High Life

HIGH LIFE #11 Aug 2017 95 At the 2017 Australian Open, the defending champion was a shock second round exit, falling at the hands of world number 117 Denis Istomin. More losses followed as the clay court season approached, with just one appearance in anATP final to show for his efforts before his French Open runwas haltedwith a crushing straight sets loss to rising star Dominic Thiem. Incredibly, the 76, 63, 60 result was the first time Djokovic had lost a set to love in a grand small match since 2005! Yet Djokovic’s demons – culminating in his withdrawal through injury in the quarter-finals ofWimbledon – aren’t the only plot twists to have befuddled the great race in 2017. In fact, much of the talk around his rapid ascension last year had included the widely accepted notion that the three men ahead of him on the list – Federer, Nadal and Sampras – had all won their last grand slam. Although both Federer and Nadal were still playing, both had fallenout of the top 10with 35yearold Federer’s last grand slamwin coming in2012 andNadal’s bodystarting tobreakdownwith injury. Instead, the veteran duo have turned back the clock in 2017, starting in Melbourne where Federer defied the critics to beat Nadal, of all people, in an epic Australian Open final to claim a record 18thgrandslamtitle. Indoing so, Federernotonlyextended the gap over his nearest rivals to four but became the second oldest player ever to win a grand slam title behind Ken Rosewall, who was 37 years, two months and one day old when he won the 1972AustralianOpen. Incredibly, Federerwentonebetter in Julyby crushing thefield towinhis eighthWimbledontitleand19thgrand slam.And not onlydid hewin, for the first time on theWimbledon grass he did sowithout dropping a single set! As theystand, there is nodoubt thatFedererholds themantle of the greatest of all time. But themantle isn’t his to keep just yet. Having seen his old rival relive his glory days from the other end of the court at the Australian Open, Nadal quickly added his 15th grand slam title to the resume at Roland Garros with one of the most dominant performances of all time sealing a record 10th French Open crown. No other player has won a single grand slam event more than eight times and Nadal moved into double figures bylosingjust35gamesacrosshissevenmatches–thesecondfewest inhistorybehind the 32 BjornBorg dropped atWimbledon in 1978.