Federer, already guaranteed to be remembered by those regularly placing tennis bets as one of the greatest to have ever picked up a racket, faced an acid test when he came up against the Serbian in the semi-finals. But there was something missing from his game; he lacked the spark that would have carried him that extra yard to reach the ball or an extra mile-an-hour on his serve to challenge Djokovic. Whilst tales of his demise are somewhat premature, if the arrival of Nadal wasn’t enough to knock the Swiss star off his perch entirely, the emergence of Djokovic as a serious rival will certainly see him lose more matches than he ever has done before. Is his best tennis behind him? It is always difficult to write off someone with such talent but the manner of his defeat Djokovic saw the mask slip from his face, conceivably for good.

Those tennis betting pundits writing off Rafa Nadal are barking up the wrong tree, however. Injury maimed the muscular Spaniard to an extent that he was unable to execute his normal game plan against his fellow country-man. At 24-year-old has yet to reach his peak both physically and mentally, which is a frightening prospect for his rivals. Injury has hindered his progress over the last two years, but the last time he was written off as a crock he powered to the Wimbledon title in 2010. The French Open in May will prove to be one of the most anticipated tournaments in recent memory as observers look to see if a new order can establish itself on Nadal’s favoured surface.

Andy Murray will be left wondering what he has to join the elusive club of Grand Slam winners but will be buoyed by his performances throughout the tournament. He will be eager to take positives from the tournament and join with Djokovic to overcome the current world number 1 and 2, Nadal and Federer. Whether they can overthrow the imperious twosome remains to be seen, but 2011 looks set to be a landmark year for men’s tennis.

The Scot was hammered in the Australian Open Final a fortnight ago and had initially pledged to take some time off ahead of the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments in March.

Instead though he sprung a bit of a surprise by opting to compete at the Indoor tournament in Holland, so soon after that crushing defeat.

The thinking perhaps was to throw himself back into competitive tennis and bounce back instantly from that disappointing match against Novak Djokovic rather than dwell on things.

Instead though he has another defeat to ponder after Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis emerged victorious in straight sets, a result that would have shocked anyone following the livescores goalwire.

Murray actually started the game well, leading 3-0 with two service breaks in the opening set before collapsing spectacularly.

Baghdatis broke Murray three times and won four games on the spin to win the first set 6-4 in 39 minutes.
The first three games of the second set went with serve, only for Baghdatis, at 2-1, to win a further four games on the bounce and seal a convincing 6-4 6-1 win, not the best of latest tennis scores for Murray.

Murray also had to allay injury concerns when he was seen holding his left wrist during the game.

A doubles match with his brother Jamie is next up for Murray but looking at his singles performance, I bet he wishes he had chosen to go on holiday instead.

On the back of his second Australian Open victory in January, all eyes will be on Novak Djokovic this week as he makes his return to action at the Dubai Tennis Championship.

Djokovic has made great strides in the last year, winning his 2nd grand slam while answering the many doubts that were raised about the Croatians game and temperament, as those who follow the goalwire live score will know.

In previous years he has struggled to maintain the high level of performances he is certainly capable of. But he has proved this year, that he is continuously learning from his experiences and quickly developing as a player.

He will be looking to further learn from his Australian victory in order to compete on a more solid basis with Federer and Nadal in adding more titles to his name in 2011. And he has certainly showed signs that he is capable of making 2011 his own.

Although Federer acknowledges that the limelight is being shared much more than previous years, he dismisses the questions posed that Djokovic's recent form will result in the end of the Federer and Nadal era.

The limelight will certainly shared this week as Federer and Djokovic will be battling it out for the Dubai title, with Federer aiming for his fifth while Djokovic will be looking for his 3rd consecutive title in the desert, and fans will be keeping a close eye on the goalwire latest scores.

The two will be hoping to take advantage of the absentees of Nadal and Andy Murray.
Murray, who was clearly not mentally right in his recent poor performance in Rotterdam, has sensibly taken himself out of the limelight as he looks to prepare for the business end of the season.

It will certainly be an intriguing tournament, as we will look to see how Djokovic can continue his form and challenge the greatness of Roger Federer.