Top Dop: Nadal, Djokovic Battle for No. 1 Ranking

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at Internationaled.org

Published: April 20, 2011

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Novak Djokovic is on fire right now. Coming out of the spring hard court swing, he is undefeated, with the third-best start ever on the men's tour. His confidence is off the charts and he's beating up on his two rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Can anything stop the Djokovic Djuggernaut?

Djokovic has done so well that there is talk of his threatening Nadal for the year-end No. 1 spot. However, there are some reasons to wait a while before jumping on that crowded bandwagon.

First of all, we are headed into the clay court season. Everyone knows this is Nadal's time. He holds unbelievable records on clay: 5 French Open titles, 7 straight Monte Carlo titles, 5 titles at Barcelona, an 81-match winning streak—the most in history on any surface, with only 4 losses in his last 150+ matches.

Djokovic's record on clay is 82-30 lifetime.

That should give pause to those who see Djokovic as a serious challenge to Nadal on clay. Right now, I would give Federer the edge for sure over Novak on clay, and there are several other clay specialists who could upend Djokovic—Almagro, Verdasco, Ferrer among them. There is also Murray, Soderling, and the rest of the Spanish Armada for Djokovic to overcome in every tournament, just to get to Nadal. Some of Novak's losses will come in these tournaments. Expect it. As for Nadal, he fears no one on clay when he's playing anywhere near his best.

As for the rest of the season, there may not be as much there for Djokovic as people think, either. Djokovic did pretty well in the Grand Slams last year:
French Open quarterfinals—360 points
Wimbledon semifinals—720 points
US Open Finals—1200 points

As for Wimbledon, Novak did really well there last year to make the semifinals. He has never come close to winning a title on grass and is 31-11 there. Nadal's career-record on grass is 40-8, with 3 tournament victories. Two of his losses were...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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