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Summary Djokovic won nine titles, including the Australian Open and the Wimbledon in 2011.
As the US Open approaches, the tennis world is focusing on Novak Djokovic and his remarkable season — and rightly so, according to the man he replaced at No 1, Rafael Nadal.He deserves it, Nadal said in an interview with The Associated Press after attending the tournament draw.Nadal completed a career Grand Slam by beating Djokovic in the final at Flushing Meadows a year ago. That gave Nadal three consecutive major championships, and nine overall, and prompted a lot of talk about how the Spaniard had supplanted Roger Federer as the sports dominant figure.How quickly things can change.With the years last Grand Slam tournament set to start Monday, its Djokovic who is 57-2 in 2011 with nine titles, including at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. What impresses Nadal the most is the Serbs ability to keep consistently strong of mind, tournament after tournament after tournament — precisely the sort of trait that others often praise the Spaniard for.Hes doing something really difficult to repeat, no? Hes doing well and playing fantastic tennis almost all the time. And the mental part, hes doing really well this year. Its tough to be there every week, and hes doing that, Nadal said. The only thing I can do is congratulate him.Hes found himself offering Djokovic congratulations quite a bit this season.Nadal is 0-5 this year against Djokovic, with each of those head-to-head matches coming in tournament finals, four on the Spaniards beloved red clay, and the other on grass at Wimbledon last month. After that most recent encounter, Djokovic moved up from No. 2 to overtake Nadal in the ATP rankings.After their title match at the All England Club, Nadal acknowledged that hes got a mental block against Djokovic.
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