Djokovic ends 2001 in style with UAE victory

Novak Djokovic brought the curtain down on his stunning 2011 season with a 6-2 6-1 thrashing of Spain's David Ferrer in the final of the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal beaten

(AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept aside Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1 Friday and will play David Ferrer in the final of the World Tennis Championship exhibition.

The fifth-ranked Ferrer upset second-ranked Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal. Nadal, who won the tournament the past two years, was nursing a sore shoulder and never seriously challenged his fellow Spaniard.

Federer setting sights on no. 3

There are a number of things Federer would like to achieve before ending the dismal year 2011.  First, he needs to defend the year-end title where he captured last year after defeating the then world no. 1 Rafael Nadal.  Seondly, he could climb back up to no. 3 and should serve as a consolation since it was very likely he was going to end up at no. 4 just a few weeks ago if not for Murray's recent mini slump.

Roger cheers for Li-Na

Watch the greatest tennis player of all-time cheers for the greatest women's chinese player.

Federer's a long shot to the top

Tennis season for 2011 is almost half way.  Two players have been claiming titles like pancakes and making headlines.  Surprisingly, Federer was not among them.

Novak Djokovic, the guy who beat Federer in the Australian Open semis, is playing 'Roger' of old and like a man possessed right from the start of 2011.  He eventually won the first grand slam of the year demolishing Andy Murray.  After four months, he was able to capture five more titles, holding a 35-0 win lose card, beating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in four of his five titles convincingly.  With the way he is playing now, it is just a matter of time when he can dethrone Nadal from the top.

The other player of course is the current number one player in the world.  Nadal is no push over either even though Djokovic has been his worst nightmare on their three previous meetings.  While Djokovic has been doing most of the damage as of late, Nadal is still in solid form caputring two clay court titles over Spanish compatriot David Ferrer.  But the biggest hurdle for him right now is to figure out the Djokovic puzzle to cling to his number one spot.

With two younger, fresher players playing very solid in 2011, it would take Federer more than his talent to regain his tennis supremacy over the years.  Time is not on his side and now, even records show that his dominance in tennis is already a thing of the past.  He need to pull out all his bag of tricks if he still has any left.  One win againsts any of the two above will surely regain some confidence and keep the fire burning.  He has more puzzles to figure out than Nadal, and he better figure them out before another player kicks him out of the top three ATP rankings.

Fed-express slowing down

Two weeks ago, Novak Djokovic captured his second grand slam trophy of his career.  Both of his grand slam titles happened in Melbourne soil, and both were semi-final victories againsts Roger Federer.  And for the second time since 2003, Federer is again endangered of falling down into the number three spot of the world rankings with just a mere 85 ranking points.

With the string of grand slam defeats piling up one after the other, it is difficult to deny that Federer is indeed on a decline.  We heard and read these on papers before but Roger was able to bounce back proving his critics wrong by taking back his number one sport and winning a couple of grand slam titles.  But I guess the question now his it's becoming more frequent for Federer to be in this discussion nowadays which is definitely a factor for signs of decline.

Can Roger Federer still get back to the top of the rankings?  It would be a herculean task to achieve considering clay court season is underway for the next few months.

Australian Open 2011 - Dead spot on Court

It is the weirdest thing I've ever seen in the tennis court. The dropped tennis ball just died on the floor just like dropping a bowling ball.