2012 hasn’t been the same kind of year that 2011 was to Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic hasn’t won as many tournaments.  He hasn’t won as many Slams.  But one plus out of this is his health.  Historically, Djokovic plays pretty well after the US Open.  Last year, however, the toll of winning so much, many of those matches against the grinding style of Rafael Nadal, left Djokovic’s body beaten.  He tried to play in the Davis Cup match against Argentina, but had to withdraw after a set of play against Juan Martin del Potro.

Djokovic skipped the Asian swing to recover returning at Basel.  Basel, for your reference, is usually played two weeks after Shanghai, and that’s usually three weeks after Djokovic would normally play.  Even after his return, he lost to Nishikori in Basel, had to withdraw against Tsonga in Paris, and didn’t make it out of the round robin at London.

This year, Djokovic seemed fresh after losing at Wimbledon and the Olympics.  He defended his title in Toronto, then had a decent Cincy despite being clocked by Federer, and reached the US Open final playing very good tennis.  Djokovic took some time off, but being healthier than usual, he entered Beijing (known as the China Open), he was the only multiple winner of the tournament since 2004, the first year the tournament returned to the scheduled after a few years off.

His opponent was the ever-dangerous, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tsonga, as successful as he’s been, has won less that a dozen titles at the ripe old age of 27, an age older than Djokovic.  Much of that is due to injuries, something that also afflicts his countryman, Gael Monfils.  Indeed, I doubt the two have ever played the same Davis Cup together, such is the rarity of both men being healthy at the same time.

Despite Tsonga’s formidable skills, Djokovic has won the last five times they have played (last year, Djokovic withdrew before playing Tsonga in Paris), and even the previous match that they did play, the 2010 Australian Open, was a year where Djokovic struggled in long matches, prior to his gluten-free diet.

This match was close from the start.  Tsonga got an early break, but Djokovic struck back.  The match headed into tiebreak where Djokovic took an early lead, and then closed strong despite Tsonga coming back in the tiebreak.  Djokovic then got an early break and rode that to a straight set win, 76 62.

Djokovic will now pick up a valuable 500 pts and make a strong case for ending the year as number 1 for the second year in a row.  Roger Federer continues with a strong lead, but Djokovic will be a mere 500 points behind.  Federer had an extremely strong end to 2011, winning Basel, Paris, and London to pick up 3000 points.  He’ll need to duplicate a similar effort to end the year as number 1.

Federer must have realized that this would be tough for him to duplicate.  Last year, he got a break.  Nadal rarely plays well at the end of the year, with his best effort often at Tokyo where he was a finalist last year.  Federer chose to forgo the entire Asian swing to recover and train.  Djokovic was not his best either, so he didn’t even have to face him early on.  Murray had a freak injury in Basel, then lost to a red-hot Berdych in Paris, and had to withdraw in London due to overtraining leading to injury.  That left a fresh Federer (by comparison to the rest of the top 4, that is) a powerful finish to the year.

This time, although Nadal is out for what is expected to be the rest of the year, Federer would face far fresher players in Djokovic and Murray.  This may be one reason (other than offending Chinese officials) that Federer has decided to play Shanghai, an event he skipped last year, though an event he has historically played, despite an odd death threat.

Next week, the top 3 will play Shanghai.  Federer and Murray are in the same half while Djokovic and Berdych are the top seeds in the bottom half.  Ferrer, who would normally be a top seed, fell ill possibly due to food poisoning in Beijing and is skipping Shanghai to recover.

Brian Baker qualified, but will have to face Richard Gasquet.  Baker tends to do a bit better when he qualifies as he gets used to the surface.  Gasquet was upset in Beijing by a local Chinese player, but will want to do better this go around.  Baker tends to play better against non-Americans, so perhaps he can rise to the occasion despite being an underdog to the talented Frenchman.

Play has already started in Shanghai with Verdasco, Klizan, and Kohlschreiber winning opening round matches.  Kohlschreiber already beat upstart Ryan Harrison, who’ll have to head to Europe to try for a nice run.