Federer's successor?

After his triumph at the Miami ATP Masters Series to become the tournament's youngest title holder, there was already talk that 19-year-old Novak Djokovic will be Roger Federer's successor.

It's only natural I suppose given the young Serb's all-around game--very reminiscent of a young Federer as they say--which was showcased in yesterday's final against Guillermo Cañas. I must admit that I was quite impressed by how he effectively varied his shots to outfox Cañas and remained mentally tough at crucial points. I gaped especially at that crosscourt forehand hit very softly in the midst of a crisis when he brought to many deuces while serving at 3-2 in the second set. Djokovic did say that he models his game after Federer's and it was quite obvious yesterday. (It was amusing too to hear him say a Federer-like "Well done" in congratulations to Cañas during his speech after receiving the trophy just.)

Now, that's a sign of the good Federer is doing for tennis and how he has inspired young players to not just rely on power in their games. We should be grateful to Federer for that and Federer himself should be pleased that Djokovic (and Murray) have followed suit. Of course as a Federer fan, I hope that Djokovic will ascend the throne only after Federer puts down his racket and retires from tennis.

By the way, I find quite interesting the near-identical poses of Federer (during last year's Rogers Cup in Toronto) and Djokovic (at this year's Sony Ericsson Open in Miami) in the following pair of photos: