[yesh222]

1. No More Excuses: Not that he needed to prove anything extra, but hopefully Djokovic has now silenced all doubters. All year long people were pointing out milestones that Djokovic had not yet passed against Nadal. Even after winning the Australian Open it was all about how Djokovic had still never beaten Nadal in a final. After Indian Wells he had never beaten Nadal in a clay final. After Madrid he had never beaten Nadal in a major. Haters will always hate, but hopefully this will silence the doubts in the rest of the crowd. Djokovic is for real and his 8 titles and 50-1 record are well on the way towards making 2011 a year that could go down in history as the greatest ever. John McEnroe went 72-3 in 1984, but he didn't play the Australian or any of the compulsory Masters that had all of the rest of the top 20 in them. Djokovic's year is very close to surpassing that, if he hasn't already.

2. Roddick Needs a Change: Hopefully I'll be able to have an entire post dedicated to this in a few weeks (maybe next week), but Andy Roddick has to fix up his game. He hasn't passed the fourth round of a major since the Australian Open in 2010. He still has the talent, it's obvious at some points, but for whatever reason he just can't win anymore. He plays much more defensively than he used to. He will need to bring back his offensive game if he is going to ever challenge in Majors or even Masters events again.

3. Murray's Mentality: Andy Murray, slightly injured hip and all, showed that he could take out Rafa Nadal. He won the first set in an impressive fashion and really looked like he might finally be the hero Britain has been waiting for. He just cracked and started playing poorly. He had the game to hang with Rafa but he just couldn't stand up mentally. If he wants to be a Grand Slam champion he is going to have to find a way to get up for big matches. He already has the talent and the game, he just needs to bring the desire.

4. The Top 10 is Weak: The fact that Andy Roddick will remain in the top 10 this week with onlyt 2110 points shows the absolute dominance that the top players have had in the sport this year. At least 3 of the "Big 4" have reached the semifinals of every Masters event and Slam so far in 2011. Djokovic has reached all of them and Nadal all but 1 (the Australian Open). This dominance has left very little room for other players to pick up points. The rankings from World #7 on back are so wide open that almost any top 60 player could crack the top 10 with good runs in the two Masters events leading up to the US Open. A win in any of the warm-up events or post-Wimbledon clay events (especially Washington and Hamburg, which are 500-level tournaments) could move top 30 players as much as 10-15 spots. This will become vitalt later when players begin that all-important jockeying for seeding at the US Open.

To see my entire thoughts from this week, please click here. As always, thoughts and opinions are welcome and requested.