World No.1 Rafael Nadal was hoping to clinch a Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam in Australia, but Novak Djokovic had other plans.
The main attraction for first Grand Slam of the year was probably the possibility of witnessing Spaniard Rafael Nadal completing his first Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam in Melbourne, Australia. After his successful appearances in 2010 at the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open -winning the three of them-, the Australian Open was Nadal's next target for 2011. The excitement from the fans and media was such that they even came up with a name to honor the World No. 1's achievement of winning four Majors in a row, which they began to call the "Rafa Slam".
Unfortunately for Nadal an injury added to the good tennis played by his countryman David Ferrer in the quarter finals where going to put and end to the "Rafa Slam". With the No. 1 seed and 2009 champion off the way, all eyes were now on the defending champion, the Swiss Roger Federer, who was after his fifth title (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010) in Melbourne.
Federer had a smooth trip into the semifinals, as his countryman Stanislas Wawrinka (seed 19) was never a threat for him in the quarterfinals, and easily won the match in straights sets of 6-1, 6-3, 6-3. In the semifinals an old rival was awaiting for him: Serbian Novak Djokovic, in a rematch of the 2008 semifinals, which was won by Djokovic and led him into his career first Grand Slam title.
Their most recent confrontation had taken place at the 2010 US Open -in the semifinals as well- in an epic match that went until the last of five sets to be decided in favor of Djokovic. This time three sets where going to be enough for the Serbian to defeat the Swiss for the seventh time (Federer has won 13) in his career, and win a berth for the final against the Scottish Andy Murray.
Djokovic arrived to the decisive game at Melbourne Park with the boost of having eliminated the defending champion and having lost only one set throughout the tournament. Before Federer, he had left behind Spaniard Marcel Granollers, Croatian Ivan Dodig, Serbian Viktor Troicki, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and Czech Thomas Berdych. Now the only obstacle in between him and his second Australian Open trophy was Murray, but not for long, as he defeated the Scottish in straight sets of 6–4, 6–2, 6–3.
The Serbian feels more mature and confident about his game this year, and he attributed the bad moments in his career to personal issues that he used to bring to the court. But now he claims that he has been successful in separating his private life from his professional one, and feels that this is being reflected in his game.
With this result Djokovic gets closer to the second place in the ATP World Tour Raking, which belongs to Federer with 7.965 points for an 85 point difference between them. If he continues to play with the same accuracy and mental strength as he displayed in the Australian Open, his chances of improving that third place in the ranking will surely be increased.
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