Looking at the 2011 ATP Season So Far

With the end of Wimbledon comes the end of the first half of the tennis year. The early Australian swing and brief American hard court few weeks being an ancient memory, the European clay court season being a bit fresher and the very brief English grass court "season" just concluding, it's a great time to look back at the 2011 ATP season so far and evaluate the top players, look at who disappointed, and examine a few breakout stars that began to rise this year. After the jump, we'll look at all of these, and later in the week, we'll have a preview of the  upcoming North American hard court season concluding with the US Open and beyond that.


The ATP season by far belonged to Novak Djokovic. with an absurd record of 48-1, he won the Australian Open and the Championships at Wimbledon. His only blemish was a four set loss to Roger Federer at Roland Garros. His total tournament haul for the year included two majors titles, the Australian Open and the Championships at Wimbledon, four 1000-series events at Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, and Rome. He also won two 250 series events at Dubai and his home tournament at Belgrade.

Rafael Nadal, for his part, won Roland Garros, his sixth title there, but in winning it, did not play Djokovic, who lost to Federer in the semifinal. He also won the 1000 series event at Monte Carlo, where Djokovic did not play. These qualifiers, which might seem unfair to a player of Nadal's caliber, are important because in the five finals this year that Djokovic played Nadal, Djokovic won all five of them. He has forced himself into any tournament discussion, whether or not he played in it or not. That is the extent of Djokovic's dominance this year.

Roger Federer is playing a very unique role in men's tennis right now. Having the most major titles in history, he has been rendered to playing third fiddle, out of the conversation. He was summarily dismissed in the Australian Open semifinal by Djokovic, in three sets. He then did not make any 1000 series final, but at Roland Garros, he did what no one else could do, defeating Djokovic in four sets in the semifinal. This was his signature win of the year, and he followed it up by giving Nadal his toughest match in a Roland Garros final, taking him to four tough sets. At Wimbledon, however, his most successful tournament, he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in five sets after being up two sets to none. It was a devastating loss for Federer, and it will be very interesting to see how he responds to this.

Andy Murray, the fourth of the Big Four, has achieved that title through being one of the most consistent players on tour. He reached the final of the Australian Open, the semfinal at Monte Carlo, Rome, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon, losing to Nadal in the last four events. He also won Queen's Club, the grass court tune-up to Wimbledon. He is the best player not to have won a major, and he is just beneath the top three players. By anyone's standard, he has had a very fine year, but with the three players above him having an absolute stranglehood on majors, he has not been able to break through.
Now, for the awards.

Best Player- Novak Djokovic- See above

Most Improved- Juan Martin del Potro- On the comeback trail after a terrible wrist injury, he won two events, and lost to Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros and Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon.

Most Disappointing- Andy Murray- It's tough to call a player who has the results of Murray disappointing, but he hasn't shown any ability to have a huge win at a major against one of the top three.

Match of the Year- Roger Federer def. Novak Djokovic, Roland Garros Semifinal

Runner-up Match of the Year- Novak Djokovic def. Rafael Nadal, Wimbledon Final