It wasn’t so long ago that the dominant conversation in men’s tennis was about the longevity of the rivalry between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Right now both are caught in the afterburners of Novak Djokovic, who has won 32 matches in a row to start the year and 34 straight since December — the eighth-best streak in ATP history — after beating Nadal 7-5, 6-4 to win the Madrid Open on Sunday.
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Djokovic, ranked No. 2 in the world, is off to the best start in tennis since John McEnroe won 42 in a row in 1984.
But the 23-year-old Serbian’s winning is only one side of the story. Before Sunday, he had lost to world No. 1 Nadal the first nine times the two had played each other on clay.
In Madrid the Spaniard saw his own 37-match winning streak on his preferred surface snapped. Where did that streak start? The 2009 French Open. When the 2011 tournament starts in two weeks, Nadal could be the one looking to end a streak, not defend one.
