Which Men’s Tennis Player Will Be No. 1 at the End of the Year?
With just 10 tournaments left in 2012, you can pretty much conclude who will be the No. 1 tennis player at the start of 2013. You can also pretty much guess who will be in the Top 5 as the year goes on.
The tennis season kicks off in just under two weeks. Here is our pre-tournament prediction of who will be No. 1.
Novak Djokovic
Djokovic has not played at the top of his game of late. He hasn’t dropped a set in four matches at the Australian Open, the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and the semifinals of the Masters 1000 tournament. In the other four majors this year, he has dropped a set or been forced to retire in three of those four matches (US Open and Australian Open). Djokovic has two titles this season, one of which (Australian Open) is a Masters 1000 title, a title he has won nine times.
Djokovic has dominated the competition for this long, even though he is going into the Masters 1000 where he has never won a title. In all other majors, Djokovic has been the only man to beat the former champion Roger Federer this year, and has also beaten the defending champion Rafael Nadal. Djokovic’s other major titles this year are the Australian Open (two titles) and Wimbledon (one title).
With his win in New York, Djokovic has established himself as the premier tennis player in the world and one of only two men who have won the Australian Open and the US Open in the same season. He is also a virtual lock to win the Masters 1000 again. Djokovic will be at his best when he is playing the tough Australian Open, the New York City Classic, and the Masters 1000, where he could find himself in the driver’s seat again and potentially win all three titles in a row.
Rafa Nadal
Nadal has not played at his best in the past three