Novak Djokovic's Italian job points way towards No.1

Novak Djokovic is now brimming with confidence. After his well-published great start to the season, the young Serbian has now shown his fans and tennis buffs in general that he is capable of playing big matches on clay and matching his greatest rivals on the red stuff.

After a semi-final spot in Monte Carlo in a Masters Series event, Djokovic came into the Italian Masters in Rome as a player with pedigree but who was still to show his best form on the surface. With the second-round defeat of defending champion Rafael Nadal by Juan Carlos Ferrero and Roger Federer's disappointing 7-6, 7-6 loss to Radek Stepanek in the quarter-finals, the draw in Rome had opened up nicely for world No.3 Djokovic.

Anything equalling or bettering his quarter-final appearance in last year's tournament would have been good for the boy from Serbia, and would have enabled him to close the gap on the top two spots in the world rankings. But to actually win the tournament means he has moved significantly closer to Nadal and Federer and it has given him confidence to move even closer in coming weeks at the Hamburg Masters and at the important French Open.

Djokovic received a bye in the first round as one of the top seeds and in the second round destroyed Belgian rising star Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-0. I could tell he was in good form and although he lost concentration in the second set of his match with Igor Andreev of Russia, Djokovic bounced back in the decider like a true champion to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.