Upside down tennis

I said it last year and I'll say it again... I can not believe it's that time again - time for my annual tennis review. It's been a strange year this year, by which i mean tennis has become somewhat unpredictable. In the last 5 years of dominance in what I'm gonna call the Federer years, there has been an air of predictability about the big tournaments, that is Nadal wins the French open and Federer wins the rest. However, perhaps we were given a hint right at the very beginning of this year that this was to be no ordinary year.

Following a great 2008 for Nadal, where he wrestled the Wimbledon title and no.1 ranking from Federer, these two giants locked horns once more in Nadal's first hard court grand slam final - the Australian Open. Federer, twice winner in oz, was hot favourite to win despite Nadal's form, but it was not to be the case, and he only had himself to blame. In a similar fashion to last year he did not take his chances. He should have won the first and third sets, but Nadal took them both and inevitably the title which led to Federer's heavily critized emotional outburst. I had nothing but sympathy for the man who thought that this would be the day he would win the record equalling 14th grand slam and enter his legendary status in tennis history. Instead Rafa had now beaten him in finals on all surfaces, and it looked like it was slipping from Federer's grasp.

Enter the clay court season. In the lead up to this event, two extrodinary events occured. First Federer smashed a racket in his loss to Djokovic in Miami. It looked like Federer's reign was finally falling apart at the seams. Amazingly though he fought back his way back into form, beating Nadal on clay for only the second time, in Hamburg. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and this years french open will be remembered as one of the most famous in history. Roger Federer finally completed the golden slam and achieved his 14th grand slam, but even more memorable than that, was the biggest shock in tennis for years... Rafael Nadal losing on clay, more specifically in the french open. Four time winner, current champion, never lost a match at Roland Garros and it wasn't even to Federer , but to someone who was considered an also-ran until this year - Robin Soderling.

This victory helped Federer ragain his mojo that took a massive weight of his shoulders, allowing him to play freely, showing some of the best tennis of his career. Coupled with his new drop shot and new found ability to grind matches out, Federer was unstoppable for the next couple of months, also winning Wimbledon and Cincinatti. Nadal on the other hand was having the complete opposite to his year last year, losing his french open, wimbledon and world no.1 crowns back to Federer.

Then came the US Open. Federer strolled through to the final. Murray has a disappointing 4th round exit after much hype. Then came the next big shock of the year, Juan Martin Del Potro beating an in form Federer in the final of the US Open. Del Potro has been considered to have the potential to be the next big thing for the last few years and I would tend to agree, going by the evidence of this break through year for him. He has a forehand to die for and an appetite for the big matches. I believe he will cause more damage to the fading established order than Murray or Djokovic.

Toward the end of the season Murray and Nadal came back from injury both with varying fortunes. Nadal could barely win a match and Murray won in Valencia. In fact Nadal's form is worrying for next year as he doesn't look anything like the man that nobody could touch at the start of the season. Murray had a brilliant first half of the season, but has been disappointing since winning in Montreal. It should be noted he hasn't beaten anyone in the top 4 since Indian Wells and will need to do something special in the off season to keep up with the rest.

Finally, the end of season tournament - the Masters Cup summed - up the season with upset after upset. Despite beating Del Potro and winning 2 matches, Del Potro and Federer made it out of Murray's group. The second group was way more interesting. Djokovic who has been back in descent form and favourite to qualify. Instead it was Soderling and Davydenko. Then amazingly Davydenko beat Federer for the first time in 13 attempts to make the final, and buoyed by this victory, took the title by beating Del Potro. He would have been my last pick to win the tournament, maybe now hes showing he can fight with the big boys, but I doubt it. I still don't think he has the class to consistantly challenge for big prizes, but he deserves credit for his efforts here.

So the season has now ended, and who knows what 2010 will bring. I am already looking forward to Australia and for the first time in a long time, I have no idea what the outcome will be. Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Del Potro all with equal and realistic chances to win, making tennis so much more interesting. Can the rest of the world put up a challenge to break this mould? On the evidence of this season I wouldn't want to hazard a guess!