By Mike McIntyre
The off season in tennis is notorious for being a short one. With the ATP World Tour finals wrapping up on November 22nd the pros don't really have much time to rest and recover before the New Year is upon them. Add to the fact that several players will be filling their down time with exhibition matches and you can see how professional tennis is really a 12 month commitment for these elite athletes.
On the men's Tour 2015 will be remembered as the year of Novak Djokovic. Although the world No. 1 has had plenty of success prior to this past season, he truly dominated his rivals with an 82-6 record that included three Grand Slam titles. The lone major that eluded him (yet again) was the French Open where he was actually the heavy favourite going up against Stan Wawrinka. The question in 2016 is whether or not Novak can sustain his incredible level and will he finally be able to follow in the footsteps of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and capture that missing Slam. Novak will turn 29 this coming May and that is two years older than Federer was when he won his first and only French Open. Federer had Nadal, the King of Clay, who prevented him from winning more at Roland Garros, but Djokovic has only his mental fortitude standing in his way towards capturing the title he wants so badly.
Aside from the greatness that Djokovic brings to the table it will be interesting to see how the other big names can fare in 2016. Federer seems oblivious to the fact that he will be turning 35 this coming year and is somehow continuing to find ways to stay near the pinnacle of the sport. While he hasn't won a Slam since July 2012, he is still the player (after Novak) that most would rather not have to face in any given event. Federer wants more than anything to get at least one more Slam before he even thinks about retiring and would also like to grab a Gold medal at the summer Olympics in Rio. Rafael Nadal meanwhile would like to have a much more consistent season in 2016 and although he finished 5th in the ATP rankings, he was hoping for much more than that. Failing to make it to the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams for the first time in his career is something he would rather not repeat. I would say in fact that if Rafa can't find a way to seriously challenge at a Slam this coming year that perhaps he would consider retiring as he nears the age of 30. With the immense physical toll the sport has taken on his body over the years, Nadal might be prudent to save some of his health for retirement and his life after tennis. Finally we have Andy Murray who seems to have stalled in his pursuit for more Grand Slams but he did add a Davis Cup title to his list of achievements in 2015 when the Brits defeated Belgium. Murray doesn't appear to have the pressure that others might have heading into the new season and for that reason I would say he could present himself as a very dangerous opponent. I would be surprised if Murray was not at least present in the finals of a couple of Slams in 2016. That being said, even with all of his talent he has only advanced to the finals of one out of the last nine majors which has to be considered quite the disappointment for the current No. 2 player in the world.
With the above four players all approaching (or already at) the age of 30, and only one player in the top ten being under the age of 28, we must also look to players like Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin and others and wonder when they will make their move. There has to be a changing of the guard at some point and so far only Marin Cilic has managed to break through the big four recently at the Grand Slam level - and even he will be turning 28 in the coming year. Perhaps we are seeing another period of denial where once it was Federer and Nadal refusing to share the wealth and now it is Novak Djokovic who is doing his best job at replicating that selfish era of near solo domination. With so much excitement happening over the past twelve months, it should be interesting to see what 2016 has in store.
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