2009:Djokovic started the year at the Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia, where he was upset by Ernests Gulbis in the first round. At the Medibank International in Sydney, he lost to Jarkko Nieminen in the semifinals. Djokovic would have risen to World No. 2 had he won the match.
As defending champion at the Australian Open, Djokovic retired from his quarterfinal match with former World No. 1 Andy Roddick while he was trailing in the fourth set 6–7(3), 6–4, 6–2, 2–1, due to heat exhaustion, muscle cramps, and soreness. His retirement drew criticism from several players remaining in the tournament, including Roger Federer, who noted that Djokovic had now retired from matches in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
After losing in the semifinals of the Open 13 tournament in Marseille to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Djokovic won the singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, defeating David Ferrer to claim his twelfth career title. The following week, Djokovic was the defending champion at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, but lost to Roddick in the quarterfinals 6–3, 6–2. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic beat Federer in the semifinals 3–6, 6–2, 6–3 before losing to Andy Murray in the final.
Djokovic reached the final of the next ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters on clay, losing to Rafael Nadal in the final. At the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Djokovic was the defending champion, but again lost in the final after defeating Federer. This loss caused Djokovic's ranking to drop to World No. 4 on May 11, ending 81 consecutive weeks at the number 3 ranking.Djokovic was the top seed at his hometown tournament, the Serbia Open in Belgrade. He defeated first-time finalist Lukasz Kubot to win his second title of the year. As third seed at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Djokovic advanced to the semifinals without dropping a set. There he faced Nadal for the third time in five weeks and, despite holding three match points, lost 3–6, 7–6(5), 7–6(9). The match, at 4 hours and 2 minutes, was the longest three-set singles match on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era. At the French Open, he lost in the third round to German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6–4, 6–4, 6–4.
Djokovic began his grass court season at the Gerry Weber Open where, after the withdrawal of Federer, he competed as the top seed. He advanced to the final, where he lost to German Tommy Haas. Djokovic also lost to Haas in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon 7–5, 7–6(6), 4–6, 6–3.During the US Open Series, Djokovic competed in Montreal where he defeated Peter Polansky and Mikhail Youzhny to reach the quarterfinals before losing to Andy Roddick 6-4, 7-6(4). The loss was his third of the year to Roddick, and lowered his career head-to-head against Roddick to 2-4. Djokovic defeated World No. 3 Rafael Nadal (seeded No. 2 in the tournament) in the semi-finals to reach his second consecutive Cincinnati Masters final where he lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer 6-1, 7-5.
Djokovic reached the semifinals of the 2009 US Open, defeating Ivan Ljubicic, Carsten Ball, Jesse Witten, Radek Stepanek and Fernando Verdasco en route. He met Roger Federer in the semifinals and lost in three hard-fought sets, 7-6 7-5 7-5.
Djokovic competed at the 2009 China Open as the second seed. He defeated Victor Hănescu, Viktor Troicki, Fernando Verdasco and Robin Söderling en route to the final, where he defeated eigthth seed Marin Cilic in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 to win his third title of the year. Djokovic regained the World No. 3 ranking on October 19th, as a result of his performance at this tournament, and Andy Murray's withdrawal from the 2009 Shanghai Masters.Djokovic competed at the 2009 Shanghai Masters as the second seed but lost in the semifinals to sixth seed and eventual champion Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(1) in just over 3 hours. Djokovic then participated at the 2009 Basel Tournament, in the Switzerland as the second seed. He double-bageled Jan Hernych in the second round to make it to the quarterfinals. This was his first recorded double-bagel. He then recovered from a set and break deficit to defeat Stanislas Wawrinka 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2. Then in the semifinals, he saved three match points to defeat Radek Stepanek 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-2. In the finals he defeated three-time defending champion Roger Federer 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. With this win, Djokovic remained a perfect 15-0 at ATP World 500 tournaments in 2009.
After losing in four Masters finals during the season, Djokovic finally prevailed by winning the 2009 BNP Paribas Masters. He defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the semi-finals, and held off several comebacks from Gaël Monfils in the final to take it in the deciding third set tiebreaker, 6-2 5-7 7-6(3).
Davis Cup:In 2006, Djokovic got the decisive win on April 9, 2006 against Great Britain by defeating Greg Rusedski in four sets in the fourth match, giving his team a 3–1 lead in their best of 5 series, thus keeping Serbia and Montenegro in the Group One Euro/African Zone of Davis Cup. Following this match-up a lot of media buzz appeared about Djokovic's camp negotiating with Tennis Lawn Association about changing his international loyalty by joining British tennis ranks. Nineteen-year-old Djokovic, who was #63 on the ATP list at the time, mostly dismissed the story at first by saying that the talks were not serious, describing them as "the British being very kind to us after the Davis Cup" However, more than 3 years later, in October 2009, Djokovic confirmed that the talks between his family and the LTA throughout April and May 2006 were indeed serious: "Britain was offering me a lot of opportunities and they needed someone because Andy [Murray] was the only one, and still is. That had to be a disappointment for all the money they invest. But I didn’t need the money as much as I had done. I had begun to make some for myself, enough to afford to travel with a coach, and I said, ‘Why the heck?’ I am Serbian, I am proud of being a Serbian, I didn’t want to spoil that just because another country had better conditions. If I had played for Great Britain, of course I would have played exactly as I do for my country but deep inside, I would never have felt that I belonged. I was the one who took the decision".
Djokovic has represented Serbia since Montenegro gained independence in June 2006. By winning all three of his matches, Djokovic played a key role in the 2007 play-off win over Australia, promoting Serbia to World Group in 2008. In Serbia's tie against Russia in early 2008 in Moscow, Djokovic was sidelined due to influenza and was forced to miss his first singles match. He returned to win his doubles match, teaming with Nenad Zimonjić, before being forced to retire during his singles match with Nikolay Davydenko. Djokovic also had a big role in promoting Serbia to the 2009 World Group.
Playing style:
Djokovic is an all-court player with emphasis on offensive baseline play. His greatest strengths are his groundstrokes, serve and defense. He is consistent off both wings, although his backhand is his preferred stroke. With considerable speed, his serve is one of his major weapons, winning many free points; his first serve is typically hit very flat, while he prefers to slice his second serves wide He also utilizes a well-disguised backhand underspin drop shot and sliced backhand. His use of the one-handed backhand drop shot is unusual for players who usually use a two-handed backhand to rally from the baseline. It is very effective.
Djokovic is an all-court player with emphasis on offensive baseline play. His greatest strengths are his groundstrokes, serve and defense. He is consistent off both wings, although his backhand is his preferred stroke. With considerable speed, his serve is one of his major weapons, winning many free points; his first serve is typically hit very flat, while he prefers to slice his second serves wide He also utilizes a well-disguised backhand underspin drop shot and sliced backhand. His use of the one-handed backhand drop shot is unusual for players who usually use a two-handed backhand to rally from the baseline. It is very effective.
