BLT February 2012 Power Rankings

Australia's over but the 2012 tennis year has really just become.  Who came out of Oz on fire and who needs a jumpstart?  Time for a round of Power Rankings.  

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) Last Month: (2)

Is it me or is 2012 beginning to look a lot like last year?  It is for Novak Djokovic at least.  He came into this Australian swing with some legitimate question marks about his fitness and his state of mind; he left the land Down Under back on top.  Djokovic captured his fifth major and a seventh consecutive win over World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, albeit in a near six hour epic that showed the two players may be on closer terms than they seemed a year prior.  Just seven matches from the Nole Slam in Paris you have to think, wouldn't that be an interesting feather in the Serb's cap?  Federer could be the greatest ever, Nadal could be the greatest clay-courter ever and Djokovic could be the only one of the three to win four majors in a row.  You want to talk Greatest Generation?  Only seven men have captured the career grand slam and Djokovic could be the third to do it in four years...all while beating TWO of the others to get there. Why are we getting ahead of ourselves?  Djokovic beat Nadal on clay twice last year, just saying.  In any event, the next few months are on hardcourts. Djokovic has won the last three majors on the hard stuff...up next, defending the Indian Wells-Key Biscayne double.

2011 Year End Power Rankings

Sometimes the hot cool down, sometimes the cool heat up.  Check out who makes Blacklabel Tennis' 2011 Year End Power Rankings.

1. Petra Kvitova (CZE) Last Month: (3)

Novak Djokovic certainly had the best year in 2011, but the hottest player going into 2012 has to be Petra Kvitova.  She began her march to the top of the WTA with an upset win over Kim Clijsters in the Paris final back in February (Clijsters was World No. 1; Kvitova, No. 18 at the time).  Then she simply outslugged Maria Sharapova, to become the unanimous pick as the most likely to succeed of this year's first time major winners.  She may have started the year ranked 34th, but after winning a major, the WTA Tour Championships and five other tour titles, the 20 year old Czech finished within a hair of the year end No. 1 ranking.  Then for good measure, she led the Czech Republic to the Fed Cup title.  There is simply no one we're more interested in watching start their 2012 campaign than Kvitova.

Blacklabel Tennis November 2011 Power Rankings

Who's as hot as they come this fall?  Who's in absolute freefall?  Here's our take after the last month of tennis.  We call it the Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings, enjoy.

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) Last Month: (1)

The man is still the man.  A back injury may have truncated his planned fall campaign, it may lessen his credentials in the "best season ever" discussion;  but yeah, ho hum, who cares?  The Serbian superstar, aka Robo-Nole, is still the man to beat whenever he takes the court.  In part, because he's got that locker room intimidation factor that's worth a nervous break even if his game isn't completely firing.  He doesn't even need to show up the rest of 2011 to be the favorite in Australia.  Then again, there's nowhere to go from here, but down.  Well, at least, Nadal, Murray, Federer and err, every other man playing ATP level tennis hope that's the case.  

Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings - August 2011

Yep, it's that time of the month again.  Welcome to the second edition of the Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings.  The idea's pretty simple, we'll tell you who the top ten players are RIGHT NOW every month, why they're hot, why they're cold and why you need to pay attention going forward.  Agree? Disagree?  Leave it in the comments.

In all honesty, a lot of the top dogs have been silent since we released the July rankings after Wimbledon, but there has been a bit of movement, including a strong showing by you know who...

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) Last Month: (1)

Novak Djokovic hasn't done a lot wrong since he took the top post last month.  Sure, he lost his doubles match in a Davis Cup tie that Serbia won anyway and there was that photo, but has he done anything to make us believe he's not the best tennis player on Planet Earth right now?  Nope, I'd say not.  It'll be interesting to see if the month-long break rejuvenates him or saps his mojo.  Every player reacts differently to the time off and the lack of matchplay could leave him vulnerable to an early round upset in Montreal.  Montreal, belle ville though it is, is not the goal, New York, the US Open is. He may not sweep the hardcourt Masters, but at the moment, Djokovic is still the best player on the surface, as such, he leads the Power Rankings.    

Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings - July 2011

Welcome to the first edition of the Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings.  The idea's pretty simple, we'll tell you who the top ten players are RIGHT NOW every month, why they're hot, why they're cold and why you need to pay attention going forward.  Agree? Disagree?  Leave it in the comments.

Anyone want to take a wild guess who's at the top?

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
What's left to say?  Australian Open champion, Wimbledon champion, World 
No. 1 ranking, long term lease in the head of one, Rafael Nadal.  The man who single-handedly destroyed the gluten industry.  Oh, and one more thing, he's going into his favorite part of the year, the American hardcourt swing.  Right now, only two things can derail Djokovic, injury or complacency.  I don't think the latter is a possibility.  There's still a lot he wants to win and his next order of business will be claiming that US Open trophy from a guy he's beaten five times in a row.