Rafa Nadal has
confirmed the year end no. 1 ranking with his victory over Wawrinka in the
World Tour Finals.
Rafa had the
2 biggest periods of dominance this year, where he won many big titles in a
row, including 2 Grand Slam titles.
The first
one started in Barcelona in April 2013 and it continued
till Roland Garros finals in June. During this period, he won 22 matches in a
row, including two Masters 1000 titles at Rome and Madrid and topped it with the
French Open crown.
His 2nd
period of dominance was surprisingly on the North American hard courts where he
had struggled in the past. He won back to back titles in the masters events at
Montreal and Cincinati. Rafa continued that momentum to defeat Djokovic in the US
Open finals. Thus he remained undefeated on the North American hard court
swing.
During these
two periods of dominance, he beat all the top players in the world, and most
notably his biggest rival Djokovic in both the French Open as well as the U S
Open.
Djokovic, it
can be argued had an equally great year. He had a great start to the season:
(17-0) till he first lost in Miami, as well as a great end streak from October
2013 where he has won 19 matches in a row including two masters titles at Shanghai
and Paris.
However,
between them, it was clearly Nadal who won the most important battles and beat
Djokovic in their 2 Grand Slam battles of the year. For winning those , and for
winning a record 5 masters titles for the season, it would be right to say that
Nadal truly deserves the year end no. 1 ranking.