Sports Then and Now

Rafael Nadal's hold on the French Championships is almost unequalled.

There are not many who would dispute the fact that Rafael Nadal is the greatest ever to play tennis on the red dirt. At least so far.

The only man who may have been as dominant during his own era was the legendary Bjorn Borg, who walked away from tennis at age 26.

Since 2005, Nadal has lost only six matches on clay. In 2005 Nadal lost to Russian Igor Andreev in the quarterfinals of Valencia. Again in 2005, Nadal lost to Argentine Gaston Gaudio 6-0, 0-6, 1-6 during the quarterfinals at Buenos Aires.

The Majorcan did not lose another match on clay until Hamburg in 2007 when he was defeated by Roger Federer in the final. In 2008 Nadal lost to Juan Carlos Ferrrero 6-2, 2-6, 0-6 in the round of 32 in Rome. In 2009 Federer defeated Nadal in Madrid 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Then, of course, Nadal lost to Robin Soderling also in 2009 in the fourth round of the French Open––his first lost ever at Stade Roland Garros.

On clay Nadal is 175-6 to be exact. It gives the Majorcan a winning percentage of 96.7.

Borg won 30 clay-court titles before retiring at age 26; Nadal, age 24, has won 30 with surely more to be added.

Nadal not only broke the previous record for consecutive matches won on clay––he obliterated it by winning 81 consecutive clay court matches from April 2005 to May 2007.  The next closest man was Guillermo Vilas, who had a 53-match winning streak on clay.

The man who ended Nadal’s seemingly unending streak was Roger Federer, who defeated Nadal at Hamburg in their 2007 final. It was the only clay court final Nadal had ever lost to that point.

Nadal has won five French Open singles titles in six years, four consecutively. Borg won six French Open titles, four consecutively. With a win in 2011, Nadal will tie Borg’s record.

Not many bet against him accomplishing that feat. Mainly because Nadal has done it five times already, starting in 2005––five good reasons to pick him to win French Open No. 6…

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Victoria Azarenka won the women's championship in Miami.

Since the conclusion of the first major of the year—the Australian Open—there has been 11 tournaments and ten winners on the WTA tour. The only double-titlist? Caroline Wozniacki, the current world No. 1.

These Power Rankings focus more on the recent tournaments, aiming to give a measure of form rather than overall ability. In the current case, results from the last two Premier Mandatory events at Miami and Indian Wells will largely decide the rankings.

However, that won’t do justice to many titlists who aren’t featured in the power rankings.

Here’s a quick list of honorable-mentions:

Petra Kvitova won her second title of the year at Paris, also triumphing at Brisbane at the begging of the season. She subsequently rose to a career-high ranking of No. 14. However, she was unable to keep her momentum going, winning only one out of her next five matches.

Daniela Hantuchova won the Pattaya City title without dropping a set. Before that, she had lost all four of her matches of the season, including a first-round exit at Melbourne. Since then she has suffered two more first-round defeats. The talented Slovakian is competing at the clay-court event at Charleston this week.

Magdalena Rybarikova, another Slovakian currently ranked No. 69 in the world, won the Memphis title back in February, only her second career-title. In her first tour-level match since then, she lost in the first-round at Charleston this week.

Lourdes Dominguez Lino is a 30-year-old veteran from Spain, currently ranked No. 46 in the world. She won the clay-court event at Bogota in February, also winning there in 2006. In fact, those are her only two career-titles. She lost in the second-round at Marbella this week.

Gisela Dulko won the clay-court event at Acapulco, her first singles title in three years, though she is the current No. 1 in doubles. She did not have much success on the hard-courts, suffering three first-round exits already. Maybe the clay season will do her some good.

Jelena Dokic was the surprise winner at Kuala Lumpur, beating Francesca Schiavone in the first-round. It was her first title since 2002. Unfortunately for the former world No. 4, she also lost in the first-round at Charleston this week.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova successfully defended her title at Monterey this year. She won her first career-title there last year. She reached her career-high ranking of No. 14 after a third-round effort at Melbourne. She is the youngest player in the top 50 and should have a very successful career.

Without further ado, here is this week’s top ten list.

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Novak Djokovic has fulfilled the early promise of greatness so far in 2011.

The first three months of the tennis season pose some of the players’ biggest challenges.

With barely a fortnight to get their hard-court games into fine working order, the first Major of the year is upon them. Yet the Australian Open is just the beginning; ahead lie two months of hard-court rigor, all geared towards a second distant climax at the end of March.

Along the way are choices between indoor and outdoor, cool northern Europe and the hot Gulf states, even between hard courts and the points-rich Golden Swing on the clay of Latin America.

It is a topsy-turvy phase, where two of the most prestigious Masters events in the calendar close a season rather than building towards a concluding Major, and therefore, is often full of intrigue, unpredictable winners and surprising losers.

During the two months between Melbourne and Miami—where this edition of the Power Rankings is focused—there have been 10 different champions from 14 tournaments.

Kevin Anderson won his first tour title in Johannesburg, went on to reach the quarterfinals in the Miami Masters and now sits at an all-time ranking of 33.

Ivan Dodig won his maiden title in Zagreb and there was an even more significant first for the surging Milos Raonic, who started the year at 156 and now sits at 35. He announced his arrival big time by winning San Jose and then reaching the final of Memphis. Although he does not feature in this month’s rankings, he will surely join the party when the next hard-court season comes around.

One multiple winner, Nicolas Almagro, took titles in Brazil and Argentina and reached the final in Acapulco and, while he did not impress in the subsequent Masters, his form may impact on the clay road towards Roland Garros.

For each story of success, though, there has been one of ill fortune. Andy Roddick arrived in Miami on the back of his 30th career title in Memphis and with a 16-3 winning record for the year—and his record in Miami was second to none. But it soon became clear that Roddick was unwell during his opening match, and he made his earliest Miami exit since 2002. Now at No. 14 in the rankings, it is also his lowest position since 2002.

The biggest shock of this entire period, though, was the performance of Andy Murray, who replayed his post-Australian slump of 2010 with a vengeance.

Murray loves the North American Masters and was aiming to improve on last year’s quarterfinal finish in Indian Wells and his first-round exit in Miami. However, he lost in his first match at both as well as at the only other event he played, Rotterdam.

He is said to be reviewing his coaching setup ahead of the clay season and, with few points to defend before Wimbledon, that choice will have some time to bed in. One thing’s for sure: He needs to change something, and soon.

But while there have been surprises at almost every turn of the hard-court road that culminated in Miami, there has also been a clutch of constants. At every tournament they have played, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have stayed the course at least as far as the semifinals.

One of them has been as constant as the North Star—the winner of every match in every tournament he has played since the start of the year and he, of course, tops the latest Power Rankings.

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Andy Murray has not won on court since the 2011 Australian Open.

These days Andy Murray walks onto the tennis court a defeated man, ready to receive the next dose of humiliation.

While this does not appear to be the case on the surface, mentally Murray appears to be in no man’s land—in danger of sinking completely from sight as he begins another journey onto the porous red clay of Europe.

Since he moved into the top five in September of 2008, the Scot has remained on everyone’s radar as they waited for him to make his move to the top of the men’s game. That meant winning a major and improving his ranking.

Many expected Murray to be the next No. 1 after Federer and Nadal, lauding his considerable talent.

Since 2008, Murray has held steadfast in the top four, except for a few intermittent weeks when he dipped into the five spot. Now, however, a steady diet of the No. 5 ranking has occurred since January of 2011, with Robin Soderling seemingly ensconced in the No. 4 spot.

Since making the finals of the 2011 Australian Open and losing to Novak Djokovic in straight sets 4-6, 2-6, 3-6, Murray has not won a match. The Scot was summarily dismissed in his opening round of play against Marcos Baghdatis at Rotterdam,

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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have battled mightily since 2005.

We all aspire to be No. 1 in something.

For most it means attaining an enviable status like being the best-looking or the richest.

In sports, however, it is being the best there is—like winning the World Series or the Super Bowl.  In tennis, it means being ranked No. 1.

Since 1973, 24 men have been ranked No. 1 for varying degrees of time.  Currently there is a new player hoping to claw his way to that top spot—Serb sensation, Novak Djokovic.

A major shift in the tennis landscape occurred after Indian Wells as Novak Djokovic surged past the Federer encampment dug in deep near the summit. The Serb replaced Federer as the No. 2 ranked player in the world.

Federer can still reach out and grab the Serb’s ankle and trip him up on his way to the top––that is, if the Swiss can recapture the Sony Ericsson trophy in Miami. Federer won this tournament in 2005 and 2006.  Djokovic won it in 2007.

Currently in the ATP rankings, Djokovic leads Federer by 430 points.  At Miami in 2010 Djokovic was defeated in the second round. Since he was only awarded ten points, that is all he will lose from his current total as last year’s points fall off.

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The Sony Ericsson Open gets underway this week in Miami.

The blueprint for the Sony Ericsson Open existed long before the tournament materialized as part of the tennis landscape in the United States––more specifically in Miami.

The man who pursued the dream and saw it through to its often-complicated conclusion was Butch Buchholtz, a former tennis pro who toured with such notables as Pancho Gonzalez and Jack Kramer back in the 1960s.

On February 4, 1985 after years of negotiations with the ATP and WTA, the first ball was served in a combined tennis event called the International Players Championships sponsored by Lipton.

Tim Mayotte and Martina Navratilova were its first two winners. In fact the final featured Chris Evert and Navratilova and the stands were jam-packed.

The inaugural tournament was held at Delray Beach.

After relocating a few times, the tournament finally settled in the newly constructed Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Miami-Dade Country in 1989. In 1994 came the addition of a $20 million permanent stadium.

Andre Agassi holds the record for the men having won this title six times in his career.  The next closest male is Pete Sampras who won this title three times.  Ivan Lendl won the title twice.

Current players Andy Roddick and Roger Federer have also won this title twice.

Current top seed and top-ranked Rafael Nadal has never won the title at the Sony Ericsson Open.  Perhaps this year?

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