A "Third Man" Who Might Be the "Second," and the Emergence of a Potential "Fourth"

It's a month after the Australian Open, do you know where your Big Two are? How about Three... or is it Four?

*ATP February Awards*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Novak Djokovic, SRB: He won Dubai again. He defeated Federer again, too.
=============================
2. Juan Martin del Potro, ARG: Back from the wrist injury that swallowed up his '10 season, he followed up back-to-back SF results by winning in Delray Beach while barely fighting-off exhaustion.
=============================
3. Milos Raonic, CAN: He proved that all that praise he got for reaching the Round of 16 in Melbourne wasn't false hope. Lifting Canada's men's tennis future sky-high all by himself, she won a title in San Jose and nearly another in Memphis, losing in the final to Andy Roddick in what might turn out to the the most entertaining match of the year.
=============================
4. Nicolas Almagro, ESP: He reached three straight finals in February, winning two titles.
=============================
5. Robin Soderling, SWE: With two more titles in February, the Swede leads the tour with three crowns on the season.
=============================
HM- Andy Roddick, USA & David Ferrer, ESP: Roddick announced his Davis Cup comeback, won his 30th career singles title, and pulled off a diving, somersaulting "Shot of the Year" contender on match point against Raonic in the Memphsi final (and now wife Brooklyn Decker is apparently an actress, too). Ferrer's Acapulco win ties him with Almagro for the most titles by a Spanish man in 2011 (that OTHER Spaniard is still looking for his first).

**RISERS**
1. Novak Djokovic
2. Juan Martin del Potro
3. Nicolas Almagro
4. Robin Soderling
5. Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares
6. Kevin Anderson
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Mikhail Youzhny
9. Thomaz Bellucci
10. Tomas Berdych
HM- Florian Mayer & Horia Tecau

**FRESH FACES**
1. Milos Raonic
2. Aleksandr Dolgopolov
3. Kei Nishikori
4. Somdev Devvarman
5. Ryan Sweeting
HM- Richard Berankis & Thiemo de Bakker

**SURPRISES**
1. Ivan Dodig
2. Sergiy Stakhovsky
3. Scott Lipsky/Rajeev Ram
4. Santiago Giraldo
5. Adrian Mannarino
HM- Pablo Andujar & Izak Van der Merwe

**VETERANS**
1. Andy Roddick
2. David Ferrer
3. Tommy Robredo
4. Max Mirnyi/Daniel Nestor
5. Janko Tipsarevic
HM- Juan Ignacio Chela

**COMEBACKS**
1. Juan Martin del Potro
2. Tommy Robredo
3. Lleyton Hewitt

**DOWN**
1. Andy Murray
2. Sam Querrey
3. Fernando Verdasco
4. Nikolay Davydenko
5. Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal



**TOP PERFORMANCE**
AO champ Novak Djokovic wins his third straight Dubai championship, defeating Roger Federer for the second time in '11 and carrying his undefeated season record into March

**TOP MATCH/SHOT/ENDING**
Memphis Final - Roddick d. Raonic 7-6(6)/6-7(11)/7-5
...Roddick dodged a huge bullet when Raonic failed to put away set point in the 1st, but was still stretched to his limit and beyond for career title #30. Raonic saved three match points in the 2nd, then took things to a 3rd. On his fifth match point, Roddick dove for a shot in the backcourt, barely getting a racket on the ball and then somersaulting across the court surface to complete his acrobatic dive. Though the American never actually saw the shot, he managed to push it down the line for a winner past the Canadian to secure a singles title for the eleventh straight season.

**BREAKOUT**
Come on, is there really any question? The hard-serving 20-year old Raonic is coming on so fast that it's downright scary, and his accompanying thoughtful and wryly humerous post-match comments seem destined to make him a huge star very soon. He won his first ATP title in San Jose, becoming the first Canadian man to do so since 1995, and he's already the highest-ranked man EVER from his country. Barring injury, it's hard to envision him not being in at least the Top 15-20, if not Top 10, by the end of the season.

**WHAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF A BREAKOUT?**
While Raonic continued his rise once he left Melbourne, Andy Murray went the other way. After a second straight non-factor appearance in the AO final, the Scot went down quickly in straight sets in the 1st Round of Rotterdam to Marcos Baghdatis. Hey, at least the upcoming royal wedding might take a little of the London tabloid heat off Murray a few months from now.

**A "DO-OVER" MIGHT WELL BE GRANTED**
After picking Juan Martin del Potro to finish '10 at #1 only to see his wrist injury pretty much cost him the entire season, it's great to see him coming on once again with such force. Back-to-back February semis were followed by a title in Delray Beach, his first since winning the U.S. Open in 2009. If Djokovic is the "Third Man," then the Argentine might be the "Fourth." That is, unless Raonic beats him too it, I suppose.

**MEANWHILE, BACK ON THE FARM...**
If nothing else, we DID learn in February that the ATP tour can still be pretty entertaining WITHOUT Federer and Nadal. Nadal didn't play at all, while Federer went down pretty hard in the Dubai final against Djokovic as the Serb showed once again that he's probably the best hardcourter in the world (though a match-up with a rested del Potro in NYC WOULD be intriguing this summer). Truth is, though, the Big Two weren't really missed all that much.

Of course, that wouldn't be the case come slam time... but it's months like this that make you want to start counting the days until EVERYONE is gathered under the same big tent.

All for now.

Read more!