Zverev and Khachanov, not Federer and Nadal, will challenge Djokovic's supremacy in 2019
In the two biggest tournaments at the fag end of 2018 ATP season, the rampaging Novak Djokovic was stopped by two young guns. At the Paris Masters final, it was the Russian Karen Khachanov and in the summit clash of World Tour Finals in London, it was the German Alexander Zverev who defied the odds to beat the Serbian.
In the second half of the 2018 ATP season, Novak Djokovic has played at a level reminiscent of the 2011 – 2016 halcyon days. During those six years, the major challenges to his supremacy came from Federer and Nadal, though it was the Serbian who came on top in most of their encounters.
The way Novak regained the number 1 ranking after dominating the second half of the 2018 season, a period in which he won the year’s last two grand slams and two Masters 1000 events, it seemed to herald a period of his ‘second coming’.
During this dominant stretch, he met Federer twice and defeated him on both occasions. He also met Nadal once and has got the better of him. With Federer showing signs of slowing down with age, and Nadal facing his perennial injury issues, the stage seemed set for Novak to go on world domination once again. The script seemed almost perfect for him.
However, in the absence of challenges from his two old rivals, he has met with unexpected resistance from two players who are being seen as the future of tennis. At the Paris Masters final, Djokovic was simply blown away by the power of young Karen Khachanov, after having got the better of Federer in the semi-final.
In the year-end World Tour Finals, Djokovic looked in imperious form throughout the tournament. He did not lose a single set en route to the Final. He met Zverev for the second time in the tournament in the final. He had defeated the young German quite easily in the round robin stage and an encore was very much on the expected lines.
However, Zverev had been constantly improving with every passing game. He was coming into the final on the back of a terrific win over Federer. He was focused from the word go. Though the match was quite competitive,to begin with, Zverev was consistently putting pressure on the Djokovic serve.
Once he broke the Serbian’s serve, the floodgates opened and he ran away with the first set and then the match. He broke the world number one a whopping four times and was broken only once.
With these two back-to-back defeats to two youngsters in the finals of the year’s last two big tournaments, Djokovic’s reign at the top no longer seems to be a comfortable one in the coming season. However, this time it may not be the usual suspects, Federer and Nadal, who could pose a challenge to his supremacy.
It may very well be the young generation led by Zverev and Khachanov who would be the biggest threats to Djokovic’s reign at the top in 2019, and beyond.