Who is going to stop Djoko the Dominator in NY?

Written by: Global Chick on 26th August 2011

Who is going to stop Djoko the Dominator in NY?

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns to Rafael Nadal of Spain during the men's singles final of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 03 July 2011. EPA/GEOFF CADDICK |

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has a near perfect record in every category this season. Looking at the draw, it’s hard to see any player at this year’s US Open producing a game plan to take out the Serb.

Novak Djokovic is the number one seed. He will face a qualifier in the first round at Flushing Meadows. Riba Pere of Spain or Carlos Berlocq of Argentina will be his second round hurdle. The first seed to encounter Djokovic will be Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, who is seeded no. 32. Dodig is ranked No. 32 in the world the highest he has ever been. His results this year are fairly mediocre apart from the tournament win in Zagreb back in January and a final loss in s-Hertogenbosch. The Croat will have to get past former World No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the first round. Even if Davydenko gets through he no longer has the weapons to challenge the Wimbledon Champion.

Other seeds in Djokovic’s half are Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov, who is seeded No. 22. It would more than likely be Richard Gasquet of France, who will set up a clash with Djoko in the fourth round. Let’s not forget Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, the former World No. 5, who is currently ranked No. 294. The Chilean has been out with an injury but he could cause a threat to both the seeded players in that section.

Going way down the draw the quarterfinal opponent could be either Tomas Berdych or Gael Monfils. The Czech player has had a great season and has hardly lost a match in any tournament before the quarterfinals. Berdych could take on the No. 20 seeded player Janko Tipsarevic in the third round. The Serb can sometimes cause a few upsets.

Gael Monfils is very unpredictable. Some days it looks like the Frenchman is floating on an inflatable mattress in an exclusive resort somewhere rather than being present on court. “Lamonf” had a good run on the American swing with two quarterfinals in Montreal and Cincinnati and a final in Washington where he lost to veteran Radek Stepanek. Monfils should watch out for a possible match up with former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, who is gaining some good form again after an injury timeout.

Let’s not go any further than that but it looks like fairly smooth sailing for the dominant Serb all the way up until the semi-final but that is another story.