Who’s Hot
Novak Djokovic
Saying Dkokovic has had a great start to the year could actually go down as the understatement of the year. His 2011 campaign has thus far been historically good--he has yet to lose a match and has four titles, including a Slam and two Masters 1000 victories. His streak of 24 straight wins to start the year has not been built on the backs of second-tier competition, either. He’s beaten Rafael Nadal twice, Roger Federer three times, and has 8 wins on this streak over top 10 players. Not bad. The Djoker did pull out of Monte Carlo, to rest his bones, ease some aches and pains, and get ready for the grueling clay court season. He’ll play next week on home soil in Belgrade at the Serbian Open--look for the streak to continue, and look for Djokovic to make a deep run at the French Open in May. Can he get through the clay season unbeaten? Not likely, but still, a stellar start for the hottest player on tour.
Rafael Nadal
The #1 ranked player in the world is coming off his first tournament victory of 2011, believe it or not, at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters. Still, even without a tournament title to his name before April, Nadal has been, as usual, one of the most consistent players on tour. He suffered an unfortunate leg injury at the Australian Open and got steamrolled by countryman and friend David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. Since then, though, he has made three straight finals at Masters 1000 events, losing to Djokovic at Indian Wells and Miami and beating Ferrer at Monte Carlo. The King of Clay is back on the European dirt, and looks to be in good form to make a run at another clay court season sweep. Nadal has a massive amount of points to defend between now and then end of the French Open, so the Spaniard’s motivation should be unmatched.
Milos Raonic
Though his results are beginning to taper off just a bit after bursting on the scene with his wicked serve at the Australian Open, we still have to include Raonic in the year’s first quarter “Hot List.” His ranking has shot up 128 spots--he’s currently ranked #28--and he won his first ATP World Tour title in San Jose. He backed up his performance in San Jose with an appearance in the Memphis final (losing to Andy Roddick on an amazing down the line passing shot), beating Fernando Verdasco at both events. His results were less-than-stellar at Indian Wells and Miami, but Raonic certainly has a bright future. And, based on the fact he has almost zero points to defend, his ranking should continue to climb even if we don’t see him in any semis or finals on the red clay. If Milos can tread water through the clay court season, he could be very dangerous at Wimbledon and back home on the hard courts of North America this summer.
Ryan Sweeting
While there are players who have probably had better seasons than Sweeting, we’re going to give him the nod here because he picked up his first career ATP World Tour Title, and he did it in impressive fashion at the US Clay Court Championships in Houston. He took out Sam Querrey and Ivan Ljubicic and then beat Kei Nishikori (who just missed this edition of the “Hot List”) in the final. His ranking has surged into the 60s, which makes him the highest ranked American after the Big Four of Mardy Fish, Roddick, Querrey and John Isner. He’s also made good showings in the spring hard court Masters events in the States, picking up some nice wins along the way. Now, let’s see if he can back up these results with a good summer hard court season and maybe even make himself a household name at the US Open in September.
Ivan Dodig
Who? Dodig has quietly had a fabulous year, also claiming his maiden ATP World Tour title in Zagreb earlier this year with wins over Ljubicic and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. His ranking has climbed from the high 80s to the mid 50s, but that will change again on Monday when the new rankings are released--Dodig will benefit from his performance in Barcelona, where he is in the quarterfinals and has a real chance at making the semis (he plays Feliciano Lopez in the quarters). His results are solid, but what pushed him over the top and onto the “Hot List” is the fact he hasn’t lost to anyone ranked lower than him in 2011. He has lost to Tomas Berdych (Chennai), Djokovic (Australian Open), Juan Martin Del Potro (Memphis), Janko Tipsarevic (Delray), Robin Soderling (Miami) and Tommy Robredo (Monte Carlo). Couple that with his victory this week over Raonic in Barcelona, and Dodig is officially hot.
Who’s Not
Fernando Verdasco
Verdasco didn’t have a terrible beginning to the season, reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open and cruising into the final at San Jose. That’s when he ran into Raonic, and that’s when his year took a turn for the worse--a lot worse. Verdasco dropped the San Jose final to the young Canadian on Sunday, and then played him again in the first round at Memphis on Wednesday--he lost that one too. And thus began a string of disappointing first round losses and his exit from the top 10. Since the middle of February, Verdasco has a total of 1 win on tour (plus a big win for Spain in Davis Cup). His first round (or first match, in events in which he had a bye) exits include Memphis, Acapulco, Miami and Monte Carlo. His only win at Indian Wells came when Richard Berankis retired. Verdasco is not defending his title in Barcelona this week, so his ranking will drop again next week. All in all, not the start the Spanish lefty was hoping for in 2011.
Andy Roddick
It’s hard to ding a guy who has actually won a tournament in 2011, but we are going to do it anyway. Roddick knew he had a big challenge at the outset of the year--a year ago, he dominated the spring Masters 1000 events in the US, reaching the final at Indian Wells and winning Miami. It was crucial for Roddick to defend those points, especially given his track record on European clay (or lack thereof), and, quite frankly, he didn’t. The 4th round loss in California wasn’t nearly as disastrous to his ranking as bowing out to Pablo Cuevas in his first match (2nd round with a bye) as defending champion at the Sony Ericsson. Roddick, to be fair, was battling an illness in Miami, but computers don’t take that into account, and Roddick’s ranking took a beating. Roddick can make up for these poor results by having a good showing in Europe and then returning home this summer and making some noise on the North American hard courts. He also has anther chance to make Americans proud in a huge Davis Cup tie in his hometown of Austin, Texas in July.
Marcos Baghdatis
Things have gotten so bad for Baghdatis that apparently people have been sending him abusive messages on Facebook. He came out with a letter on the social networking site to all his fans to ask for their support, and at the same time chided those who were deriding him. His year didn’t start all that badly--he made the 3rd round at the Australian Open, losing to Jurgen Melzer, and he followed that up with a quarterfinal appearance at Rotterdam, beating Murray in the 1st round and Feliciano Lopez in the 2nd round. Unfortunately, that win against Lopez was his last. He’s riding a long losing streak, and hit rock bottom at the tournament in Morocco two weeks ago with a loss to Andrey Kuznetsov, ranked #244 in the world. Baghdatis has not been 100% healthy this year, but he is usually at his best on the clay courts, and now is the time for him to turn his season around. If he suffers early exits in Madrid and Rome, the pressure will be intense at the French Open. Baghdatis is such a great guy, here’s to hoping he get things going in the right direction. Right now, though, he’s scuffling. Badly.
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