Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are facing off tonight in Melbourne for the 2013 Australian Open Men's Singles championship. Despite all the hype surrounding Roger Federer's dominance of the sport, Murray and Djokovic will be the ones to take the torch and become the face of Men's Singles Tennis.
Federer's time is up. It's that simple. At age 31, Federer isn't the same guy who could close tournaments out on top. He won the 2012 Wimbledon title, but Federer was playing at a high level at that time of the year. He then dropped the gold medal match at the 2012 Olympics to Murray, followed that up with a quarterfinal exit at the 2012 U.S. Open and then dropped the ATP World Tour Finals to Djokovic.
The other guy who's lingering around the top of the rankings, but inactive, is Rafael Nadal. He was supposed to make a grandiose return at the 2013 Australian Open following an ailing knee that kept him out of the 2012 Olympics, U.S. Open and ATP World Tour Finals. He was eliminated from the 2012 Wimbledon in the second round of competition, which signaled there was something wrong with Nadal.
Djokovic and Murray are two guys who have been active and winning consistently in 2012 and beyond. Djokovic has completely dominated the sport. He almost swept all grand slam competitions in 2011 after capturing each one except for the French Open.
In 2012, Murray and Djokovic won two grand slam titles combined and they made it at least the quarterfinals in all four grand slam competitions.
Though Nadal was in control while active, whenever he returns, we don't know what Nadal will be in action. His bounce might be a little off and we know how much he loves sliding on those soft courts.
We would fist pump that hard after completing a play like that too. However, how will Nadal have to change his game following the knee issues? It might be too great of a change for Nadal to remain the dominant player he was earlier in his career.
Nadal is recovering, Federer is aging, leaving Djokovic and Murray at the top of Men's Tennis. Without a doubt, Djokovic deserves to be No. 1, but Murray is adjusting his game and has been successful as of late.
People in Great Britain are waiting for him to be their savior and capture the Wimbledon title. Will it be this year? Will it be the following? Still only 25, Murray has plenty of time remaining.
Djokovic is the same age and has captured five grand slam titles. If he goes on a 2011 tear, he will catch up to Federer's 16 champions before turning 30.
Both guys have the passion and the skill to play tennis at a high level. Expect many more Djokovic and Murray finals in the future.
The 2013 Australian Open finals sets off at 7:30 p.m. EDT/3:30 ET.
