The 2014 tennis season ended strongly for three of the world’s top four men, as Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka combined brilliantly to win Switzerland’s first Davis Cup, while Novak Djokovic claimed the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the third successive year.
Despite all of this, however, Rafael Nadal will be the man to look out for at 2015’s first big event: the Australian Open in Melbourne. Nadal’s performances have been limited by injury concerns over the past 12 months, starting with a bad back and then moving on through a wrist problem and eventually an appendectomy.
But when he came back from a seven-month lay-off in 2013, as a result of pain in his creaky knees, he put in one of the strongest seasons of his extraordinary career, winning two of the three grand slams he entered and finishing with a win-loss record of 75-7.
Elsewhere, expect to see further progress from the young guns, including the Federer-like Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, as well as even younger talents such as 18-year-old Borna Coric and 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios.
As for British No 1 Andy Murray, he made courageous strides last autumn to secure his top-10 ranking, but whispers from the locker room suggest that he has lost the “fear factor” since his back operation. If Murray is going to stay ahead of this chasing pack, he urgently needs to address the vulnerability of his second serve. And his coach Amélie Mauresmo is also coming under pressure: without a decent showing over the next six months, there will be a new recruitment drive afoot by Wimbledon.
Among the women, we have just witnessed one of the best and most intriguing seasons since Justine Henin’s body quit on her in 2008. There were no fewer than eight different grand-slam finalists in 2014 and four different winners, so the tour hierarchy will hope that fast-climbing players such as Eugenie Bouchard and Simona Halep train on in the next 12 months.
The glamorous selfies on Twitter suggest Serena Williams is in a far happier place than in the first half of 2014. We don’t know quite what was up with her last year but her curious attack of uncoordination during the Wimbledon doubles suggested a woman in turmoil. When she is comfortable and confident, however, she is the outstanding player of this or any other generation.
At 33, the same age as Federer, Williams could easily set off on another good year, making serious inroads into Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 grand slams.
More sport predictions for 2015:
• Rugby 2015: who will be crowned champions at Twickenham in October? »
• The ultimate test for England captain Alastair Cook »
• Football 2015: drama, intrigue and endless debate »
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