!Djoko by Pete Bodo
As the seeded players prepare to knock heads on Key Biscayne, Novak Djokovic stands at the brink of a unique achievement—although I'm not sure how aware he is of it, or how important it is to him.
Djokovic could become just the seventh player (after Jim Courier, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras, Marcelo Rios, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer) to win the Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back, a feat I like to call the "transcontinental Slam,"not to be confused with the Grand Slam or even the "Channel Slam" (back-to-back wins at the French Open and Wimbledon).
Federer may appear to be Djokovic's whipping boy these days, but he's still the only male player to twice complete the transcontinental Slam. And that will surely be remembered for longer than this current three-match losing streak to Djokovic, whatever Martina Navratilova says. And did I mention that Federer accomplished that in 2005 and 2006, making it a back-to-back-to-back-to-back triumph?
Transcontinental Slam. It has a nice, grandiloquent ring, no? The conceptual fathers of the idea were those hale and hearty (and hairy) men who remain my all-American heroes, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Their transcontinental slam required an enormous amount of courage and embodied an astonishing degree of hardship. A little more than the one Djokovic is attempting. But these are different times, different men.
Actually, the window of historic opportunely for Djokovic is even larger.
Should he win Miami, he will become the first player to go through the first definable segment of the year—call it the Australian Open segment—undefeated. That in some ways adds to the luster of the Trans Slam. In fact, none of the other men who won these two Masters events in the same year ever embarked on the last significant event, Miami (these days, the Sony Ericsson Open), with an unblemished record for the year. Djokovic is 18-0 for 2011; if he ends up 24-0 he will be the real time world No. 1. The only caveat is that Djokovic has played just three events so far thus year, while others who trans-slammed often played more—and paid a price, by losing in Dubai, Philly, or Scottsdale.
I plan to ask Djokovic what, if anything, any of this stuff means to him (I'm leaving for Miami on Sunday). Whatever the case, he certainly hasn't gone into seclusion in order to purify himself for the trial ahead. He (admirably) played a big role in the Japan relief charity events the other day, and enroute to Miami, Djokovic and his pal Rafael Nadal stopped in Colombia to play an exhibition. Whether these were energy-sapping distractions or agreeable diversions for a suddenly ultra-fit and hardy Djokovic remains to be seen.
But just for the fun of it, let's take a look at those other Trans-Slams and see how they were crafted:
Jim Courier, 1991: In Indian Wells, Courier was required to beat three Top 8 players to win the title: Andre Agassi in the fourth round, Emilio Sanchez in the quarters and Guy Forget in the final, a titanic 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) slogfest. Sandwiched in between was a more conventional 6-3, 6-2 beating of Michael Stich. Miami wasn't as taxing: Courier faced but one man ranked No. 29 or above, that being—surprise!—Forget in round four. The American handled the fifth-ranked Frenchman in straight sets this time. He followed that up with wins over three second-tier Americans: Derrick Rostagno, Richey Reneberg and, in the final, David Wheaton.
!Chang Michael Chang, 1992: It sounds crazy, But Chang beat only one Grand Slam champion (Richard Krajicek, who has one Wimbledon title to his name) and just two players who were in the Top 30 at Indian Wells. The tournament featured a best-of-five final in those days, and Chang won the championship with a straight-sets win over a gritty, consistent Russian, No. 36 Andrei Chesnokov.
Chang's win in Miami was more impressive: He took out No. 4 Pete Sampras (quarters) and No. 1 Jim Courier (semis) and won the title over flavor-of-the-month hotshot Alberto Mancini. If you remember how well Mancini played for a brief period there, you will have enormous respect for Chang's triumph.
Pete Sampras, 1994: Miami was Sampras's sixth tournament of the year, and the two matches he lost going in were in relatively minor events—Doha and Philadelphia (U.S. Pro Indoors). The only Top 10 player Sampras faced at Indian Wells was No. 4 Stefan Edberg (semis), and he barely outlasted No. 14 Petr Korda (who was suspended later in his career for doping) in a brutal five-set final.
In Miami, Pistol Pete beat Korda again (quarters) then lost just one set as he rolled through Jim Courier and Andre Agassi, respectively, for the title.
Marcelo Rios, 1998: Say hello to Petr Korda again: he was No. 2 when Rios blasted him off the court at Indian Wells, a tournament that belonged (at least until the semis) to unknown Jan-Michael Gambill. Ranked No. 126, Gambill made it all the way to the penultimate round before Rios made short work of him, after which the Chilean (then ranked No. 7) made long work of No. 6 Greg Rusedski in the final: 6-3, 6-7 (15), 7-6 (4), 6-4.
In Miami, Rios took down Tommy Haas, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Enqvist, Tim Henman and Andre Agassi (in the final), but can you believe that the only one among them ranked in the Top 20 at the time was. . . Henman?
Andre Agassi, 2001: Andre's first tournament of the year was the Australian Open, which he won. But then he lost at San Jose and Scottsdale before emerging triumphant at Indian Wells. He beat No. 8 Lleyton Hewitt and No. 3 Pete Sampras for the title. He had an easier time of it in Miami, facing just two Top 20 players—No. 8 Pat Rafter (semis) and No. 19 Jan-Michael Gambill, his victim in the final.
Roger Federer, 2005 and 2006: Federer lost just one match during this segment in '05, that heartbreaking 9-7 in-the-fifth Australian Open semifinal to Marat Safin. All tolled, Roger won five tournaments early that year, highlighted by his Trans-Slam. But Federer didn't meet a Top 10 player until the Indian Wells final, in which he dispatched No. 2 Lleyton Hewitt without losing a set (in a best-of-five).
It was a little hairier in Miami, where Federer had to beat, in succession, Mario Ancic (No. 20), Tim Henman (No. 7), Andre Agassi (No. 10) and No. 31. . . Rafael Nadal. it was a heck of a final, five sets and two tiebreakers at the heart of it all. But Federer pulled away 6-1 in the fifth in one of his more memorable wins over Nadal.
In 2006, Federer lost just one match on his way to Indian Wells, the Dubai final (to Nadal). The only Top 10 player Federer met on his way to the final in the California desert was No. 6 Ivan Ljubicic, and his semifinal opponent was a genuine surprise: No. 61 Paradorn Srichaphan. He had little trouble with No. 14 James Blake in the final.
At Miami, things were a little tougher. Blake was up to No. 9 when Federer beat him in the quarters, then he dispatched No. 11 David Ferrer and played great in the clutch to subdue Ljubicic in straight sets—all tiebreakers, only the last of which required him to win more than the minimum seven points—for the title.
*
The pattern that emerges from this review is that, if you want to complete the transcontinental Slam, your chances are vastly improved if the draw gods look upon you with favor, and if a few of your peers or rivals do some of the dirty work for you.
At Indian Wells, No. 3 Djokovic got the job done without much help, having to beat then No. 2 Federer and No. 1 Nadal in the semis and final, respectively. No. 18 Richard Gasquet in the quarters was no gimme, either.
Miami doesn't exactly shape up as a bargain, either, although the most dangerous player in his quarter, No. 5 seed Andy Murray, has been playing lousy tennis. So has Fernando Verdasco, No. 9, and Sam Querrey (No. 19)—all men stacked in his quarter, along with Viktor Troicki, the No. 16 who is to Djokovic what Stan Wawrinka is Roger Federer. That is, a countryman who seems to have no desire whatsoever to offend, or upset the domestic pecking order.
Robin Soderling (No. 4) is in the same half as Djokovic, but he's struggled a bit (partly because of a bad ankle). Nobody else in that quarter stands out as particularly dangerous, but remember that Federer and Nadal are in the other half (the reward Djokovic earned for supplanting Federer at No. 2), and it's hard—but not impossible—to imagine that one of those won't be there when the smoke clears, ready, willing and able to spoil Djokovic's perfect start.