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12/15/08 1:46 AM | Jonathan Morgan
For a few years in the ATP, Federer and Nadal were head and shoulders above the field. In 2007, Novak Djokovic claimed the #3 spot for himself, making it a big 3 as opposed to a big 2.
Novak Djokovic opened 2007 as the 16th ranked player in the world. He was hungry, young, and wanted more than what he had. He kicked off the season storming to the title in Adelaide before heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open. After a few quick opening rounds, Djokovic faced off with Roger Federer in the 4th round. Djokovic was on an 8 match winning streak and had looked solid in his opening rounds. Novak committed a fatal error, however, saying that Federer would be “going down”, prior to the match. This rivalry of words had begun with their Davis Cup match the previous September, when Federer criticized Djokovic’s injury timeouts.
Roger crushed him in straights. It was a complete beat down. Fed struck 51 winners and didn’t give Djokovic even a sniff of a victory. Novak’s ranking jumped up to 13 after the Aussie Open. Djokovic was back in action in Marseille a few weeks later but lost in 3 tight sets to Youzhny, including a 3rd set tiebreaker.
Rotterdam was Novak’s next event. He scored 3 sets victories over both Pavel and Robredo before falling again to Youzhny, this time in the semifinals. Djokovic had 3 total match points, unable to convert in either the second or third sets to take this outstandingly high quality match. After that loss, Djokovic headed to Dubai where he was once again drawn up to face Federer. Both men won their two opening rounds before facing off in the quarterfinals.
This time around, the match was closer. Federer took the opening set 6-3, but Djokovic bounced back in the 2nd and saved two match points. He eventually took the second in a tiebreaker before Roger regained his form and finished off the third, 6-3. The message was clear, though. Djokovic was getting better and was ready to take the next step.
Indian Wells was Djokovic’s next event, and Federer losing his first match here was the big story. Novak won his 5 matches, all in straight sets, to reach the final. Awaiting him there was Rafael Nadal. At this point in time, Rafa was clearly the better player, but on a hard court, Djokovic might have a shot. The first set, Nadal destroyed him 6-2, but Djokovic played better as the set wore on. The second set was tight and Djokovic had some chances, but Nadal took it and the tournament, 7-5. Djokovic was playing better and better and had reached his first Masters final, but nerves and inexperience were surely factors in this particular match.
The following week in Miami, Djokovic was ruthless. He breezed through the first three rounds before facing Nadal in a night quarterfinal match. The rallies and shot making in this match were fantastic, especially the final game. Djokovic won, 6-3, 6-4, the biggest win of his career. He continued through the draw, not losing a set the entire week and crushing Canas in the finals. After these two awesome results, Djokovic’s ranking jumped up to 7. Novak was in the top 10, just 7 weeks shy of his 20th birthday.
After some Davis Cup duty to help the Serbs reach the next round, Djokovic was off to Monte Carlo. Novak’s clay season in previous years was nothing to be proud of aside from that great Roland Garros run, so a second round loss in Monte Carlo that year to David Ferrer wasn’t that surprising. Djokovic was determined to play better on the clay, and won another clay title in early May, in Estoril.
Djokovic had tight 3 set matches against both Andreev and Garcia-Lopez in the tournament, as he was looking to find his clay footing. In the finals, he faced off with Richard Gasquet in a strange match. After taking the first set in a tightly contested tiebreak, Djokovic dropped the second set 6-0 before rebounding to win the third 6-1. Djokovic’s game may be improving, but injury timeouts and other antics in this match seemed to sour the result just a tad.
The following week in Rome, Novak met up with Nadal in the quarterfinals. Rafael annihilated him, tossing him aside like yesterday’s news. Djokovic also made the quarterfinals of Hamburg, losing in 3 tight sets to a resurgent Moya. Coming into Roland Garros, Novak was ranked 6th in the world, had just turned 20, and was ready to make a lot of noise.
At the French, Djokovic faced off with Olivier Patience, a Frenchman, in the third round. It went 5 exhilarating sets, with Djokovic claiming victory. The French crowd was fully behind their man and Olivier looked like was ready to score a huge upset as he went up 2 sets to 1. Djokovic came back to take the match in 5 and advanced on. After beating Verdasco and Andreev in straights, Djokovic met up again with Nadal in the semifinal.
Second verse, same as first. Although the beat down was less severe, the Spaniard still ripped Djokovic apart at the seams. There seemed to be a bit of revenge in Nadal’s eyes that match as he was systematically breaking down Djokovic, perhaps from the Serbian’s comments the previous year. In any case, Djokovic affirmed himself that clay season as a very, very solid claycourter, much improved from the prior year. Djokovic was ranked #4 heading into the grass season.
Queen’s didn’t quite go as planned for Djokovic, losing second round, but his Wimbledon run confirmed him as #3. Novak seemed to learn about the grass surface as the event wore on. Djokovic’s serve and indeed his entire game was developing at a very fast and effective rate. He took out Delic in 4 sets, Kiefer in 4 sets, Hewitt in 4 in the next round, and Baghdatis in 5 (nearly 5 hour long match) in the quarterfinals. Djokovic was playing some good tennis and putting on great shows in every one of his matches at Wimbledon. Once again, Novak faced off with Nadal in the semis. The Serb took the opening set 6-3, but it was all downhill from there. All those exhausting matches may have taken a toll on Djokovic, especially with the torrents of rain that haunted Wimbledon 2007. Whatever the reason was, Novak retired in the third set and ended his grass season. After that Wimbledon run, Djokovic attained his #3 ranking that he has kept until the present (save for one week that summer when Roddick jumped ahead of Novak).
Another increasing skill from Djokovic was his tiebreak record. After losing his first four tiebreaks of the season, he would go 22-3 from February to August. After a publicity appearance in Umag and a lifeless performance against Troicki in the second round of that event, Djokovic returned to North America. In Montreal that year, Djokovic truly became a man. He was ranked #4 heading into the event, having been overtaken by Roddick the previous week.
Djokovic romped through the draw, playing fantastic tennis with his game firing on all cylinders. He beat Kiefer, Nalbandian, and Roddick before heading into yet another semifinal against Nadal. Djokovic turned the tables on the Spaniard, taking him out in a hard-fought pair of sets to head into the finals against Federer. Djokovic came out firing, breaking early before losing the break. Federer served for the first set at 6-5, 40-0 before Djokovic saved a bunch of set points to push it to a tiebreak, which Novak took. Federer bounced back to take the second set 6-2. Djokovic won a rollercoaster final set 7-2 in the tiebreak, and a new star was born.
Djokovic understandably had a let down the following week against Moya, losing in the opening round. The US Open 2007 was Novak’s coming out party. He destroyed Haase in the opening round and faced Radek Stepanek in a wild 5 set affair in the second round, which Novak took. He kicked Del Potro out in the third, went 4 sets with Monaco in the 4th, and routined Moya and Ferrer in the quarterfinals and semifinals. During these two weeks, the New York crowd was beginning to fall in love with this guy. After his quarterfinal win over Moya, Djokovic did impressions of both Nadal and Sharapova, of which the former found distasteful. Federer awaited again in the finals. Djokovic had set points in both the first and second sets but lost both. Federer took the third and the title while Djokovic was sent home.
Srdjan Djokovic, Novak’s father, told his son after this loss that he would never again lose to Federer. Dijana Djokovic, his mother, let slip to the press that she believed her son to be better than Roger and explained this US Open loss and just the result of a long season and inexperience, and added that Djokovic wouldn’t lost to Federer again. These were the first real showings of his crazy parents and their alienating views.
After the US Open, Djokovic led Serbia into the World Group with a win over the Aussies that September. He followed up that win with an indoor title in Vienna. Apart from a quarterfinal battle with Chela, Djokovic was killing the opposition, losing just a single set all week. He headed into Madrid, looking a bit dull and lifeless in the first few rounds. He reached the semis before getting creamed by Nalbandian. Novak’s fatigue was truly evident at this point and he showed up to Paris that year with a mask on for his first round match against Santoro, on Halloween. Fabrice jerked him around in front of his home fans while Djokovic looked out of sorts. Novak made the Shanghai Masters Cup that year, but was steamrolled in all 3 of his Round Robin matches, failing to even win a set.
Djokovic looked forward to 2008 and his assault on the top two positions.
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