IS DJOKOVIC READY FOR BATTLE?
SERBIAN LANGUISHES AFTER INJURIES, DROP IN FORM
It’s 2002, and a 31-year-old Pete Sampras is set to face 20-year-old Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals of the US Open — a match that was built up as a changing of guard in American tennis. The ageing star fades, a new one is born. That’s not quite how things turned out. “Pete Sampras carried the torch of American tennis with him to the Arthur Ashe Arena,” tennis scribe Ossian Shine wrote after Sampras’s 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win. “But instead of handing it over to Andy Roddick, he scorched the young pretender with it.”
A few years ago, tennis faced a similar churn at the top. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had dominated tennis for the best part of a decade, but suddenly Novak Djokovic peaked. He hit the ball as hard as the biggest power hitters, and he did this with metronomic consistency. He won three Grand Slams that year, and 11 of his 12 came between 2011 and 2016.
Federer looked done. Nadal was hurting. Djokovic, powered by his gluten-free diet, was the man. You’re carrying a torch? Here, check out my flame-thrower. And then it all went south. So far south that in 2018, he’d lost as many matches as he’d won (5-5) going into the Madrid Open. His career Win-loss record was at 788-168. He’s not made the quarter-finals of any of the six tournaments he’s played this year, and he lost three matches in a row for the first time since 2007. On Wednesday,helostin Round2ofmadrid Open to UK’S Kyle Edmund.
When Sampras was at his peak, we thought we’d never see another like him. Then Federer waltzed into the scene. Then Nadal hustled his way to the top. And just when you thought tennis had hit unsurmountable heights again, along came Djokovic, armed with a game built meticulously, piece by tiny piece, to dethrone the kings.
He could find angles like Federer and chase down lost causes like Nadal. His double-handed backhand was powerful enough to counter Nadal’s monster forehand, and for all of Federer’s natural grace, Djokovic had two tireless legs and a very large heart. His game started falling apart in the second half of 2016 and a series of injuries — most notably his elbow — ripped to shreds the fairytale he was scripting.
This year, Djokovic has lost to South Korea’s Hyeong Chung, Taro Daniel from Japan, Frenchman Benoit Paire, Australian Dominic Thiem and Slovakia’s Martin Klizan. Having dined at the high table, he really isn’t enjoying the scraps. “I feel I haven’t lived up to your expectations, not even my own,” he was quoted as saying after the loss to Klizan. “It’s hard to deal with these types of games and defeats. I will try to continue and see where it takes me.” This came weeks after his confession in Miami that he felt he had “run out of gas”.
Does he have another assault in him? All elite athletes have to, but Djokovic seemed to leave everything out there in his first battle for supremacy. Even if his body recovers, convincing his mind its worth another go might be his biggest challenge. The good news is that Federer has shown the way — by taking longer breaks, by giving his body the downtime. As with his minimalistic game itself, less is proving to be more for the Swiss.
It’ll be interesting to see if, going forward, the Serb can once again follow in Federer’s giant footsteps.