovic. Shots that Djokovic normally hits for winners were left more towards the middle of the court letting Fish do the work. The best thing Djokovic had going for him yesterday was his retrieving ability, as it was almost impossible for Fish to hit a winner by Djokovic, unless it was the most perfectly placed ball at the right speed and angle. That’s the type of tennis Fish had to come up with, and for a little while, he was. The ability to sustain that type of tennis was just too much to ask from Fish against the Serb, as he eventually faltered, hitting unforced error after unforced error.

Before we get to the U.S. Open and Djokovic winning it all, we still have another Masters 1000 series tournament which is already underway in Cincinnati, Ohio. We all know who the obvious favorite is in the tournament, but on any given day, something dramatic could happen, such as the Rafael Nadal vs. Ivan Dodig match at last week’s Rogers Cup in Montreal. Don’t expect that to happen to Djokovic though, as his biggest potential threat in Cincinnati will be either American Andy Roddick or France’s Gael Monfils should one of them reach the quarterfinals. From there, Djokovic could possibly meet Federer in the semifinals. Federer though has a rough pathway to the semifinals, beginning with his opening match against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.