ATP
The tennis season on the men’s tour ended as it started, with Roger Federer smiling on the biggest stage. In January he was lifting the Australian Open title above his head and come late November he was doing the same with the Masters Cup trophy. In between, Federer confirmed his status as the number one player in the world and further strengthened his stranglehold on Wimbledon and the US Open.

On clay, the King was still King. Rafael Nadal finally succumbed on the red stuff at Hamburg, but it didn’t stop him taking the French Open title for the third time. Nadal is now 21-0 lifetime at Roland Garros. Even the New England Patriots won’t be able to post such a record this season.

Tennis said ‘hello’ to a new star - Novak Djokovic. The Serb went from being in a pack of talented up and coming players to landing on an island of his own as the No. 3 player in the world. He cemented his position by virtue of two Masters Series successes, a Grand Slam final appearance at the US Open and runs to the last four of the French Open and Wimbledon. Djokovic ran out of steam towards the end of the season but much will be expected of him come next year, and who knows, he may even have added to his repertoire of player impersonations.

'The Williams sisters took time out to remind everyone they are still forces to be reckoned with on the tour'


It was a bad year for pasta at Wimbledon. Marat Safin expects better next year. And it was an even worse year for the hierarchy at Wimbledon. Much the same will be expected next year. British tennis fans said ‘thank you and goodbye’ to Tim Henman. World-wide tennis fans said ‘good riddance and close the door on your way out’ to the Round-Robin format. Cedric Mourier said ‘serve like me’ to Nikolay Davydenko.

Speaking of Davydenko, he had a very uneventful season. He played 84 matches (winning 53), almost beat Nadal on clay in Rome, was placed under investigation for alleged match fixing in Sopot, won Moscow despite being hampered by injury, was fined for ‘not trying’ in St.Petersburg and was offered outstanding coaching advice by 22 times Grand Slam Champion Mourier. Sorry, that’s ATP umpire Cedric Mourier. He also had his fine for ‘not trying’ rescinded.

Oh, and he reached the last four of two Grand Slams and qualified once more for the season ending Masters Cup as well as being a part of the Russian squad in the Davis Cup Final. It’s a simple life being an elite tennis player on the men’s tour.

David Nalbandian quashed speculation of early retirement by winning the Madrid and Paris Masters. During which he beat Federer (twice), Nadal (twice) and Djokovic. Fernando Gonzalez had a season of extremes highs and woeful lows. Andy Murray got injured, swore at Brad Gilbert, missed Wimbledon, returned to the tour, swore at Gilbert, just missed out on a Masters Cup spot, swore at Gilbert and then fired him. The USA won the Davis Cup in a one sided final against the nation that has dominated proceedings in the tournament for the past few years, Russia.

WTA
The women’s tour crowned a new world No. 1 . . . well not exactly. 2006 ended with Justine Henin-Hardenne on top, 2007 just had plain old Justine Henin. The Belgian parted with her husband, was reunited with her family and dominated the women’s tour whenever she was on court. Henin missed the Australian Open as her divorce became public, but went on to win the French and US Opens. A stunning upset saw her crash out of Wimbledon in the last four to Marion Bartoli. It was the only major blemish in an otherwise flawless season that climaxed with victory at the year end championships.

The Williams sisters took time out to remind everyone they are still forces to be reckoned with on the tour. Serena won the Australian Open despite limited preparation in match situations. Never one to do anything without a sense of style, Serena produced her most commanding performance of the tournament when the pressure was on most, obliterating Maria Sharapova in the final.

Not to be outdone, Venus won Wimbledon. Like her sister, she was lucky to escape against younger opponents previous to the final, but with her eye on the prize there was no stopping her once she faced Bartoli.

Serbian tennis didn’t just have a star on the men’s side to hold the nation’s interest. Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic don’t have much trouble in gaining everyone’s attention on or off court. On court, Ivanovic reached the final of the French Open where she will wish to forget the trouncing Henin gave her. If only Jankovic could forget Henin, but it’s hard for her not to as her record against the world number in 2007 was 0-7 (0-9 lifetime). However, that didn’t stop Jankovic ending the year at No.3, with Ivanovic also attaining a career high at No. 4.

Russia once again showed off their depth of talent by winning the Fed Cup. They did it without Sharapova who decided to play the role of supporter in the final. She was not called up having not played in any of the previous rounds. For much of the year, shoulder trouble gave Sharapova serving trouble. By the end of the year there were signs that 2008 may be a lot brighter for Sharapova than 2007 was as she made the final of the year end championships against the expectations of many, including myself.

The Kim Clijsters farewell tour ended abruptly, long before many tennis fans thought they would have a chance to say goodbye to her. Martina Hingis said goodbye to tennis once more, or did tennis say goodbye to her? Hingis tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon and called it quits at the end of the season once the news was made public. After initially claiming she would not fight the results of the test, it appears she may have changed her mind although a return to playing tennis itself is not on her agenda.