SPORTS DJKO - last of the three kings
The ATP final, in Turin, Italy turned out to be a fine exhibition of tennis. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, two young joined Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals, indicating the next two big names of men’s tennis. Eight qualified into the final event -- Djokovic of Serbia, Sinner of Italy, Stefanos Tisitsipas of Greece, Alcaraz of Spin, Alexander Zverev of Germany, Medvedev and Andrey Rublev of Russia and Holger Rune of Denmark.
Djokovic survived one defeat in the hands of Sinner at the group stage but revenged his defeat in the final to take the 2023 ATP title. This year, is the first in which ATP completed the events without health scares and cancellations, it was a relief.
ATP design
The ATP ranking designed to enhance rivalry that promotes spectator enthusiasm to increase in global spectatorship. It happened. The current men’s tennis popularity largely is from Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic contributions. Tennis witnessed gripping golden moments in the past two decades and an half with them. ATP ranking propels interest.
Djokovic is the last of the three standing. Others in the ATP final in Turin did mention their discomfort with the surface on which final played. This happens to be Djokovic’s eighth year-end ATP title, shows he accommodated the court very well. A champion strait.
Djokovic’s career spans just over two decades, in this time he has faced challenges from four generations. Federer, Nadal and Djokovic encounters contributed a lot to tennis. In the current Top 30 ATP ranking, there is no other with Djokovic’s vintage. True, he loses more now at the age of 36, but won enough to be ranked number one in 2023.
Sports Intelligence
When Djokovic’s opponents outplay him in matches, to turn it around, he would outlast them. This is what Rod Laver implied when he said “the art to win on a bad day”. Laver was the last Grand Slam winner in 1969. The level ‘sports intelligence’ expressed by him will echo for a considerable time. To start with all Laver’s skill were adaptations to suit his physique, strokes and tactics, not coaching prescriptions. He used the angular-swing that is the norm now in 1960s.
In our teaching sport’s intelligence is not asserted. In other words, newcomers are mechanical and not tactical. Most in the third and fourth hundreds of the ATP and WTA have this issue and often fade away. Djokovic exhibits lateral thinking in tactics with full force. Right now, he competes against four generations of players.
DJKO’s future challenge
The last two big names to leave the ATP circuit did not get rewards to manage rest of the life. Normally these bits of information do not come out to the open. Federer is not doing well. Sampras before him did not get anything he dreamed of at retirement from his sponsors. [Federer story came out. He walked away from previous sponsors and went Far East]. From now on Djokovic will face this.
Tennis career can end abruptly often due to injury related issues. Official declaration of player wealth does not show that much to be good for life. As one of the European expert said, sports create media popularity that does not reflect in the bank balance. Yet, sport considered a mega-buck activity. OK, a player earns more than an office worker or first degree engineer.
Player development issues
Visiting Bombay good three decades ago, on a playground opposite the Bombay Gymkhana, I saw literally thousands of budding cricketers. They kept on coming the whole day. Size of the player base does not indicate the skill level but only the competitive intensity. India was well into making cricketers with academies even then. This trend also has come to tennis. Tennis, being an individual game, has not given India with an ATP player in the Top 10 since Prakash Amritaraj. I have seen and worked in Spanish and French academies, they were more successful. There they have add-ons, we do not have.
Looking back in Europe, players train for an event and not for general purpose. For this feedback from an event to the academy is necessary. In this manner, development will address on the specifics of a player to be better.
Even in a team sport, individuals are moulded using specifics. With clubs good as dead, this player development strait must find a place in our academies. Academies can easily go overboard with numbers for cash flow. They will have to find a balance in academy management.
This can be the missing link in our sport. Even in the recent Cricket World Cup, a team event in India, nations depended on individual to perform. Unless pointed this fact will go unnoticed.
--George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup coach, coached ATP, WTA and ITF ranked players in Europe and Asia; WhatsApp +94775448880