2012 Recap; the Early Hard Court Season

In the beginning.......

Novak Djokovic ruled the world we know as the ATP. In 2011, Djokovic conquered his rivals, Federer and, especially, Nadal. Along the way, Nolé captured five Masters titles, a record, and three major titles. Coming into 2012 most did not expect the same, but he was up to the task. We did not see him sink his teeth into the 2012 season until his first tournament played which was the Australian Open where he sank them deep. Before the big dog began his 2012 season, others took advantage of the other five tournaments preceding the first major of the year.

To start the 2012 campaign, one of the surprises of the year, Andy Murray, struck the iron hot by winning Brisbane. This was definitely a sign of great things to come for the Scot. The other four tournaments preceding the Aussie Open were as follows:

Brisbane: Andy Murray

Chennai: Milos Raonic

Qatar: Jo Wilfried Tsonga

Sidney: Jarkko Nieminen

Auckland: David Ferrer

Going into the Australian Open, we had five different winners in as many events; a trend that would carry throughout the 2012 season. The first major of the year commenced with big fireworks as we saw some of the best tennis in the semifinals and finals. The top four players saw themselves in the semifinals once again proving their dominance over the sport. Old rivals, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer squared off in tightly contest semifinal that saw Nadal come out on top in four sets. As competitive and close as this match was, the next semi trumped and raised. Andy Murray, with new coach Ivan Lendl, looked to stop the train known as Nolé. In one of the greatest semifinals in memory, Djokovic took out the Scot in five sets proclaiming his dominance over his friend. Andy, as bummed as he was, definitely drew experience out of the match which later on would serve him well.

In our Golden Age of tennis, we have watches some amazing final matches in Grand Slams. The "yawn" finals of the '90s are a long memory away. A 5 hour and 53 minute marathon that saw both
man give it their all was our prize at the end. Novak Djokovic continued his dominance over Rafael Nadal beating him in their seventh consecutive final in which they have played. It seemed as the year Djoko had in 2011 would spill into 2012, but we were wrong...kinda



Aussie Open: Novak Djokovic


The next couple of months saw the players move to indoor hard and finally finish their hard court swing in America. The next five tournaments results are as follows...

Rotterdam: Roger Federer

Memphis: Jurgen Melzer

Dubai : Roger Federer

Indian Wells: Roger Federer

Miami: Novak Djokovic

Roger definitely made his case to regain the world's number one ranking by winning three hard court events, inching closer to Djokovic in the ATP race along with catching Pete Sampras's famous record of 286 weeks at number one. Djoko put a temporary hold on that record as he claimed the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

The black mark of the early 2012 season came when Rafa pulled out of the semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open due to a knee injury; yet another sign of what the year had in store for us and Rafa. This heartbreaking news caught the attention of the fans and grew fear in all of us that the injury could be a repeat of 2009 when we lost Nadal for nine weeks.

The early hard court season was a great precursor to the rest of the year. We saw Djokovic win another major, but was challenged by both Murray and Nadal at the Aussie. Murray came so very close to taking down the reigning King of tennis, Djokovic in that same event. Roger dominated the hard court tournaments after the Aussie inching closer to yet another Hall of Fame mark and lastly we saw Rafael Nadal struggle with another knee injury. This news along with the volatility of the early year defiantly left questions for the clay season.