Novak Djokovic was feeling anxious as he ready to board the lengthy flight to Australia together with his crew late in December 2022. He was uncertain of how he can be acquired on the different finish, or even when he can be allowed into Australia, having been detained after which deported the earlier January as a consequence of his refusal to obtain a vaccination for COVID-19.
“Nicely, I sort of was joking round with my crew, hoping that I can enter Australia this time,” Djokovic stated roughly 12 months in the past, shortly after he arrived in Ounceswith out incident – nonetheless unvaccinated however cautious of the reception he would possibly obtain and bitterly complaining about having been forged as “the villain of the world.”
The Serbian star needn’t have apprehensive.
The Aussies had power-washed their collective laborious drive and largely embraced Djokovic anew as he ripped by way of the attract Adelaide, then powered his method to his 22nd Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne – a crucial win that left him tied with Rafael Nadal within the GOAT sweepstakes. Buoyed by this spectacular rebound, Djokovic went on to win two extra Grand Slams in 2023. If he wins once more in a couple of weeks’ time, Djokovic will hurdle Margaret Court docket (additionally with 24 main singles titles) to develop into probably the most prolific Grand Slam singles champion of all time.
As the brand new 12 months dawns, Djokovic is fantastically positioned to make good on his intent to only preserve successful Grand Slam titles. His health seems undiminished (although he was snake-bitten by a wrist downside in his United Cup-ending loss to Alex de Minaur), his sturdiness noteworthy, his willpower uncorrupted by triumph.
“I’ve a lot respect for him,” Grigor Dimitrov stated, after Djokovic bested him final fall in Paris to safe his report 40th ATP Masters 1000 title. “The way in which he’s competing on the courtroom is on a totally completely different degree.”
So, what’s left for Djokovic to perform? Provided that in delicate methods he nonetheless appears to maintain getting higher and higher, what may probably go awry to convey us one step nearer to the tip of the “Massive 3” period?
Accomplishment-wise, probably the most disappointing – and possibly least forgettable – second in Djokovic’s 12 months needed to be his crucial loss within the Davis Cup semifinals to Jannik Sinner regardless of having held three match factors. It’s a fail Djokovic absolutely will wish to avenge. Serbia has not claimed the coveted trophy Cup since Djokovic led the squad to a win in 2010.
“It is a powerful one to swallow,” Djokovic admitted in a painfully frank evaluation after Italy secured the win and went on the declare the Davis Cup. “I used to be actually making an attempt to hype myself and encourage myself for this week. All through all the season, , my ideas have been on this week with my Davis Cup crew.”
However Djokovic’s Davis Cup disappointment of 2023 remains to be small beer in comparison with the career-long frustration he has skilled in Olympic competitors. The one medal Djokovic has claimed is a bronze in singles, secured in 2008. He has taken losses within the medal spherical to Pablo Carreno Busta, Alexander Zverev and Juan Martin del Potro.
As quite a few present and former stars can attest, the Olympics will be hell on elite gamers. The event is swiftly performed in a compressed time interval, wedged right into a crowded tennis calendar. It’s overshadowed by extra conventional Olympic occasions, and saddled with awkward qualification and format protocols – all of which create strain and uncertainty. Maybe worst of all, from a strategic vantage for Djokovic, is that the matches are best-of-three units. The 2024 Summer time Video games in Paris will in all probability symbolize Djokovic’s final likelihood to earn singles gold.
On tour, Djokovic’s path appears extra like an impediment course than the graceful straightaway that some could anticipate. It’s a blessing for him that he has nothing to both lose or show. The remainder of his profession is a victory lap, even when it could not seem that method in mild of his persevering with Spartan coaching routine, the apparent hearth in his stomach, or that almost all underestimated of his presents: the enjoyment he takes from competing.
Djokovic now wants each benefit he can muster as a result of, along with the inevitability of getting older, he’s straddling a generational seam. The unique “Subsequent Gen” cohort (gamers like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov, Karen Khachanov, et al) have refreshed the High 10 however got here nowhere close to producing a participant of historic significance (but).
“The younger guys didn’t actually whup up on the Massive Three to get them out of the best way, which is the conventional method the sport has all the time advanced,” Tennis Channel analyst Jimmy Arias informed me not too long ago. “It’s like these guys [the Big 3] are simply fading away, they’re not getting crushed.”
In the meantime, a brand new vanguard of gifted younger gamers has been placing main strain on the pecking order. These contemporary challengers embrace Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Ben Shelton. That needs to be a supply of motivation in addition to anxiousness for Medvedev, Zverev and firm, who’re nearly all nonetheless simply of their mid-20s. Djokovic – or anybody else- writes that group off at his peril. The expertise on the tour is piling up right into a logjam.
As the brand new 12 months dawns, Djokovic is fantastically positioned to make good on his intent to only preserve successful Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic’s present standing nearly strains credulity, on condition that his drive to surpass his rivals within the Nice GOAT Race appeared practically doomed when he was unceremoniously ejected from the 2020 US Open throughout his fourth-round match. (He by accident hit a line umpire within the throat with a ball fired in a hissy match.) On the time, Djokovic had 17 main titles, three powerful wins behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer (who each skipped the American main due that 12 months to the pandemic). Time seemed to be operating out.
“Are you able to think about how necessary this default will likely be if Novak comes up brief within the hunt for many titles?” ESPN analyst Luke Jensen remarked on the time.
However that default proved to be a pivotal second for Djokovic. Since then, he’s 65-Three in Grand Slam competitors, with seven titles. He has didn’t make the ultimate in only one main he entered over the previous three years. In 2023, on the age of 36, he went 56-7 (27-1 in Grand Slam competitors), successful three majors. If it was not fairly Djokovic’s greatest 12 months (the glory goes to 2021, by a hair), however it could have been his best. In 2023, he additionally triumphed in an equally difficult if much less Homeric enterprise. He appeared lastly to win his career-long quest for widespread admiration and acceptance.
Djokovic’s appeal offensive has included a willingness to tolerate followers who typically boo him for no obvious cause, and even-handedness whether or not successful or shedding. As an alternative of spiking the soccer after eliminating crowd darling Alcaraz within the semifinals of the newest Roland Garros, he stated of his rival (who admitted to being so overwhelmed by the event that he was conspicuously hampered by leg cramps): “It’s part of the training curve. It’s a part of the expertise. He’s solely 20, . So he’s bought loads of time. He’s proven a lot maturity within the final couple of years.”
After Alcaraz repaid Djokovic by stripping him of the Wimbledon title of their subsequent Grand Slam assembly, Djokovic stated: “I’ve gained some epic finals that I used to be very near shedding. Possibly that is sort of a fair-and-square deal for me to lose a match like this right here.”
Many additionally retain the picture of Djokovic, sobbing in his chair throughout a changeover late within the 2021 US Open remaining, his desires of a calendar-year Grand Slam evaporating sooner than his tears. However these tears didn’t mourn misplaced alternative, he later stated, however celebrated the “love” and “assist” he felt from the undependable Gotham crowd. It simply isn’t the sort of factor a participant is more likely to make up.
Additionally, Djokovic’s charitable efforts on behalf of his less-gifted friends as a founding father of the Skilled Tennis Gamers’ Affiliation develop extra spectacular with every passing day, with the PTPA gaining traction on what has develop into a rapidly-shifting tennis panorama.
Djokovic’s marketing campaign to win hearts and minds hasn’t been with out misfires. Bitter resentment of his actions in the course of the pandemic, as a consequence of his anti-vax perspective and actions, left simmering resentment. So did his promotion of the ill-conceived Adria Tour, which loomed as a possible super-spreader occasion earlier than it was shut down. In 2023, Djokovic’s father Srdjan was caught on digicam yucking it up with a few Vladimir Putin stooges, however many discovered Djokovic’s response to the following controversy insensitive, in addition to insufficient. At Roland Garros, Djokovic generated additional controversy with nationalistic feedback about Kosovo, drawing a rebuke from, amongst others, the sports activities minister of France.
If Djokovic is an acquired style, increasingly individuals are gaining it. My colleague Jon Wertheim in all probability put it greatest when he wrote, in October: “Some followers are ride-or-die, and are unconditional of their assist. Some followers are cussed haters, unwilling to return off their detrimental place. … However I might contend that almost all followers – and media – will not be fastened of their view. I might argue that, if something, it’s now fashionable to love Djokovic.”
Citing numerous aspects of Djokovic’s persona in addition to his accomplishments, Wertheim in contrast his historical past to that of Serena Williams, including: “The grievances recede with time, and the participant overwrites and overrides this with excellence.”
Not a mere mission, that excellence has develop into Djokovic’s defining high quality. –Tennis.com