Home > Tennis > Novak Djokovic and Guillermo Canas top the ATP Tour class, but make way for Andy Murray

Novak Djokovic and Guillermo Canas top the ATP Tour class, but make way for Andy Murray

The conclusion of the first two Masters Series tennis tournaments is a good time to grade the players on their early season showing. These are the A graded players.

by Ed McGrogan on 02 April 2007

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Novak Djokovic celebrates in Miami (Gettyimages.com)

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Novak Djokovic’s championship ceremony in Key Biscayne on Sunday marked the conclusion of a month of Masters Series events, as well as end of hard court tennis until mid-July.
These two prestigious tournaments provided an endless amount of compelling stories and plots, but more importantly, an extremely high level of tennis was on display each week.
The outcomes of Indian Wells or Miami this March was a real treat for dedicated ATP Tour fans and as we move into April and the start of the clay court season, this is a good time to take stock of the performances in California and Florida.
The most appropriate way to do this is by assigning a grade to players, which takes into account their results in the past two events. As always, these are subject to debate, so I welcome other opinions and encourage you to comment.

Head of the Class: Novak Djokovic (A+): The Serbian hero achieved many things this month. He reached his first AMS final in Indian Wells, he ascended into the top 10 of the ATP rankings, and he claimed his first Masters shield in Miami, winning the biggest title so far in his fledgling career. In spite of the great 2006 that Marcos Baghdatis had, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a tennis observer who wouldn’t give Djokovic the unofficial title of the “best of the young guns” and that includes Andy Murray, Baghdatis, Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych, among others.
Djokovic learned from the Indian Wells final, where he was outclassed by Rafael Nadal in straight sets, having shades of Roger Federer in his shot. Djokovic’s picture-perfect approach to the game was the only deterrent for Canas in the Argentine’s quest for the title. The Serb's well-disguised drop shots tormented Canas throughout the match, but it was his serve that ultimately kept him in control in Miami. He lost only one service game during the entire tournament, thanks to first serves that on occasion touched 140 mph, as well as a kicking second serve that tested the skills of all his opponents.

Salutatorian: Guillermo Canas (A+): In learning from prior experiences, Willy, as he’s often referred to, took the lessons of what worked against Roger Federer in Indian Wells when he headed east to Miami. But he added something along the way – staying power. After bowing out to Carlos Moya immediately after pulling off the upset of the year in Indian Wells, he didn’t avoided the same fate in Miami against Tommy Robredo.

He gave the Spaniard a taste of what Federer saw in back-to-back events. In the next round, Ivan Ljubicic got the same tough love as well. While he couldn’t top it off with a win against Djokovic in the final, Canas’ name is likely the one to be most remembered from this month, and for good reason. I’ve written more about him this month than I ever thought I would in my entire life, but he’s earned it.

Canas probably won’t have to qualify for the bigger events for some time thanks to his achievements at these Masters Series events. That’s great news for him, but also for other aspiring qualifiers, who will be happy to avoid run into him until the main draw. The most important thing to take from March in regards to Canas is that in four weeks he has gone from a largely forgotten player to an instant contender at nearly any event he plays.

Honours with Distinction: Rafael Nadal (A): Nadal’s victory in Indian Wells silenced many fans (mostly of the casual variety) who thought that Rafa was only a star on clay. It didn’t hurt his cause that he also did well in Miami, where he reached the quarter-finals before falling to Djokovic.

Nadal’s impressive March should worry his clay court foes even more, as he should come into the upcoming season with even more momentum than usual. If he replicates his achievements of the past two years at Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros, I think the majority of tennis fans would declare him as the best player in 2007 at that point.

Honours Roll: Andy Murray (A-): Much like Djokovic who has clearly separated himself from the rest of the “kids” on the ATP Tour block, Murray has done much the same, although it’s clear who has the upper hand between these two at the moment.
Brad Gilbert’s charge reached consecutive semi-finals, which is quite an impressive feat considering that Indian Wells and Miami are back-to-back events featuring the world's elite.

What isn’t impressive, however, is that Murray bowed out so meekly in each semi-final -- both times to Djokovic. All you need to know is the number of games won by each player –- Novak won 24, not even requiring a tiebreaker in the four total sets of action. Murray won just six games. There’s no doubting that Andy has the game to compete, but questions about his fitness still persist and they will continue to linger even after these results.

Andy Roddick (A-): This seems to be the right place to rank Andy, along with Ivan Ljubicic, as they both reached a semi-final and a quarter-final during the two AMS events. Of course, as Roddick came out victorious when the two played each other in Indian Wells, I’m giving him the nod, but only slightly (it was a 7-6, 7-6 score). When I watched Roddick destroy Richard Gasquet in the fourth round of Indian Wells, I was confident that he would be claiming the championship.

Then, he ran into Nadal, who beat him nearly as badly as Federer defeated him at the Australian Open in January. In Miami, things again looked like they were on cruise control for the American, who did not drop a set before his quarter-final match with Murray, but a retirement in the subsequent match again held up his progress. It’s been a frustrating year for Roddick, who hasn’t manaed to traverse the hump in the biggest tournaments for some time.

Ivan Ljubicic (A-): At the AMS events, Ljubicic comes out to play and is always a contender. But like Roddick, his inability to craft a really meaningful victory has been beaten to death, and is surely frustrating the big fellow. Losing in the first round of the last two Grand Slams probably hasn’t helped his mindset either. Ljubicic will probably be a presence on clay this year, much like last season, when he reached the quarters of Monte Carlo and the semis of Roland Garros. But until he gets that big victory, the tune will remain the same.

*** For more tennis coverage, go to www.gasquetandracquet.com ***

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Comments (3)

by le prof on May 13, 2007

"The most appropriate way to do this is by assigning a grade to players" Um... says who, exactly? Are you sure you wouldn't rather give them star ratings? Oooh, but it would be so much cooler to use tennis balls in place of stars! Or... you could write what you think without trying to reduce it to a meaningless alphanumeric value. Just an idea.