Novak Djokovic’s Future Looks Bright

In 2008, Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open. As the 20-year-old Serb defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, you could almost see the burden being lifted off his shoulders. In the years leading up to his first major triumph, Djokovic had shown great promise, but then so many do. That promise has to be translated into major wins and if it isn't, then one is forced to face some pretty searching questions posed by the media, fans, and themselves. Just ask Andy Murray.

With a player's inaugural slam victory, comes talk of how they will progress from there. In the case of Djokovic, he was talked about in much the same way as any other young slam winner. There was talk of winning 6, 7, or maybe 8 majors and becoming world No. 1. Lofty heights even for a very talented player.

The problem with such talk is that it not only piles pressure (that they have earned, and must cope with to be great), but the people who utter these words expect more major titles to follow immediately. It wouldn't be until his 11th major after his initial triumph, at the U.S. Open in 2010, that he would reach another major final.

In the meantime, he had been a consistent performer, having only failed to make it to at least the quarterfinals on two occasions. It is also worth noting that a couple exits within that run were as a result of respiratory problems, something that has plagued Djokovic for much of his life.

Despite not winning any major titles, he did win three Masters 100 titles in that time, as well as reaching a further five Masters 100 finals. His efficiency on court had led to a very consistent set of results which saw him rise to world No. 2 in February 2010. However, 2010 turned out to be a poor year for a man with such high ambitions. He failed to reach the final of any Masters 1000 events, thus his only final appearance in any major competition was the U.S. Open.

2010 saw Djokovic finish the year at world No. 3 for the fourth consecutive year and 2011 got off to the best possible start when he finally silenced any murmurs of "one-slam wonder" when he lifted the Australian Open Trophy for a second time.

So now the question of how far he can go in the game arises once more, but this time I feel as though the question can be answered with more certainty. Roger Federer, who has stood in the way of many a player's quest for greatness, is on a downward spiral and he almost certainly won't be winning major after major anymore. Andy Murray is having to deal with pressures of showing so much promise, but not delivering when it matters — in a major final.

There are undoubtedly other threats out there, such as Tomas Berdych, Robin Soderling, and fully-fit Juan Martin del Potro. Yet, right now the only person that has the capability to stop Djokovic on a consistent basis in majors in Rafael Nadal. Though Djokovic has a losing record against Federer, he is 5-3 head-to-head with Murray and would fancy his chances against either of them in slams. In fact, he beat Federer in the semifinals on both occasions that he won the Australian Open and to, perhaps, further reiterate a changing of the guard Djokovic beat Federer on Saturday in Dubai.

Nadal, on the other hand, boasts a 16-7 record over the Serb, but more importantly Nadal leads their head-to-heads at slams 5-0. Nadal's superior quality and fitness always comes good.

Djokovic currently sits just over 100 points behind Federer in the rankings and given both player's current career trajectories it is only a matter of time before Djokovic secures the world No. 2 spot again. This time, however, it is likely that he would end the year in that position.

So, the question is whether or not Djokovic can topple Nadal and claim the No. 1 spot. Nadal had a stellar year in 2010 and will have to defend an awful lot of points over the summer when the schedule gets rather hectic, whilst Djokovic doesn't have as many points to defend and he should be able to gain ground. I think it's unlikely that Nadal will falter enough for Djokovic to go ahead of him, but expect the gap to have shrunk by the end of year as Djokovic finally delivers on all of his early promise.