Good quick preview, Kieran. As you know, Dimitrov IS my second favorite, so I hope to see him bounce back a bit in Miami. Not that he played poorly in Indian Wells - he lost to Gulbis, who is another "top ten talent, top 100 mentality" player that can play--and is playing--at a very high level when he focuses in. But we want to be seeing Grigor better his last year's results all around, and IW was the same (3R). At this point, he has to keep rising to give us hope of being an elite player; treading water won't suffice.
Federer's loss at IW was disappointing, but what his overall performance shows us is that he's still the best player in the world other than Rafa and Novak, and possibly a healthy Murray - and he's only a hair behind Novak. His level of play since Dubai has been the highest its been since late 2012. Maybe his more guarded fans won't admit it, but Roger has given us the glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, he can eek out that 18th Slam.
As for Rafa, I'm worried. Well, not worried but I don't see another reign of dominance like 2013. In a way, 2013 was Rafa's answer to Novak's 2011 and his own stumble in 2012. He seems to be a player that rises to his peak on energetic bursts of pure passion, and I just wonder how many of those bursts he has left. He's not one to maintain a mellow plateau of greatness; if you look at his career, its a series of peaks and valleys; there's really no extended period of a a few years of unmarred plateau. Don't get me wrong: Rafa is, in my opinion, still the best player in the world, but the difference this year is that he's beatable, so just as his 2013 was a mirror of Novak's 2011, so too might 2014 be a mirror of Novak's 2012, when the Serbian was the first among equals but not really better than the other Big Four, just the most consistent. Hey, for the rest of us it makes for more interesting tennis!
And Novak, well his rumored demise seemed silly and premature and largely fueled by fans who think that he can recapture 2011, as with 2011 we saw the real Novak Djokovic and everything since has been because of one problem or another. Sorry Nole fans, ain't gonna happen. I think we're going to look back at Novak in twenty years as the "other guy" during the Fedal era who was always 2nd or 3rd best, except for a peak in 2011 (2012 he was #1, but really not above Roger, Rafa for the first half and Andy for the second half of the year). No shame in that - and ultimately his fans should be happy or (at least) two years at #1, and I wouldn't be surprised if he challenges Rafa for #1 by year's end. But the point is, Novak was never destined, in my opinion, for a long reign of solitary dominance like Roger in 2004-07, or to be the greatest player in the world in repeating cycles of dominance like Rafa in '08, '10, and '13--but to be the player who fills the vacuum, who creeps in as Roger fades away, and in one of Rafa's valleys (although, to be fair, his dominance over Rafa in 2011 was legit and probably the only time that any player has ever dominated Rafa for an extended period of time).
In a way, Novak is more of an Ivan Lendl - who was truly great, and world number #1 four times - but didn't quite have the "greatest in the world" pizazz that Ivan's bookending greats McEnroe and Sampras had. Lendl's greatness was largely built around consistency, and so too is Novak's. Again, no shame in that - and he is no less great for it - but its a different kind of greatness, and perhaps one that receives less recognition, is not quite as "sexy," as the solitary champions like Federer or Nadal.
But I digress. All in all, it has been an exciting year so far, characterized by Wawrinka's surprise victory at the Australian Open. I imagine that we're in for some more surprises before the year is done.
