While the tennis season overall was well known for the ongoing dominance of the top players in the world, unfortunately there were some players who either under-performed, or were unable to achieve their top potential in 2013.

In Part I, I looked back at the top players of the year, reviewed their seasons of dominance and previewed whether they could continue their good form in 2014.

In this part, I will look at four underperformers of the year, what went wrong for them and what needs to be done if they are to improve in 2014.

First, let’s have a look at two men:

Janko Tipsarevic
While compatriot Novak Djokovic continued his rampaging reign at the top of men’s tennis, seecond-ranked Serbian Janko Tipsarevic suffered a poor season blighted by injury and fell out of the world’s top 30 for the first time since 2011.

The season started somehow brightly for the 29-year-old, winning only his fourth career title in Chennai and reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open for the first time.

Unfortunately, he was forced to retire in the second set of his match against Spaniard Nicolas Almagro, due to a foot injury. That would not be the last of his injury woes though, as we are about to realise later.

He also had a third round exit at the French Open to Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, and also exited in the first round of Wimbledon to now disgraced compatriot Viktor Troicki. Had he reached the third round there, once again he would have faced Youzhny.

Then, at the US Open, Tipsarevic lost in the fourth round to David Ferrer, in a rematch of the previous year’s gripping quarter-final which was decided in five sets.

But that’s not all. In addition to failing to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final in a season for the first time since 2010, he also didn’t fare well at any of the Masters 1000 events, falling in either the first or second round of all of them except for Miami, where he reached the fourth round.

An injury kept Tipsarevic out of the Davis Cup final, leaving Serbia needing to rely on Novak Djokovic to win their second Cup since first winning in 2010. His absence was felt sorely as the Serbs eventually lost to the Czech Republic by a scoreline of 3-2, both of Serbia’s points coming from Djokovic by virtue of his two singles victories over Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych.

From starting the season ranked world number nine, Tipsarevic finds himself now ranked 36 and with a title to defend in Chennai early next year, he risks being unseeded at the Australian Open in 2014.

Of course, being seeded has its’ pros and cons – you don’t have to face a fellow seed until at least the third round, and depending on your ranking, you can draw a good opponent or a bad opponent.

Being unseeded means that there is a one in three chance (there are 32 seeded players and 96 unseeded) that you will have to face a seed in the opening round.

This could theoretically mean that someone who is world number 33 could end up facing the world number one in the first round, as was the case when Florian Mayer met Novak Djokovic in the first round of this year’s Wimbledon Championships.

With that in mind, there is clearly a lot of work for Tipsarevic to do if he is to work his way back into the top 32, but with time running out, the question will be whether he can climb his way back into the world’s top 10, let alone the top 20.

Bernard Tomic
Once touted for big things, the sad reality is that Bernard Tomic has yet to completely fulfill his potential.

His junior years comprised winning the 2008 junior Australian Open title and the 2009 junior US Open title, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships as a qualifier and earning the optimism of Australian fans as Lleyton Hewitt’s retirement looms.

However, in the last two years, poor form, allegations of “tanking” and father issues have threatened to derail Tomic’s rise.

Looking at this year, nothing has changed.

He started the season brightly by upsetting Novak Djokovic at the Hopman Cup and winning his first ATP World Tour title in Sydney, but it would all unravel with a third round loss to Roger Federer at the Australian Open.

A quarter-final showing at Marseille, where he even held match points against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, would be his best result for the remainder of the year, as he continued to struggle with the demands of playing on the ATP World Tour full-time.

In Miami, Tomic earned the ire of the crowd for not trying in his second round match against Andy Murray, who eventually went on to win the tournament. It seems that they have not forgotten about his wayward approach towards this sport.

In May, his father, John Tomic, was charged with the assault of his son’s hitting partner in Madrid, where the second of the clay court Masters were being held. He was to be suspended from attending any ATP-sanctioned events, including the Grand Slams, for 12 months.

Then, at the French Open, Bernard was forced to concede his first round tie to Victor Hanescu due to a hamstring injury in what was his first competitive outing since his father was charged with assault in the Spanish capital.

Wimbledon then rolled around, and it was at last in which he was able to show his fighting qualities. He endured a five-set, first round thriller against Sam Querrey, the same man he beat at the Australian Open last year, then had victories against James Blake and Richard Gasquet before falling to Tomas Berdych in the fourth round.

Finally, at the US Open, he also endured a first round five-setter against Albert Ramos before losing out to Daniel Evans in the next round, despite taking the first set 6-1. Though he lost at this stage again, it was a slightly better showing as opposed to last year’s inept performance against local favourite Andy Roddick.

The season from hell ended with six straight main-draw losses, and his ranking remaining the way it started, at number 52.

If he wants to become the player that he can, he will have to learn two things: first, to accept criticism for his defeats, and secondly, see how Lleyton Hewitt was able to fare in New York, whereby he reached the fourth round and fell narrowly short of what would have been an improbable quarter-final appearance.

Even Hewitt had his tough initiation, as did Samantha Stosur (though in her case, a serious virus derailed her rise in 2007), so Tomic isn’t quite alone.

Now 21, next year shapes up as a make-or-break year for the Australian prodigy.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I did consider Roger Federer to be an under-performer this year, despite his tough season. However, I think it would be too harsh to really label him an under-performer in this article, given his status as one of the greatest players of our generation.

Now, let’s have a look at two women who disappointed this year:

Ana Ivanovic
Without doubt, the most disappointing story of the season would have to be former world number one Ana Ivanovic.

Since winning the French Open by luck five years ago, the Serbian has underperformed at a big number of major tournaments and it wasn’t until last year’s US Open in which she was able to reach another Grand Slam quarter-final.

Furthermore, she has only been able to win only three titles since the end of 2008 (and none since her 24th birthday in 2011), as opposed to eight beforehand, dating back to her first title in January 2005.

This year saw no improvement from the last few years, as she was once again kept well away from the big titles and kept outside the quarter-finals at all of the major tournaments of the year, with the exception of Madrid, where luck fell her way.

She recorded her worst ever start to a season, failing to reach the quarter-finals of any event for the first four months of the season, and barely challenging any of the top players she was drawn against.

She was able to turn a corner in Stuttgart, reaching the final eight and coming very close to upsetting defending (and eventual) champion Maria Sharapova before losing in three close sets.

In Madrid, as the lowest seed, she was not expected to fare well, but the second round exit of Polish nemesis Agnieszka Radwanska, who had already beaten her easily twice in the season, cleared the way for her to reach the semi-finals, where she once again lost to Sharapova, this time in straight sets.

On the way, she recorded her best victory all year thrashing world number six Angelique Kerber for the loss of just four games in the quarter-finals.

But then after that, she lost early in her next four tournaments, including at the French Open to Radwanska (for a third time) and Wimbledon to unheralded Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

For Ivanovic, this loss was as embarrassing as Richmond losing to the Gold Coast Suns in the AFL. Comparing the Suns and Bouchard, both are rising factors in their respective sports and both are touted for big things in the future.

Ivanovic’s post-2008 form compares to Richmond’s post-2001 era; whereby Ivanovic has only been able to reach only one Grand Slam quarter-final in the last five years, Richmond have only been able to make one AFL finals series over the last decade.

The Serb responded to her Wimbledon shocker by sacking Nigel Sears, leaving her without a full-time coach for the remainder of the year. It is the instability within the coaching department which has prevented her from fulfilling her potential.

A tough year was about to continue when she drew defending champion Dominika Cibulkova in the first round in Carlsbad, however, the Serb would rally to send the Slovak crashing out on her way to reaching the semi-finals, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka.

She then came very close to knocking out Li Na in Toronto, but this match was almost the exact reverse of her victory over Laura Robson in Madrid: Ivanovic led 5-2 in the final set, only to see the match (and a place in the quarter-finals) slip through her fingers.

She also let slip a winnable match against Alize Cornet in Cincinnati, the scene of her big career turnaround in 2010. Then, at the US Open, she reached the fourth round, winning the first set against Azarenka before falling in three sets.

The poor season continued in Tokyo and Beijing, with third and second round exits respectively. A first final since 2011 followed in Linz, but was lost to Angelique Kerber, the recipient of a last minute wildcard into the event.

She then fell in the quarter-finals in Moscow and the semi-finals in Sofia, ending yet another poor season for Ivanovic.

Making things worse this year, her career earnings (eleven career titles and over $10 million in prize money) was equalled or bettered by Serena Williams this year alone. This makes Ana Ivanovic’s entire career a complete joke.

If her last few seasons is anything to go by, then don’t be surprised to see her slip down the rankings yet again or fail to capture a title.

But Ivanovic is not going at it all alone. Of all remaining active former Grand Slam champions, only Svetlana Kuznetsova is enduring a longer title drought, having not won a title since August 2010, though in her case, a long-term injury contributed to this drought, whereas Ivanovic was able to remain injury-free this year.

Jelena Jankovic also endured two title-less years (2011 and 2012), but this year she climbed back up the rankings and into the world’s top ten, winning a small title in Bogota in the process.

But I just cannot see the same happening to Ivanovic in 2014.

Caroline Wozniacki
Another player who disappointed all season is another former world number one and crowd favourite Caroline Wozniacki.

The girlfriend of Irish golfer Rory McIlroy endured one of her worst seasons since making her WTA debut in 2005, failing to get past the fourth round at any of the Grand Slams and being able to only capture one small title towards the end of the season.

However, she was able to go deep at some very important tournaments during the season, as we are about to see.

Her season started poorly when she lost to Ksenia Pervak in her first match in Brisbane; this was then followed by a pair of losses to Svetlana Kuznetsova in Sydney and the Australian Open, both of which came a round before the quarter-finals.

However, she would turn a corner almost immediately, reaching the quarter-finals in Doha and the semis in Dubai, before reaching the final at Indian Wells, where she was badly outclassed by fellow former champion Maria Sharapova.

A series of poor showings would follow in the next three months; she then fell early in her next seven tournaments, including at the French Open.

This stretch included consecutive first round exits in Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and Brussels, and then a second round exit at the French Open to Bojana Jovanovski.

Things did not improve at Wimbledon, where she was one of many former top-ranked players to fall on Black Wednesday; she lost to Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska, who was coming back from a serious ankle injury.

At the Rogers Cup, Wozniacki fell in her first match to the eventual finalist Sorana Cirstea, but would lift in Cincinnati, losing in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.

Once again, another Grand Slam rolled by and once again Wozniacki exited early – losing to Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi in the third round. That marked seven consecutive Grand Slams in which she failed to get past the fourth round, all coming since she lost her world number one ranking in January last year.

However, she would end the season on somewhat of a high note – reaching the semis in Tokyo, the quarter-finals in Beijing and winning in Luxembourg for her only title of the year.

As they say, something is better than nothing and Wozniacki will no doubt be happy that she was able to at least win something this year.

But looking back at her year overall, it’s clear that she has a lot of work to do if she is to once again contend for the big titles in 2014.

The Dane has hired the former coach of Li Na and Maria Sharapova, Thomas Hogstedt, in a bid to finally realise her potential and prove that her 69-week stint as world number one between 2010 and 2012 was no fluke.

Question is: can she finally crack it for her first Grand Slam title in 2014? And can she finally return to the top of the world rankings?

That’s Part II of who was hot and who was not in 2013. Next, I will have a look at who was hot and cold in 2013.