General / Sean Calvert / 10 December 2011 /

The tennis season is over for another year - not for long though, as it all begins again in January - so it's that time of year when Sean Calvert looks back over 12 months of spectacular sport and hands out his awards for 2011.

Funny moment
I shall miss Andy Roddick when he eventually calls it a day. His press conferences and heated discussions with umpires around the world are becoming more amusing as his tennis powers diminish. The best Roddick moments of 2011 came towards the end of the year when, frustrated by injuries and lack of form, he walked out of a press conference in Beijing and prior to that had a strop at the US Open.

After losing to Kevin Anderson in the first round in Beijing, A-Rod was asked if he's considering retiring; to which he replied: 'I think you should retire' and promptly left the building.

At the US Open, Roddick was playing David Ferrer on Louis Armstrong when he noticed that the court was cracked and water was leaking through on to the surface. What followed was an amusing semi-rant at the tournament director followed by another walk-off.

But if it's pure comedy gold you're after, we need to switch to the WTA Tour and Venus Williams' ridiculous white playsuit with gold hot pants that she had the nerve to sport at Wimbledon this year. Truly shocking images that still haunt me to this day. Google it if you dare. (No need. See pic and keep reading- Ed)

Player of the Year
If I suggested anyone other than Novak Djokovic for this award, you'd think I'd gone mad and rightly so because the Serb's year has been arguably the best season of men's tennis in the history of the game. A 70-6 win/loss ratio matches Bjorn Borg's 1980 record, but falls below John McEnroe's 82-3 mark from 1984. Mac was the first to admit though, that Djokovic's season was superior due to the fact that the Serb had to overcome a handful of genuinely world class opponents at their peaks, whereas Mac's main threats were an ageing Jimmy Connors and a developing Ivan Lendl.

Performance of the Year
A fair few contenders for this award, among them Ivan Dodig for defeating Nadal in Montreal from a set down. The Spaniard was one of many [1.01] shots that were turned over in 2011. But for me, this award has to go to Djokovic again and you can take your pick which match. There were the back-to-back clay wins over the formerly invincible on dirt Nadal in Madrid and Rome or the incredible match point saving effort in New York over Federer in the US Open semi final, which was surely the match of the year. Or his maiden Wimbledon and US Open wins - both over a shell shocked Rafa. Mention should also go to Federer for his effort in beating Djokovic in the French Open in another great match.

Tear-jerking moment of the Year
You would have to possess a heart of stone to not have a huge amount of sympathy for Juan Martin Del Potro at the Davis Cup Final last weekend. After battling back to fitness in 2011, Delpo put in a monumental effort against both Nadal and Ferrer, but was beaten in both rubbers. The big man was in tears after his loss to Nadal, but emerged with huge credit and hopefully will be challenging for majors again in 2012.

Let-down of the Year
This time last year, Andrey Golubev was number 36 in the world, but after winning just six matches from 32 at ATP Tour level in 2011, Golubev has dropped to number 147. His defeat by Djokovic at Indian Wells saw him go on a losing run of 17 matches in a row before he beat Stan Wawrinka in Cincinnati. Other notable under-performers, whose rankings have plummeted include Nikolay Davydenko (dropped from number 6 to 41 in 14 months), Sam Querrey (18 to 93), Ernests Gulbis (again), and Thiemo De Bakker (43 to 223).

Breakthrough of the Year
Now officially Canada's best ever player in terms of ranking - and no, I'm not counting Greg Rusedksi - Milos Raonic was ranked 156 in the world 12 months ago and now sits at number 31. Raonic hit a high of 25 in the summer before injury set him back in the latter half of the season, however earlier in the year he was very impressive indoors, reaching the final in Memphis and winning San Jose. His serve is one of the best in the men's game right now and he could have an even bigger year in 2012.

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