David Ferrer award for over-achievement

So onto our second category, the David Ferrer over-achiever award.

Every season a number of players have truly great years. For some this is the breakthrough season, which signals their arrival in the big time, as they take up their rightful place in the elite (Nole last year, Andy M this year).

For others it's a case of punching above their weight, outperforming, and achieving more than you'd expect given how their game stacks up with others on the tour. It's their chance to see how it feels to be a top 10 player.

Sometimes this is the result of a hot run across a number events. But quite often the over-achievement is built around one big result which amasses a load of points. Going deep in a slam tends to do it.

This award can be mis-interpreted as a back-handed compliment. It's not. There's nothing I admire more than someone who works hard, fights on court, and over achieves.

David Ferrer had a sensational tour last year, ending the year in 5th place. A fantastic achievement but he came into 2008 defending more points than he could ever realistically hope to protect. And so it proved with Ferrer ending the year ranked 12.

So who was it this year? Well the nominees for 2008 are:

Tsonga, Australian Open finalist against the odds
Simon, a fantastic year including beating Nadal in Madrid
Wawrinka, olympic gold winner
Davydenko, the perpetual over achiever

Drum roll as previous winner Marco Baghdatis eases open the envelope, "and the winner is.... Gilles Simon"

Play of the week

Mercedes ATP Play of the week. Nadal V Davydenko. A fantastic 'get' from Rafa shows why he is near unbeatable on clay. Watch it here.

Djoko retires (again)

In the past year Djokovic has retired when losing against Nadal (Wimbledon); when leading Davydenko (Davis Cup); and losing to Federer (today in Monte Carlo).

He's either physically or mentally vulnerable, which is possible and could be just part of his development (after all, a year ago people were saying Murray, who is the same age, was overly susceptible to injury).

Or as some have suggested it is a cynical attempt to avoid conceding a psychological advantage to his rivals in the top 4.

Either way, if Djokovic is serious about becoming No 1 he needs to break this bad habit.

The up side of his disappointing decision to abandon his semi against Federer is that we have another Federer - Nadal final to look forward to tomorrow. And for some reason I thing Federer might just edge it.

6-0

Six of the best from the web

* Kamakshi Tandon on tennis.com on the clay season & race for No 1.

* Van at Tennis Talk Anyone bigs up the Davis Cup

* ATP Tennis Blog also has a good Davis Cup preview.

* Nick Bollettierie on Safin's big win in Davis Cup.

* Nate Cunningham praises Roddick's character & personality.

* The Tennis Centre on Davydenko.

Great moments in tennis No 7 - Henman's finest hour

From 1998 to 2004 Tim Henman reaching the semi's or quarters of Wimbledon was a given. It became a summer tradition. The problem for Henman was that after a year or two the public and media took it for granted.

They quickly forgot that for the previous 20 years the closest we'd come to a successful run at Wimbledon from a British tennis player was Jeremy Bates failing to convert a match point against Guy Forget in the 4th round.

Henman's success - lets not forget he was a top 10 player on and off for 7 years - created expectations that sadly he was unable to fulfill. The public willed him to win the tournament. Unfortunately for Henman his time in the game coincided with two of the all time greats, both masters on grass, Sampras and Federer.

This led to him being branded (unfairly) as an under achiever. Personally I think he took what he had and over achieved. But that's a debate for another time.

There were many highs and lows at SW19 but for me Henman's two greatest achievements both occurred in Paris - reaching the semi of the French in 2004 by serve volleying, and winning the indoor Masters event in 2003, one of the biggest events in tennis after the 4 Slams.

En route to the final of the Masters event Henman beat a string of world class players including world No 1's Kuerten, Roddick and Federer, plus Davydenko and Grosjean, dropping only one set.

The final itself was a tight, edgy affair, with Henman unable to reproduce the quality of tennis which swept him to the final. But he disproved those who claimed he lacked a killer instinct, by holding his nerve in two tie breaks, to beat Andrei Pavel 6-2, 7-6, 7-6.

I've searched Youtube but can't find any video footage from the Masters triumph - which tells you all you need to know about our failure in the UK to recognise that the tennis season extends beyond Queens and Wimbledon. But you can read the Guardian's match report for the final here