Sometime in 2009 or 2010, after yet another loss to Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal , I distinctly remember feeling sorry for Novak Djokovic . He was clearly a very good tennis player, but he was just as clearly doomed to have played in the wrong era.

Federer and Nadal had won 25 of 30 Grand Slam events between Wimbledon 2003 and the 2010 US Open, and while Djokovic had managed to snag one of the five strays when he took the 2008 Australian Open crown, he obviously wasn't going to get many other opportunities. In a different era, he could have won maybe five or 10 Slams!

My numbers turned out to be a little bit off. Over time, Djokovic mastered his fitness, his flexibility, his backhand and his serve and slowly became the best in-match problem solver the game has ever seen. He won th

See Full Page