Novak Djokovic: Review of 2018 ATP Season and Predictions for 2019

The year 2018 certainly belonged to Novak Djokovic, who came into the season after an injury-induced six-month long hiatus and ended the season as the world number one.

The Serbian had not played competitive tennis since 2017 Wimbledon Championships, on account of injury. He began his 2018 season tentatively by playing only a handful of exhibition matches in preparation for the first grand slam of the year.

At the Australian Open, he managed to reach the fourth round, despite not being at his best. But there, he lost to the Korean next-gen star Hyeon Chung who beat Djokovic in his own game, through the great defence at the baseline, and counter-attacking shots.

After the Australian Open loss, Djokovic went for a surgery in his right elbow and made a comeback at the Indian Wells Masters. But he had a disastrous outing there as he lost to world number 109 Taro Daniel, and then went on to lose to Benoit Paire at Miami.

After his disappointing show in the hard court season, he decided to play as much as possible on the clay. At Monte Carlo, he reached the third round, where he lost to the clay-court specialist, Dominic Thiem. His form showed little sign of improvement as he promptly lost his next clay court match at Barcelona Open to Martin Klizan in his opening round.

It is in Madrid Masters that he managed his first win over a top 20 player in almost a year by defeating Kei Nishikori, who too was making a comeback of his own. But he lost to Kyle Edmund in the next round. At the Rome Masters, he defeated Kei again and reached the semi-final stage, where he lost to the king of clay – Rafael Nadal.

At the French Open, he seemed to be close to his best in the early rounds, before facing a shocking loss to the Italian journeyman – Marco Cecchinato. He was completely devastated after that loss, as was evident from his post-match press conference.

But as they say, the night is the darkest before the dawn. And that’s exactly what happened. The Serbian’s fortunes took a massive up-turn after the low at the French Open.

He reached the finals of the Queen’s Club in London and narrowly lost to Marin Cilic there. At the Wimbledon Championships, he kept getting better with every passing game. His five-set win over old rival Rafael Nadal in the semi-final was an instant classic. He then demolished Kevin Anderson in straight sets to win his fourth Wimbledon title.

Though he lost to the young Stefano Tsitsipas in the third round of the Canadian Open, he was back at his very best at the next Masters event at Cincinnati. He defeated Roger Federer in straight sets in the final to win the only missing Masters title from his kitty, thus becoming the only player to complete the Career Golden Masters.

He then proceeded to win his third US Open title, defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final. This was his fourteenth grand slam title, equaling him with Pete Sampras and he was now only behind his two great rivals – Federer and Nadal – in terms of number of grand slams won.

He continued his dominant form at Shanghai Masters, which he won by getting it past Borna Coric. At the Paris Masters, he looked very impressive throughout the tournament. He met with some resistance from Federer in the semi-final but edged him in a tight three-setter.

But that match seemed to have taken a lot out of him, as he looked uncharacteristically tired and slow in the final against Karen Khachanov, which he lost in straight sets. However, despite that setback, he regained his world number 1 ranking after giving it away exactly two years ago.

In the year-end World Tour Finals at London, he looked in imperious form. He did not lose a single set en route to the final and was the overwhelming favourite to win a record-equalling sixth title there. However, just like the Paris Masters final, he lost to another young player, Alexander Zverev in the final, again in straight sets.

The last two defeats in the finals of the season’s last big events may have taken a little bit of gloss from his astoundingly brilliant season, especially the second half. However, it was one of his greatest seasons, and he was rightly judged the comeback player of the year at the 2018 ATP awards.

He has very few points to defend in the first half of the 2019 season. So, he looks primed to remain at the top in the foreseeable future. He would, however, have to contend with the challenge not just from Fedal, but also from the young generation led by the likes of Zverev, Khachanov and Tsitsipas, in his quest for more glory.