Last year, tennis was starting to get interesting at the end of the year.  Juan Martin del Potro had become the second player in recent memory that had won a Slam who wasn’t named Nadal or Federer (the other was Novak Djokovic in the 2008 Australian Open).  Nikolay Davydenko was having a resurgence late in his career.  His improved serve and mental toughness meant he was beating some of the best players in the world including Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and del Potro.

Both Djokovic and Murray had been having pretty good years.  Andy Murray had won 6 titles, but reached no Slam finals.  His best result was a semifinal appearance at Wimbledon.  He lost early in Australia due to a fever of some sort that kept him bed-ridden though he still pushed Fernando Verdasco to five sets.  Djokovic won 78 matches in 2009, won 5 titles and was runner-up in 5 matches.  His only downside was his Slam performance.  Again, the US Open was his best performance.  He reached the semifinals for the second year in a row and for the third year in a row, he lost to Roger Federer is something of a flat performance.  The match was strangely “by the numbers” and the only spark of interest was a tweener shot that gave Federer triple break point to win the match.

The one player that was off his game was Rafael Nadal.  Nadal lost, for the first time, at the French Open losing to then unheralded Robin Soderling.  Nadal blamed tendinitis for the his problems.  He skipped Wimbledon and failed to defend his title.  He didn’t return again until Montreal and Cincinnati.  In his return, he had an abdominal tweak, but was able to reach the semis of the US Open for the second year in a row, but was demolished by Juan Martin del Potro.

The primary beneficiary of Nadal’s absence was Roger Federer who finally won the French Open but had to fend off numerous opponents to win this elusive Slam.  Federer had a pretty comfortable trip to the finals of Wimbledon, but was pushed to the brink by Andy Roddick.  He need tiebreaks to win two sets and got his only break late in the fifth set.

Andy Roddick hoped his finalist appearance, his first in a Slam final in some time, would buoy him to good results on hard courts, but it didn’t turn out that way.  Roddick lost to John Isner in the third round and got injured in the Asian swing, complaining about the length of the tour.

This year, there was hope that either Djokovic or Murray would manage to win their first Slam.  Murray started off pretty well.  He skipped Doha, a title he had won the previous year, and chose to play the more low key Hopman Cup.  He looked to be moving better than ever.  He beat Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, partly due to Nadal having a knee injury.  Murray played aggressive tennis and Nadal left the tour for a while to recover.

Murray reached the finals, but chose to play Federer as if it were 2008, the year Federer was struggling against most other players.  Good steady play was often enough to register a “W” against Fed who was mysteriously shanking forehands and backhands.  But Federer was also striking the ball well, especially off his backhand.  When Federer claimed the first set, then the second, it was too much for Andy Murray to overcome despite chances in the lengthy tiebreak.  Federer would start off the year feeling pretty good with a Slam win.

Djokovic would begin one of several swoon-fests and lose a round earlier than expected.  In the Australian Open, Djokovic would take a 2 sets to 1 lead over Tsonga only to fade badly to lose sets 4 and 5.  In the French Open, Djokovic would be up 2 sets to love against Jurgen Melzer, who had had poor Slam results up to then, and lose in 5 sets.  Djokovic had to withdraw from his own tournament in Serbia due to allergies and then skipped Madrid to recover.  Experts began to wonder where Djokovic’s head was.

Djokovic would recover somewhat at Wimbledon, reaching the semifinals, but losing to Tomas Berdych in the semifinals, although some expected Djokovic to lose to Lleyton Hewitt.  Djokovic would then get the Federer monkey off his back and reach the US Open finals.  He would lose to Rafael Nadal, but gain the number 2 ranking, which he currently holds.  Djokovic won Beijing and made the semis of Shanghai and is otherwise reaching a kind of stride post US Open.  But overall, Djokovic did not play well between the Australian Open and the French Open and only won one title, defending Dubai.

Andy Murray went into a total funk after the Australian Open.  He skipped tournaments, including Marseilles, and the tournament director felt he should be punished.  He showed up in Dubai, but lost to Tipsarevic late in the third, but claimed he treated it like a practice match and that skipping another tournament didn’t look good.  Murray’s 2010 was about doing better in Slams and while his finalist appearance at the Australian Open was a step in the right direction, it left him emotionally devastated.

Murray tried to recover during the early hardcourt season.  He reached the quarters of Indian Wells but lost to Robin Soderling.  He lost early in Miami to Mardy Fish.  He was still in something of a funk on clay, his weakest surface.  He got crushed by Kohlschreiber in Monte Carlo, played respectable but lost to Ferrer in Rome and Madrid.  He reached the fourth round, but lost to Berdych in straight sets.

Murray got his game in better shape at Wimbledon, but lost to a dogged Rafael Nadal who went on to defend his title.  Murray elected to play Los Angeles when Djokovic begged out at the last moment.  Murray lost to Sam Querrey in the finals.  Murray defended his title in Canada, but seemed sluggish in Cincy, losing for the third time to Mardy Fish.

Murray had a poor US Open, losing to frequent hitting partner, Stan Wawrinka in the third round.  Again, Murray seemed out of sorts.  Prior to the US Open, Murray parted ways with his recent coach, Miles Maclagan.  Maclagan had privately wondered what his future was, whether he was Murray’s primary coach or whether Alex Corretja, hired as a special “clay court” coach was playing at least as important a role.  He was seen with his mother in the stands leading some, like Brad Gilbert, to say his mom was coaching him.

Not only was Djokovic and Murray not playing particularly well after the Australian Open, neither was Roger Federer.  Federer almost accomplished the Minor Slam last year.  Had he managed to take a second set where he was up a break and serving for the set, Federer would likely have taken his third Slam of the year and many would feel that 20 Slams was within Roger’s reach.  But it didn’t happen.  Roger did come back to win the first title of the year, but did not play so well after that.

Roger skipped Dubai, which, outside of Basel, is his home tournament (since he trains so much in Dubai), due to some fever he picked up, probably in a charity trip to Africa.  Federer would return at Indian Wells, but lose after being match point up against Marcos Baghdatis.  Federer would lose to Tomas Berdych after also having a match point in Miami.

Federer chose to skip Monte Carlo.  Although it’s a Master 1000 tournament and generally a “required” event, it’s the only Masters 1000 that can be skipped without hurting a player (i.e., the player doesn’t receive a 0 for skipping it).  Federer played Rome but lost to Ernests Gulbis who appeared to be getting his career on track.  Federer then played a tournament he should have won handily, Estoril, but lost to Albert Montanes in the semifinals on the slow, damp clay.

Federer again claimed all was well, that conditions were faster in Madrid, and everything would be fine there.  Federer reached the finals, but Nadal continued his dominant ways and won that match.

Federer would then show vulnerability in the Slams.  Federer lost to Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals of the French, the first time he had lost that early in a Slam in more than half a decade.  He would follow that with a loss at Wimbledon, again in the quarters, this time to Tomas Berdych.  Indeed, Berdych had been having an amazing summer, reaching the semis of the French and then the finals of Wimbledon.

Federer again took a break after Wimbledon, and didn’t return until Toronto.  Prior to his return, many felt Federer was heading downhill and that Nadal would be favored to win the US Open or possibly Andy Murray.  However, Federer played good tennis for the first time since January.  He reached the finals at Toronto and lost to Andy Murray.  He then defended his title in Cincinnati against a resurgent Mardy Fish.  Meanwhile, Nadal didn’t play well in either tournament and many felt that his hardcourt woes would afflict Nadal once again.

Federer finally righted the ship and reached the semis of the US Open where he would face Djokovic for the fourth year in a row, having won all 3 previous meetings.  The match was completely uneven with Federer playing solid tennis to win the two sets he won, and then playing awful to lose the two sets he lost.  Federer even looked to be heading to the finals when Djokovic played bold tennis to break Federer not once, but twice, and then head to the finals.

Federer then took a break, once again, until Shanghai.  He’s just reached the finals of Shanghai playing fairly solid tennis, beating Novak Djokovic.  Like Toronto, he will now face Andy Murray in the finals.

That leaves us with Rafael Nadal.  Nadal started off the year OK, but had been in a slump, at least for Nadal.  He had not won a title since Rome and would not win another title until Monte Carlo.  He reached the finals of Doha in January and looked for all the world like he would crush Davydenko.  He took the first set at love, but Davydenko won a game then another, then fended off match points and won the second set tiebreak, before taking the third set.

Nadal would head into Indian Wells and again look like he had a chance to beat aging Ivan Ljubicic.  Ljubicic had been in three Masters 1000 finals years ago, but never won any of them.  He’d beat Nadal in three sets off aggressive play and a solid third set tiebreak, then beat Roddick in the final to finally win a Masters 1000 title.  Nadal went into Miami and faced Andy Roddick in the semis and Roddick, like Ljubicic, lost the first set when Nadal secured an early break.  Roddick played aggressive tennis in the second and third sets and got a rare win over Nadal.  Roddick would go to win Miami, his first Masters 1000 title in a while.

Nadal didn’t regain form again until Monte Carlo.  Back on clay, he demolished the field giving up only 1 game in the final to Fernando Verdasco.  Nadal then went on a tear.  He won Rome over David Ferrer, and lost his only set in the semis to Ernests Gulbis.  He won Madrid over Roger Federer in straight sets.

He’d reclaim the French without dropping a set.  He’d head to Wimbledon and survive two five setters, once against unheralded Robin Haase in the second round and another against Philipp Petzschner (who reached the semis in Halle two weeks earlier) in the third round before dropping only one more set (to Robin Soderling) en route to a second Wimbledon title.

Nadal then took time off again and didn’t return until Toronto where he lost to Andy Murray in the semifinals, then lost to Marcos Baghdatis in Cincinnati.  Nadal would win the US Open rather handily, dropping only one set, that to Novak Djokovic, in the finals.

Nadal came back to play earlier than most.  He returned at Bangkok but lost to an inspired Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the semifinals.  He nearly lost in the semis at Tokyo to Victor Troicki and had to fend off match points before he claimed a third set tiebreak win and then beat Monfils rather handily in the finals.  Nadal blamed fatigue for his loss to Melzer at Shanghai.  It seems once again that Nadal is not at his best on hard courts.

2010 was a year that was noted for players missing in action.  Most notably, Juan Martin del Potro played the Australian Open and reached the quarterfinals, but did not play for months afterwards.  He had wrist surgery and didn’t start training until August.  He came back but lost his first two matches and decided to skip Shanghai to recover, feeling that he isn’t quite match tough yet.

Nikolay Davydenko was looking solid about this time last year, and almost knocked out Roger Federer in the Australian Open.  However, by the time he reached Indian Wells and got past his first round opponent, Ernests Gulbis, he discovered he had a broken wrist (left) and took some months to heal.  He returned back to tour shortly before Wimbledon, but has not played well since then, losing to a variety of opponents that he wouldn’t have lost to earlier on.

Fernando Gonzalez, who had a solid 2009, was mostly missing in action in 2010 due to injury.

Some players had pretty good seasons, but you haven’t heard much lately.  Sam Querrey started reaching a bunch of finals this year.  He won Los Angeles, Belgrade, Queen’s, and Memphis, beating Isner in two of the finals.  He reached the finals of Houston.  The bad news?  Querrey hasn’t had great Masters 1000 or ATP 500 results.  All these tournaments are ATP 250 events that don’t have lots of points.  Querrey lost early in DC (an ATP 500 event).  He reached the fourth round of the US Open losing a heartbreaker to Wawrinka in five sets.  He lost early to Gilles Simon in Beijing, and lost to Tsonga in the second round in Shanghai.

John Isner had a reasonably good year.  He won his first tournament in Auckland at the start of the year.  He reached the finals of Memphis and Belgrade losing to Isner and lost to Mardy Fish in the finals of Atlanta.  He also reached the semis of Beijing, losing to Djokovic.  Of course, he was noted for winning a marathon match against Nicolas Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon.  Isner has shown toughness to get past early rounds, but to do better, he needs to win titles.

Mardy Fish also seemed to be having his best year.  He reached the finals of Queen’s.  He won Newport.  He won Atlanta.  He reached the finals of Cincinnati.  He beat Andy Murray three times this year.  But he lost to Djokovic in the fourth round of the US Open and had an outside chance of playing Marcos Baghdatis, the other player playing well this summer, who probably overplayed.

Two Spaniards also had good years, or parts thereof.  Fernando Verdasco, who seems more capable on faster surfaces, had a great clay season, as least as good as you can have when Nadal wins all the big titles.  In particular, Verdasco reached the final of Monte Carlo, won Barcelona, lost to Ferrer in the semis of Rome, lost early to Melzer in Madrid, and reached the finals of Nice.  Nadal was regretting having to cut back to 3 clay court events leading to the French and chose not to play Barcelona to rest his knees.  But Verdasco?  He played 5 tournaments on clay and lost somewhat early in Paris due to fatigue.  Arguably, he hasn’t gotten close to that form.  His best result was a quarterfinal loss at the US Open to Nadal.  There’s a chance he won’t make the final 8 players since he’s not played that well after the US Open.

David Ferrer is the other player that’s playing well.  He reached the finals of Buenos Aires.  He won Acapulco.  He reached the semis of Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid.  He reached the finals of Rome.  He reached the fourth round of Wimbledon, the semis of Bastad, the fourth round of the US Open, the semis of Kuala Lumpur, the finals of Beijing, and lost in the third round of Shanghai to Soderling (his 3rd loss to Soderling this year).

Overall, Nadal had his best year on the tour winning 3 of 4 Slams.  Federer is, by his count, having his worst year ever, but is not playing awful either.  Novak Djokovic seems like he’s recovering and it helped to reach a Slam final.  He’s trending upwards, although he did not have a very good first 6 months of the year.  Andy Murray has not had a great year either, but is trending positively too.  Davydenko has basically written off 2010, and has to hope he can regain form in 2011.

Several Americans had good summers, but haven’t looked great since the US Open including Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, and John Isner (though Isner did go deep in Beijing).  Andy Roddick had a great three week period before the clay swing, but hasn’t played well since then and appears to be injured once again as he was last year.

Any breakthroughs?  Hmm, well, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic both seemed like they would do something good this year.  Berdych had the hotter record, but neither has played that well, losing to players that they should ordinarily beat.  One could argue that Cilic is slipping backwards.  Thiemo de Bakker has had some good results and looks like he might be a solid top 50 player.  Marcos Baghdatis looked solid for a few months as did Mardy Fish, but can they continue to play well?

Ernests Gulbis looked like he might threaten to be a top 10 player, but he seems to have faded once again, frittering away his talent.  He’s 26 in the world so that’s helpful, but he needs to start winning again.  Jurgen Melzer is having a bit of a late surge in his career.  He’s now ranked 12 in the world.

No one noticed that Andy Roddick again slipped out of the top 10 a second time and so no American is in the top 10.

Overall, 2010 has not been nearly as exciting as 2009.  In 2009, del Potro looked poised to be great.  Cilic was on the way up.  Davydenko was hitting his stride.  There were some questions about Djokovic and Murray, but both had great years, given that neither didn’t do spectacular at the Slams.  Federer won 4 titles in 2009 (Madrid, French Open, Wimbledon, Cincinnati). Djokovic won 5 titles (Dubai, Belgrade, Beijing, Basel, and Paris).  Murray won 6 titles in 2009 (Doha, Rotterdam, Miami, Queen’s, Montreal, and Valencia).

This year, Federer has won 2 titles (Australian Open, Cincinnati), Djokovic has won 2 titles (Dubai, Beijing), and Murray has won one title (Toronto).  These 3 players won 15 titles in 2009 and so far, in 2010, they’ve won 5 titles (that will increase to 6 since either Federer or Murray will win Shanghai).