LONDON: When the year began common logic suggested Novak Djokovic would struggle to emulate his extraordinary 2011 but after retaining his Australian Open title in astonishing fashion on Sunday the question is can anyone stop him setting the bar even higher. Djokovic ready for assault on calendar Grand Slam
The Serbian world number one was the last man standing in Melbourne after two ferocious battles spanning more than 10 hours against Andy Murray in the semis and then Rafael Nadal in the final. He now towers like a chunk of granite at the top of the men's game.
Having risen through the ranks in an era when Roger Federer and Nadal shredded the record books the 24-year-old now looks capable of achieving the feat that eluded both of them, and many more of the game's greats, the fabled calendar Grand Slam.
Djokovic won three of the four majors last year, only tripping up in the semifinals of the French Open to an inspired Federer who himself collected three pieces of the jigsaw in 2004, 2006 and 2007 - each time Nadal proving an insurmountable barrier on Parisian brick dust.
Nadal won the French, Wimbledon and the US Open during his dominant 2010, since when Djokovic has taken over.
While Federer has never mastered Nadal's topspin brutality at Roland Garros - his only triumph coming there when Nadal was injured in 2009 - and Nadal often suffered on the hard courts of Melbourne and Flushing Meadows, Djokovic's game is tailor-made for any surface.
His rubber-limbed movement means any ball appears within his reach, his serve is now a major weapon and his ability to generate pace off either wing by stepping inside the baseline means virtually all his matches are played on his terms.
Even when Murray launched a staggering onslaught in Friday's semifinal, Djokovic weathered the storm behind his steely defences.
He proved last year that he had Nadal's number on slow clay, de-throning the Mallorcan powerhouse in Madrid and Rome without dropping a set - defeats that eroded Nadal's aura of invincibilty on a surface he has ruled on since 2005.
While talk of a calendar Grand Slam, a feat not achieved since Rod Laver in 1969, is loaded with pitfalls, Djokovic was doing nothing to play down the possibility after his five hour 53 minute victory against Nadal on Sunday.
"I'm prioritising Grand Slams this year, as every year, and the Olympic Games. I think that's one of my highest goals," Djokovic said after becoming just the fifth player to win three of them in succession.
"That doesn't mean of course that I'm not gonna prepare well and perform my best on the other tournaments. It's just that, you know, the Grand Slams matter the most."
Clay has proved the most problematic for former greats such as Federer, Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors but Djokovic has no demons on the surface and he clearly believes the French Open is winnable for the first time this year.
"I want to do well and I want to get the first final at least in Paris, you know," he said.
"I have never been in finals there, and I have a feeling that I'm ready this year to achieve that." The Serb outlasted Rafael Nadal to defend his Australian Open title in the longest ever Grand Slam final and become the fifth man to win three straight majors in the Open Era.
Djokovic now has the French Open — the one major to elude him — in his sights. He won’t even rule out the ultimate: the Grand Slam.
“One player (Rod Laver) has done it, so it is possible,” he said after the traditional post-victory photo shoot in a downtown Melbourne park on Monday. “Obviously the times are different and tennis nowadays is much more competitive and much more physical. And that makes that challenge more difficult to achieve. But everything is possible.”
With the London Olympics to follow Wimbledon this year, Djokovic could even make it a Golden Slam by winning the gold medal at London 2012 to go with the four majors.
“The facts are that I’m at the peak of my career,” Djokovic said. “I feel physically and mentally at the peak, I feel strong, I feel motivated, I feel eager to win more trophies.”
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