For the true tennis fan,  2008 was a peach. And if that sounds a bit like Bill Tilden, then that’s fine. Big Bill would have enjoyed so much of what we saw over the past twelve months while despairing, too, at the uniform styles of so many players and the ever shrinking skill at the net.

Tennis has undergone innumerable changes and evolutions since Tilden, who wrote some of the game’s greatest coaching books, last won a Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 1930 and 2008 provided another page turner. Not simply because Rafael Nadal finally managed to dislodge Roger Federer as the No. 1 male player in the world but because some of the uppermost branches on that very tall tree called  the ATP ranking list began to tremble and shake. Unless I am very mistaken, some apples will fall and a few new buds will have bloomed by the time we take stock in twelve months time.

Not necessarily at the very top because I doubt that anyone will infiltrate the leading quartet where a battle royal seems set to start between Nadal,  Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. I expect all four to have their moments during the year with Murray well capable of joining the Grand Slam club. It is even possible that the 21- year-old Scot could finish as No. 1 but that will depend a little on the state of Nadal’s knees and how the Spaniard arranges his schedule. And neither Federer, free of the illness that got him off to such a slow start last January, nor Djokovic, who regained a lot of his lost confidence with that excellent win at the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, will be anything less than highly competitive at all the important tournaments.  

But in assessing Murray’s chances, it must be remembered that, Djokovic’s Shanghai triumph notwithstanding, Murray was clearly the best player during the last four months of a year that saw him win his first two ATP Masters titles in Cincinnati and Madrid; reach his first Slam final at the US Open and defend his title in St. Petersburg. On a head to head basis with his immediate rivals, he beat Djokovic twice; Nadal in that dramatic US Open semifinal and Federer in one of the year’s great matches in round robin play in Shanghai. Of those three, only Federer in the final at Flushing Meadows, beat him after Wimbledon.

But no matter how well established they are at the pinnacle of the game, this talented quartet will have to keep a wary eye on the posse of young hopefuls who are saddling up in readiness for a hot pursuit. Nothing was more pleasing for all the fans he earned with his great performance in reaching the Australian Open final at the start of the year than to see Jo-Wilfried Tsonga roar back into the spotlight with his great title-winning performance in the Paris Masters at Bercy where an ecstatic crowd propelled him to a great win over David Nalbandian in the final. Tsonga ended the year at No. 6 but will, of course, have a lot of points to defend in Melbourne. If he stays fit, the big Frenchman has the best chance amongst the newcomers of elbowing his way into the mix at the very top.

Juan Martin del Potro’s great run in the summer that brought him his first four ATP titles one after the other ensured the tall Argentine of a top ten finish to the year at No. 9 and I doubt whether we will have to wait very long for the lean and talented Croat, Marin Cilic (currently ranked 23rd) to join him. Then, a bit further back there is Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with his explosive game at No. 53. Finally there is 18-year-old Kei Nishikori, already a hero in Japan and such a naturally gifted mover and striker of the ball that it will come as no surprise when he, too, rises to top ten status. He will start the year at No. 63 but the rise should be swift.

On the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, the year ended with Jelena Jankovic sitting at the top of the pile and it is hard to argue that she did not deserve it, despite not having won a Grand Slam title. It is not Jankovic’s fault that Justine Henin retired in the spring, or that Maria Sharapova’s shoulder could not last the year or that the Williams sisters, to quote Tilden again, "play their own sweet game" when and where they choose. All that Jankovic could do was to get out there and compete week after week, often with some ailment or other — many of which turned her matches in duels of high drama — and finish the year with a strong run of three consecutive WTA titles to prove that staying power and total dedication brings its just rewards.

Ana Ivanovic deserved her triumph at the French Open and will have learned a lot about herself in the aftermath. She, too, is a gritty competitor on court but she found the hoopla of being a highly photogenic Grand Slam champion difficult to handle at first and will set about 2009 in a different frame of mind. Dinara Safina must take credit for her rise to No. 3 in the world, finally eclipsing her brother Marat and raising her game to new heights once she had won Berlin in early summer.

Hopefully for her sake, Jankovic, just the kind of outspoken, colorful personality the game needs, will get that Grand Slam title as the year unfolds but the cold truth is that Venus and Serena can appear at any moment and win as they please. At Wimbledon it was Venus; at the US Open it was Serena and then in Qatar at the Sony Ericsson Championships it was Venus again. When they are fit, motivated and in form, the sisters are simply better than everyone else and the way in which this family continues to carry American tennis to the only major titles it currently seems capable of winning is one of the most remarkable stories in sport.

For me and I imagine for most people, the highlight of the year was one of the greatest Wimbledon finals of all time; possibly one of the greatest tennis matches ever; the five set duel to dusk between Nadal and Federer that saw the Spaniard finally defeat his great rival at the third attempt. It was pure sport, shorn of all thought of commercialization, played out between two champions of rare integrity and grace. Tennis is so blessed to have Rafa and Roger as its standard bearers and I think everyone now understands just how much they bring to the game. I was happily surprised to see how far the fall out from that unforgettable final reached around the world. Everyone seemed to be talking about it and some quite serious commentators, not directly connected with tennis, were describing it as one of the best moments in the history of sport. The accolades were quite amazing and, eventually, after the hurt had subsided Federer began to understand that he had participated in a match for the ages.

Let us hope Nadal, Federer and their rivals can reach for these heights again and that 2009 can become a year of change and innovation as the ATP ushers in a new leader. There is so much that can be done to make this great game of ours even more popular and faint hearts will not get the job done. 

 In the meantime a Happy Christmas, or if you prefer, Happy Holidays, to all our readers.