2010 Men's Tennis Storylines

Happy New Year from Tennis Fun!

As the 2010 season officially got underway this week at three ATP 250 events,let's take a look at the top storylines for this year:

1. Roger Federer poised to break Sampras' Weeks at No. 1 Record
After breaking the Grand Slam record held by Sampras, Federer looks to break another one of Sampras' records this year. Sampras is the all-time leader in (non-consecutive) weeks at No. 1, spending a total of 286 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings. Federer currently stands 4th all-time with 264 weeks as of January 4th. All he needs to do now is to stay at the top spot through June 14th and the record is his. Can he do it?

2. Roger-Rafa Rivalry Revisited
In 2009, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal split their two matches, fewest since 2005 when they also met only twice the entire season. Are we going to see a revival of the Roger-Rafa rivalry, or is 2010 the beginning of the end? The Qatar Open final would have been their first match this year, but Nadal gets Davydenko instead as the Russian beat Federer in the semis. Another botched match-up between the rivals is the Spain-Switzerland Davis Cup first round tie, as Federer has already decided not to play for SUI. Anyhow, we sure hope to see an Australian Open final rematch by month's end.

3. Djokovic Threat Looms
World No. 3 Novak Djokovic is primed to play the spoiler role to the Roger-Rafa rivalry/duopoly, let alone Federer's reign atop the rankings. In fact, Djokovic is a bigger threat to Federer (than Nadal is to Federer) in the first two months of the season, since Djokovic won't be defending a lot of ranking points. An Aussie Open title for Djokovic will give him the No. 1 ranking if Federer doesn't reach the semifinals in Melbourne. Will "King Novak" be king of the ATP World Tour as well?

4. More Grandslam Breakthroughs?
In 2008, Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. Last year, it was Juan Martin Del Potro who did the trick at the US Open. Are we going to see another breakthrough this year? A good number of players are capable, including Grand Slam finalists Andy Murray and Robin Soderling.