Originally published on Back Row Sports.

All December long, the blog will take a look back at the highlights, lowlights and moments that defined the 2013 Tennis season.

It’s a wrap. As the 2013 calendar year draws to an end, here’s a month by month collection of the best stories, events and links this year.

January

• Victoria Azarenka wins another Australian Open but not before taking an infamous medical timeout and becoming everyone’s favourite player to hate.
• Novak Djokovic wins his third straight Australian Open and begins to assert himself into the conversation as an all-timer. Surprisingly, it would be his only Grand Slam title of the year.
• Bernard Tomic breaks through with his first ATP win in Sydney and then his world falls apart. Talk about peaking early.

February

• He’s back. Rafael Nadal returns from a seven month layoff and promptly loses to Horacio Zeballos in…