Djokovic is a big noise once again
THE rage was back and so, too, is Novak Djokovic. He really is making quite a racket at these Championships when he isn’t throwing them.
His tantrums here were rather spectacular, as well as frequent — the chair umpire drawing most of his artillery yesterday and Kei Nishikori getting taken out in the crossfire, such was the rise Djokovic stirred in himself to win a wonderful match.
Had he not found that extra level in the midst of one of his outbursts, he might well have gone the way of Roger Federer, because Nishikori really was good enough to do it.
But instead Djokovic ranted and raved and, propelled by his anger, reached the semi-final of a Slam for the first time in almost two years. That is stunning. Stunning to think it is more than two years since he won his 12th Slam, stunning to think that run could well end this fortnight, given how far under the radar he has travelled.
Indeed, if it wasn’t for the fact he beat Kyle Edmund in the third round, pushed on again by a loss of temper, he would have had next to no attention at all.
But here he is, jarringly ranked as the world No 21 after his elbow issues and finally looking like a world beater again in between his explosions.
And how dramatic those explosions were. The first came when he bounced his racket on the turf after blowing a 0-40 lead at 1-1 in the second set. He got a code violation for that, sparking a rant at umpire Carlos Ramos.
The red mist thickened when Nishikori avoided a sanction for the same offence at 1-1 in the fourth, with Djokovic yelling ‘double standards’ at Ramos, before then receiving a time violation for dawdling between serves as he stood on the brink of victory.
There was also all manner of shouts to his team and pumping fists.
Djokovic said: ‘Sometimes it fires you up, so sometimes that’s what you need, I guess, to be more alert on the court.’
The racket bounce violation really got his back up. ‘It doesn’t make any sense right now,’ he said. ‘I mean, I just asked the chair umpire “How did I deserve that warning?” I just asked him whether he thought honestly that I damaged the court with the racket I threw. I literally just touched the grass. He said that he thinks it damaged the court.
‘Nishikori did the same in the fourth set and he didn’t get a warning. I think that’s not fair.
‘He claims that he didn’t see what Nishikori has done, but apparently he always sees what I do.’
As a grumble, it was pretty impressive but it wasn’t a patch on his performance. He took a highlevel first set before Nishikori claimed the second after Djokovic squandered three break points at 1-1. He was broken in the next game and never got back in.
But Djokovic cranked up the pressure with two breaks in the third set and fought back after being broken in the first game of the fourth.
Nishikori was excellent, Djokovic was better. Good enough to take the title? It looks that way.
‘If I compare the level of tennis that I’ve had over the years and today, I think it’s pretty close,’ he said. Worth shouting about.