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There is no doubt that the Djokovic-Becker player-coach partnership was one of the most successful partnerships in tennis history if not the most successful. It would therefore almost be a crime for me not to do a post to pay tribute to Becker after the two decided to part ways to my great disappointment.

This partnership was one of the most enjoyable things for me about tennis in the last few years. When they first decided to work together I personally thought the partnership made a lot of sense having watched Djokovic losing his grip on Nadal during 2013.

He needed to add an extra dimension to his game to finish points more effectively and decisively because Nadal was taking advantage of his lack of finishing power. And I thought Becker was the ideal solution for that.

There were plenty of skeptics about the partnership, especially when Djokovic lost his Australian Open crown as soon as they started working together. But Djokovic and Becker were still finding each other which they did at Wimbledon that same year.

First of all, I was as shocked and disappointed by this news as any Djokovic fan. I don’t think many people expected them to end the partnership this abruptly after all the success they had.

There were all kinds of rumors but I didn’t think the two would part ways just because Djokovic slumped after the French Open which seemed very normal in many ways. It is impossible to know the exact reason they decided to end the partnership because we are not part of the inner circle.

Becker may not even know for sure but as you can see in the above video the personal problems around the time of Wimbledon according to Becker was due to the fact that Djokovic and his wife was not spending enough time together.

I think marriage problems may well be the issue here although I want to make clear that I am speculating like everyone else. I just think Djokovic has looked subdued of late like his hands are tied.

For a tennis player or anyone else for that matter to be highly successful, there are many things that have to fall into place. It is not just one thing or what goes on on the court. Your personal life and relationships are very important too.

Greetings. Since the last time I posted, the Argentines won their first Davis Cup title so congrats to them and especially Del Potro who was the hero of the tie. He came back from two sets to love down to defeat Cilic 6-7(4), 2-6, 7-5 6-4, 6-3 in the second singles which paved the way for Del Bonis to play a brilliant match against Karlovic which clinched the title for the Argentines.

I was really happy for Del Potro after everything he’d been through with his injury. He was also the last player to defeat Murray when he won another epic five-setter against him in the tie against Great Britain.

I’m looking forward to seeing what Del Potro can do in 2017 if he stays healthy. This year was a rebuilding year for him in which he won his first title since 2014 in Stockholm, made the Olympics finals, and won the Davis Cup.

If he stays healthy he will be a serious threat and may even win another slam. I for one would be delighted for him if it happens.

I found the above interview with Becker quite inspirational and on point.

“His time was with [Rafael] Nadal, with [Roger] Federer. Andy was always the fourth guy. So he lost a little bit of his opponents. Murray is showing something he hasn’t shown before.”

Becker bringing up Federer and Nadal’s absence is not something new to me. It is something I have thought about and I agree that their absence had an impact on Djokovic. Federer was his main competition from Wimbledon 2014 to the Australian Open of 2016.

During that time they met in three slam finals and a slam semi-final. That rivalry really motivated Djokovic but also the rivalry with Nadal. Federer and Nadal were always Djokovic’s main competition so I think their absence played a role in his slump.

That is not the only reason. The fact that Djokovic won the personal slam and finally won that elusive French Open, coupled with the absence of Federer and Nadal doesn’t make it all that surprising that he struggled with motivation.

Congrats to Murray for defeating Djokovic 6-3, 6-4 yesterday to win his first World Tour Finals title and thereby finishing the year as the number one ranked player in the world. It’s been an impressive run from him since Wimbledon and clearly having Lendl in his corner is of major importance to him.

Unfortunately, the final didn’t quite live up to the expectations because Djokovic was far from his best but at least he got one break back in the second set to make the match competitive.

At that point, he started looking like the old Djokovic as he started making fewer errors and started hitting his backhand down the line much better but by then it was too late.

Everything looked good at the start for Djokovic as he didn’t drop a point in his first two service games. But then in his next service game at 2-3 things already started coming apart for him as he let a return of serve from Murray go which dropped in.

He also made one of those shocking overheads which he is well-known for. He somehow got out of that service game but dropped serve at 3-4 and the first set was gone.

This highly entertaining edition of the World Tour Finals will come to a fitting conclusion today when for the first time in history two players will meet in the final to decide who ends the year as the number one player in the world.

We have already seen some great matches in London this year and now we will get the final many people have been expecting and hoping for.

Yesterday we have two more incredible matches in the semis when Murray defeated Raonic 5-7, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) in 318 minutes and Djokovic walked all over Nishikori 6-1 6-1 in 66 minutes. Two incredible matches for two very different reasons.

BRILLIANT! Check out this pick-up from @andy_murray in his battle with Raonic. https://t.co/BmumqVcmrF #ATPFinals https://t.co/RsWKVbvAXC

— TennisTV (@TennisTV) November 19, 2016

Today Djokovic defeated the alternate Goffin 6-1, 6-2 after the withdrawal of Monfils. It was exactly the kind of performance he would have liked to put in before advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament.

It seems he is now back after his slump but that will only be official if he wins the tournament. Against Goffin, it was the old Djokovic with his relentless accuracy and consistency from the baseline and it was good to see.

So far it has really been the perfect tournament for him given the situation when things got underway. I was clearly wrong in thinking he won’t recover before next year although like I said he still has to confirm his return with the title.

Either way, he is now in a very good position with Murray who had the longest three-set match in ATP Finals history with Nishikori and who gets no rest day between his last group match and the semis. Murray is also playing Stan in his final group match who caught fire against Cilic winning 7-6(3), 7-6(3).

Good day. Since my last post, Thiem defeated Monfils 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in the Lendl group while Djokovic kept improving against Raonic as he won 7-6(6), 7-6(5).

I was happy that Thiem got his first World Tour Finals win while I couldn’t feel bad for Monfils since he is just ‘there for Murray’. Why even bother to show up if you are there for another player? The last time I checked tennis was an individual sport.

As for Djokovic, I was very pleased with what I saw. It still wasn’t his best tennis but his mental strength and inner competitor were back. He simply refused to let Raonic get the better of him and made a big clutch play in each tiebreak.

#Djokovic pic.twitter.com/swrjSRAQab

— doublefault28 (@doublefault28) November 15, 2016

Me, thinking about the F word right now. ’
½: Federico Farcomeni pic.twitter.com/qfE8ElXjur

— FAN HAUS (@HausOfNovak) November 13, 2016

Above you can see an excerpt from Djokovic’s presser after his match against Thiem. I love it! I think it was about time Djokovic put these arrogant and smug British journos in their place.

The western media has always treated him like garbage because he is not from a western country or because he doesn’t fit their stereotype of how a top player should act.

First of all, their own player Murray acts much worse on the court. Second, if every top player acted like Federer or Nadal on court tennis would be in a very sorry state indeed.

I got the schedule wrong in my last post thanks to the ATP website which meant that Djokovic and Thiem opened proceedings today and not Wawrinka and Nishikori. When I noticed the mistake I was glad to see that Djokovic was playing first.

I enjoy the matchup between him and Thiem and it turned out to be an entertaining 6-7(10), 6-0, 6-2 victory for Djokovic. In the first set, Djokovic was once again looking far from his best.

Thiem even had two serves coming at 6-3 in the tiebreak and served two double faults. And yet Djokovic could not take advantage and win the first set. But Thiem should get some credit for how well he played too.

His serve and backhand were particularly impressive. I was even more impressed with the way Djokovic came back in the second and third sets, however. He broke Thiem in the opening game of the second set and then delivered the bagel.

Video: Great curling pass from @ThiemDomi, #Djokovic flings himself at it in vain https://t.co/kRsZ9udpkC #ATPFinals pic.twitter.com/iprL7CTknN

Hi folks, I’m finally done with exams and looking forward to following the World Tour Finals in London for the next week or so. I have already posted this on Facebook but the groups for this year will be as follows:

McEnroe Group – Murray, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Cilic
Lendl Group – Djokovic, Raonic, Monfils, Thiem

Djokovic got the easiest group possible and he is 23-0 in the collective head-to-head with the members of his group. Murray, on the other hand, has some potentially tricky opponents against whom he is collectively 27-12.

That said, given Murray’s recent form, he should easily pass the group stage and given Djokovic’s draw you would hope he can do the same.

As you would have noticed by now, I am not very optimistic about Djokovic’s chances to take back the number one ranking from Murray in London. Murray is likely to win the title if Djokovic does not stop him in which case he will be year-end number one.

(Saturday)

Congrats to Murray who became number one today for the first time! Surely deserved after a very consistent year although he’d probably wanted to at least win his match over Raonic to get it done.

I must say it feels strange that Murray got the number one ranking after Djokovic’s strong start to the year and winning the personal slam. He did better than Murray in the big events but he can still win Paris and London.

If he does that I’d feel he deserves it a bit more but hopefully this situation will make the people who are always acting like slams are the only thing that matters take note. They can’t have it both ways.

Either they accept that there are more to tennis greatness than the number of slams you win or they don’t accept the fact that Murray is number one after Djokovic won the most slams this year.