So Simon, competing for France in the Hopman Cup mixed teams event beginning Saturday, has a clear ambition for 2009.
"I want to play better in the Slams because I had a great year ... but I didn't reach the third round in any,'' Simon said Thursday. "So that's one of my goals this year.''
The 24-year-old Simon lost in the first round at the French Open and didn't see much of the second week in the other three. But he did win three tournaments and made it to the semifinals of the Masters Cup in Shanghai.
He beat Djokovic at Marseille, Federer at Toronto and saved his best performance of the year in a semifinal upset of No. 1 Nadal at the Spaniard's hometown Madrid Masters.
After beating No. 11 James Blake and No. 14 Ivo Karlovic to reach the semis, he stunned Nadal in three sets, saving 17 break points, including seven in the final set.
"The difference is not on the court when you play against them, because we saw last year I can defeat these players,'' Simon said of the top three.
"But I know that during all the year they are far better, so that's the difference. You have to be at the top every week.''
Simon will partner Alize Cornet at the Hopman Cup. France opens the eight-country competition on Saturday when it takes on Taiwan.
Among the leading teams for this year's event are the United States (Meghann Shaughnessy and Blake), Australia (Lleyton Hewitt and Casey Dellacqua) and Russia (the brother-sister pair of Marat Safin and Dinara Safina).
Simon has a doubles ranking of 278 and admits both he and Cornet will be relying on wins in their singles matches against Lu Yen-hsun and Hsieh Su-wei.
"We are not counting on the doubles,'' he said.
The Hopman Cup opens the 2009 season. The Brisbane International, a new joint ATP-WTA tournament, begins Sunday on the Australian east coast, while the ATP also has tournaments at Doha, Qatar and Chennai, India and the WTA at Auckland, New Zealand.
The following week, the Sydney International is another joint ATP-WTA event. The men also have a tournament at Auckland and the women at Hobart, Australia, leading up to the Australian Open in Melbourne beginning Jan. 19.
On Thursday, Daniela Hantuchova - No. 4 seed for Brisbane - said the subtropical heat and humidity of the Queensland capital will help players get acclimatized to conditions in Melbourne.
"I'm very glad I came earlier,'' Hantuchova said as temperatures rose to 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit). "I was saying to my coach if I can play in Brisbane, I can play anywhere ...''
French Open champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia is also entered in the Brisbane women's event, while Australian Open champion Djokovic and the man he beat in the final at Melbourne in 2008, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, head the men's side.
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