On Tennis: In season full of highlights, Rafael Nadal stands out

Quicker than a line judge can bark "out," the tennis season is over.

What a year it was. Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer's dominance, Novak Djokovic won a first Grand Slam title everyone knew was coming, and Justine Henin, one of the most-talented female players the game has ever seen, called it quits way too soon.

Focusing on the men this week, here's an end-of-term report card. Nadal is at the head of the class.

Rafael Nadal (A): Sure he's the King of Clay, but what can Nadal do on a surface other than dirt? That was the question being asked heading into 2008.

Well, after a shaky start, the Spanish lefty turned it on, predictably cruising at the French Open before ending Federer's five-year reign on the hallowed grass at Wimbledon. In an impressive display of mental toughness, Nadal kept it together in the fifth set of their epic final, serving second, despite blowing two match points in a fourth-set tiebreak. The latter was a match in itself.

Carrying the momentum to hard courts, Nadal usurped Federer as the world No. 1, captured Olympic gold and advanced to an inaugural U.S. Open semifinal, where his body finally gave way.

Roger Federer (A-): By no means was Federer as dominant as he is usually is. He wasn't too bad, though.

If he's not suffering from mononucleosis, Federer probably beats Djokovic in the Australian Open semis and makes it three in a row in Melbourne.

Who knows how the next few months would have unfolded? Would Federer have lost to Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and Radek Stepanek?

His performance in the French Open final against Nadal was, to put it mildly, utterly disappointing, especially when it might have been his last real chance of winning the only major to elude him.

The second half was much better. Federer showed grit in the Wimbledon final, too, saving one of the match points in the fourth set with an unbelievable backhand down the line.

Buoyed by winning doubles gold at the Olympics, Federer won a fifth straight U.S. Open. He also reached at least the semis of all four Grand Slams, again.

Novak Djokovic (B+): Djokovic made far too many headlines for his antics.

It began at the Australian Open, when Djokovic took offense to the crowd rooting for exuberant Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. He withdrew from Serbia's first Davis Cup world group series in a must-win match -- after leading Russian Nikolay Davydenko two sets to one -- and retired against Federer at the Monte Carlo Masters.

The shenanigans came to a head at the U.S. Open, where Djokovic moaned about his reception and continued his love affair with injury timeouts. A year earlier, he was a fan favorite, hilariously impersonating Nadal and Sharapova.

Still, Djokovic earned the first of surely many majors, reached three Grand Slam semifinals and won the elite Masters Cup last month.

He'll learn from his mistakes.

Andy Murray (B+): Great Britain's 70-year wait for a men's Grand Slam winner is coming to an end.

Murray was the hottest player on tour from the end of July onward, going a combined 5-2 against the big three and advancing to his first Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows.

The turning point came when the 21-year-old, who's got all the shots, rallied from two sets down against underachiever Richard Gasquet in the fourth round at Wimbledon. Murray credits his improvement to his vast entourage, which essentially replaced the one-man show of Brad Gilbert.

Andy Roddick (B-): Talk about an eventful year for Roddick.

For the first time in his career, he suffered a semi-serious injury to his serving shoulder. He cut ties with two coaches, somehow reached the U.S. Open quarterfinals despite a hellish draw and broke a few hearts by getting engaged to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.

The injury forced Roddick to skip the French Open and hampered his Wimbledon preparation -- a second-round exit followed in miserable fashion.

The perennial U.S. No. 1 pulled off wins over Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in the spring and was actually looking good on clay, too, hardly the surface of choice for Americans, so the timing of the shoulder setback couldn't have been worse. If healthy, count on Roddick doing better in the slams in 2009, especially now that he's working with prolific coach Larry Stefanki.

Other notables: James Blake (C+) finally beat Federer and reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal outside New York but didn't do much else. Burned out in the summer, 2009 should be interesting for the U.S. No. 2. Tsonga (A-) was the biggest revelation. Tsonga's attacking game -- and engaging smile -- dazzled fans. One can only hope the injuries stay away so they'll get more play. Fellow Frenchmen Gasquet (F) and Gilles Simon (B+) had differing fortunes. While Simon, a great competitor, broke through and finished inside the top 10, Gasquet failed to build on a promising 2007. Bailing on his teammates when they faced Roddick and Co. in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in April was particularly shameful. Argentinean Juan Martin Del Potro (B+), still only 20, figures to be in the top 10 for years. Moody countryman David Nalbandian (D) deteriorated in the majors and failed to lead Argentina to the Davis Cup title.