Novak Djokovic Knocks Off Roger Federer; Rafael Nadal Upset Too

For the past two and a half years men's tennis has been dominated by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Earlier this week Roger Federer's win over James Blake guaranteed that he would remain number one in the world for the 208^th consecutive week. Rafael Nadal has been in second for over 120 of those weeks. The last time the top of the ATP rankings didn't read Roger Federer number one and Rafael Nadal number two was July 24^th, 2005. But a funny thing happened on the way to Australian Open Finals; Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal lost.

Rafael Nadal plays much better on clay courts so it was probably no surprise that he was eliminated from the Australian Open but the surprise was the opponent. Rafael Nadal didn't lose to Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick or even Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin or Marcos Baghdatis. Rafael Nadal's semi-finals loss in the Australian Open came at the hands of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Who? You're not alone in not knowing who Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is. Tsonga is ranked 38^th in the world, was not seeded in the Australian Open and not only has he never been in a Grand Slam final; he's never been in the finals of any tournament.

Tsonga didn't just beat Rafael Nadal though, he man-handled him. Tsonga breezed his way to a 6 - 2, 6 - 3, 6 - 2 win.

Even though Rafael Nadal lost to an unseeded player and Roger Federer was playing the third ranked player in the world, Federer being upset before the Finals of the Australian Open was even a bigger upset.

Not only has Roger Federer won the Australian Open the last two years and three out of the last four years, but he has been in the Finals of every one of the last 10 Grand Slams. The last time Roger Federer missed the finals of a Grand Slam was May of 2005.

But this time Roger Federer will not be in the Finals thanks to the number three ranked Novak Djokovic. Djokovic put himself on the map last year when he defeated Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer all in a row in one tournament last year but when Djokovic faced Roger Federer again at the US Open, Federer went back to his winning ways.