One man stood head and shoulders above the rest of the ATP in 2015, completely dominating the tour and breaking several records along the way. That man was Serbian world number 1 Novak Djokovic, with what was statistically the best season of his career and one of the best seasons in tennis history.
Starting 2015 in Qatar, Djokovic didn’t have everything all his own way and was knocked out at the Quarter Final stage by Ivo Karlovic. That seemed to fire him up and he proceeded to reach the final of all 15 tournaments he played for the rest of the season. These included all four Grand Slam events, to make Djokovic only the third man in history to achieve this feat. His eleven titles for the season included a record breaking six Masters 1000 events, three Grand Slams and the end of season ATP Tour Finals.
On top of all the trophies, he also amassed a record amount of prize money in a calendar year ($21,646,145) and won 31 matches against top ten players. The only other defeats he suffered after the one to Karlovic were against Federer (3 times), Murray and Wawrinka. The man wasn’t quite unbeatable but was as near to it as anyone is going to get in the near future.
The question coming into 2016 is, can anyone stop him from having an even better season?
The Serb will again start his campaign in Qatar at the start of January, where he will hope to have a better tournament than last year, before starting the defence of his Australian Open crown from the 18th.
The Australian Open is a tournament he has won five times, including four of the last five years, with at least a Quarter Final place every year since 2008. That is a great record which shows just how at home he feels at the opening Grand Slam of the year, with many already predicting he’ll take the title home with him again this time around.
When looking at players to knock him off his perch, you obviously have to look at Federer and Murray but the Swiss star is getting on a bit in age and the Brit has a distinct psychological disadvantage against the Serb. Maybe someone new will emerge as a challenger for Djokovic but all signs point to another dominating year for the current best in the world, with him still determined to win all four Grand Slam titles in the same year.