Assessing the Spring Swing

The first quarter of the season is in the books, and it ended in similar fashion on both tours: With the world’s No. 1 players, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, putting their peers a little farther back in their respective rearview mirrors. By the time it was over, this spring hard-court swing was about dictatorship, rather than democracy. Before we move on to the clay-court season, here’s a combined review of Indian Wells and Miami in report-card form.

As always, I can’t grade everyone; if you see someone missing, put your own assessment of their last month's performance in the comments below.

We hear a lot about top players’ declines, both real and imagined, these days. But while Djokovic will turn 28 next month, it’s difficult to imagine him losing a step anytime soon. In this era of maximum physical demand, you might think that sweeping Indian Wells and Miami would be that much more difficult than it always has been. Not for Nole: It now qualifies as one of his specialties. In the finals of each tournament, Djokovic fought himself and his Big 4 opponent, and ended up running away with both matches. Does this make him the favorite to win Roland Garros? It’s too early to ask. Winning 12 straight matches over top competition in Indian Wells and Miami is an accomplishment worth savoring, at least for a day or two. A+

Talk about not losing a step; Serena may be 33, but she’s currently gaining on the rest of the WTA tour. While those around her having been losing their heads—and switching their coaches—Serena has gone 18-0 in 2015. On Sunday, she won Miami for the eighth time and upped her record since the start of 2012 to an almost-unimaginable 236-12. Like Djokovic, Serena’s closest rival in Miami were her own nerves; her semifinal win over Simona Halep was the match of the tournament, but it was on her racquet the whole way. And while her Indian Wells campaign came to an unfortunately early end, her return there after 14 years away will go down as one of the year's most memorable moments. A

Was Halep’s quarterfinal loss at the Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova the best thing that could have happened to her? Disappointed with her effort there, Halep vowed to fight harder, and we saw the results over the last month. She’s always had the game, but in Indian Wells and Miami, where she won five three-setters, and nearly a sixth, she had the grit as well. That sixth match came against Serena; while Halep couldn’t pull off the comeback win after being a set down, she should feel good that Serena brought out her no-nonsense best against her. It’s a sign that you’ve made it in this game. A

Murray’s month would be considered a champagne-popping success for most players. He went 9-1, reached a final and a semi of two Masters events, and succumbed only to the world No. 1 and eventual champion in both places. He should be pleased that he’s now up to No. 3 and heading in a positive direction as the Grand Slam season approaches. But Murray isn’t just any old player—he’s been a major champion, and until his back surgery in 2013, he dueled credibly with the Big 3. That’s not the case at the moment. Since that surgery, he’s 0-12 against Djokovic, Federer, and Rafael Nadal, and while his record is a sterling 21-5 so far this season, he’s beaten just one Top 10 player, Tomas Berdych. Murray’s attitude and body language will never be upbeat, and that’s OK, but he might take a lesson from Djokovic: Get your negativity out of your system, rather than letting it drag you down. A-

How may times can she surprise us before we get the message? JJ, who served for the title in Indian Wells, can still  play, and still entertain, at 30. Anyone else would have been bitterly crushed by that defeat, but she bounced back to give the crowd a little more entertainment for their money with a composed and funny trophy speech. Long live the on-court coaching visit, at least until Jankovic retires. A-

By reaching the final on the slow hard courts at Indian Wells, he showed that his level is as high as ever. And while he lost to Djokovic in a wave of third-set errors in that match, he's still 1-1 against No. 1 this year. A-

Making the final of a top-tier event on hard courts is an accomplishment for the Spaniard, but it would have been nice if she could have given the fans more than 56 minutes worth of tennis when she got there. It doesn't look like she thinks anything will work against Serena. B+

As he approaches 30, Isner is a threat again, at least when he's on American soil and playing two-out-of-three-set matches. We’ll see what happens when he goes to Europe, but this time he sounds a little more confident about his tactics and his prospects than he has in the past. He's already hit bottom once in 2015; it can't happen again, can it? B+

Shen went out in her opener in Indian Wells, but when the rest of the Top 10 struggled in Miami, she took advantage. Petkovic, a French Open semifinalist last year, is one to watch on clay. B+

Like Murray, Raonic has struggled mightily against the Big 3, so his win over Nadal in Indian Wells was an important one. But even at 24, it’s still one small step at a time for Milos. He lost to another member of the Big 3, Federer, in his next match, and in Miami he couldn’t separate himself from the Top 20’s other monster server, Isner. B+

She’ll be a year older in two months, but this week she’s a spot higher in the rankings—all the way up to No. 15 at age 34. Venus reached her first quarterfinal in Miami since 2010, and might have gone farther if she hadn’t had to play three days in a row. With many of those above her having trouble at the moment, she might go farther yet this year. B+

For once, she sustained a good run of form somewhere outside the walls of the All England Club, and in the process she showed again that she can hit with anyone. Like Venus, Lisicki, who is up to No. 18 this week, has an opportunity to do more in the coming months. Put them both down as (very) early Wimbledon threats. B+

Has she put the worst behind her? After reaching the quarters in Miami and the round of 16 in Indian Wells, Sloane is up five places, to No. 40. During that mini-rum, she beat No. 14 Angelique Kerber and No. 18 Madison Keys, and played one of the best matches in Miami in downing Belinda Bencic. Stephens, who also took a set from Serena in Indian Wells, was more patient and thoughtful, and working with her old coach Nick Saviano should continue to help. But she’ll need a lot more of that help if she’s going to challenge the likes of Halep. The Romanian was out of her league in their quarterfinal. B+

The 18-year-old threw another Aussie hat in the next-big-thing ring in Indian Wells. His forehand is world-class, and as he showed by keeping calm and carrying on after getting a couple of bad calls against Juan Monaco, so is his attitude. B+

Indian Wells is always a problem for him, but in reaching the quarters in Miami and pushing Djokovic when he got there, the 33-year-old looked as little-beastly as ever. Some of us thought decline was inevitable in 2015, but he’s 22-3 so far. Some decline. B

Bernie the Bedeviled: Both tournaments started so promisingly, and ended so badly. After reaching his first Masters quarterfinal in Indian Wells, Bernie withdrew because his toothache had somehow turned into a backache. In Miami, what looked to be an even bigger breakthrough, against Tomas Berdych, ended with Tomic being booed off the court for lack of effort. Still, the presence of Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios should continue to push Bernie toward better things. B

He went 5-2 over this hard-court swing, but he didn’t look good in his two defeats, to Feliciano Lopez and John Isner. At the start of the year, Masters titles like these appeared to be in his grasp, and the logical next step. B-

I thought he had found his form during the South American clay season, but it went AWOL again in his wind-damaged defeat to Fernando Verdasco in Miami. That loss was one of several bad ones, often to fellow lefties, that have plagued him over the last year. With his 29th birthday on the horizon, Rafa may be more grateful than ever to be spending the next two months on clay. C+

A loser to Bencic in Indian Wells and Venus in Miami, Wozniacki’s latest run up the rankings has stalled. She has a quantity of wins this year, but few have come at quality events. C+

After early losses in Indian Wells and Miami, a tournament she has won in the past, Aga is down to No. 9 and her 2015 record is hovering at the .500 mark. Is this slump just a matter of adjusting to her new coach, Martina Navratilova, or will be there a limit to what she can do with her finesse game as she heads into the second half of her 20s? C+

The world No. 2 had started the season so well, and she was coming to two of her favorite places to play. Yet Sharapova's range remained elusive in the States. Like Nadal, this style maven should welcome getting a little red dirt on her shoes. C

He went 2-2 in the States; worse, he’s not playing with the same sense of purpose that we saw from him in 2014. By the second set of his loss to Isner in Miami, he looked deflated. C

She’s 2-3 since the Aussie Open, and her U.S. hard-court losses came to 85th-ranked Lesia Tsurenko and 113th-ranked Tatjana Maria. Injuries have contributed to her struggles, and she’s working with a new coach, Sam Sumyk—you have to think that relationship will be a beneficial one in the long run. To keep progressing, though, she can’t just get it together at the Slams. C-