How mountain climb helped Djokovic reach his peak again
● Serb points to trek with wife in France as he wins US Open final and slam No 14
And so the door slams shut. Just when the young bucks of the men’s tour thought their time had come, Novak Djokovic reinvents himself and wins his third US Open trophy and his 14th grand slam title in all.
Just when it looked as if the new generation were circling the wagons, readying themselves to make a mark, they had been put in their place by the 31-year-old Serb, assisted and supported by his 29-yearold Argentine rival.
Inthreehoursand16minutes of bludgeoning tennis on Sunday night, Djokovic eventually got the better of Juan Martin del Potro, his pal and the crowd’s favourite, to win 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in the New York final. That win put him level with Pete Sampras’s tally of majors and etched him into another chapter of tennis history.
For a set and a few games, Djokovic was the master; for most of the second set, Del Potro was muscling his way into contention. And then Djokovic refused to be beaten in the third set. That was the Djokovic of old. That was the man we had not seen in a couple of years.
Back in 2016, when Djokovic beat Andy Murray to win the French Open title, he was the master of all he surveyed. By winning in Roland Garros, he held all four grand slam trophies. He was the undisputed world No 1 and no one knew who could stop him.
But he stopped himself – he had achieved everything he had ever dreamt of and now he was spent. Sure, he reached the US Open final that summer, but as he stumbled to a fourth set with Stan Wawrinka, he wondered why he had to do this. Did he really have to play another set? This was a different Djokovic.
As he told a reporter earlier this summer: “I lost my mojo.” The well was dry. The fierce, fearsome, indomitable Djokovic was done.
An elbow injury last year was the saving of him. Six months off, six months at home to spend with his young family and six months to think – that was the start of the Djokovic comeback. When he finally succumbed to elbow surgery earlier this year, he knew he was physically ready to get back to the top. But when he beat Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of Wimbledon, he knew he was mentally ready to become the champion of old.
He had lost in the quarterfinals of the French Open a little over four weeks before and he was furious. He took time off to go hiking with his wife in the mountains of France. Climbing for three hours to the top of Montagne Saintevictoire, he took stock.
“I went hiking with my wife for five days in the French mountains,” he said. “We just isolated ourselves and took things from a different perspective. Ever since then, the
0 Novak Djokovic gives the thumbs up after his 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 victory against Juan Martin del Potro.
tennis is completely different for me. In terms of results, I played finals of Queen’s, won Wimbledon, won Cincinnati, and won US Open.
“I remember one moment particularly when we climbed that mountain. We sat down and we just looked at the world from that perspective, just kind of breathed in the new inspiration, new motivation.
“I thought of tennis, thought of the emotion that tennis provokes in me. It was all positives.
I just felt like I had a new breath for this sport. The rest is history in terms of results, in terms of how I felt. I just felt like a whole wave of energy that I was kind of thriving on from that moment onwards.”
And in that moment Djokovic’s life changed. He was ready to win again – and he proved it on Sunday night. Two months; two grand slam titles won. Djokovic was back to his best.
With Andy Murray working his way back from hip surgery,
Roger Federer shaking off a heat-affected result in New York, Del Potro proving that he is back to his best and Nadal assuring all that his knee issue is just a problem that he has dealt with many times in the past, the young lads have a huge task ahead of them.
But if they can find a way past those four champions, they will then have to find a way to beat Djokovic. And on Sunday night, he slammed the door tight shut in their faces. Novak Djokovic’s US Open title win over Juan Martin Del Potro moved him joint third with Pete Sampras in the all-time list of men’s tennis grand slam champions.
Djokovic is one of only seven players in the sport’s history to achieve double figures in terms of grand slam titles, yet remarkably one of three who continue to play today. The imperious Swiss star won the first of his 20-and-counting grand slam titles at Wimbledon in 2003. He has since won seven more at SW19, as well as six Australian Opens, five US Opens, and one French Open.
Nadal, pictured, stands apart at Roland Garros with an incredible 11 French Open titles.
But it is arguably his sensational 2008 Wimbledon final win over Federer which stands out as his most memorable triumph.
‘Pistol’ Pete was the king of Wimbledon with seven titles between 1993 and 2000. He also added five US and two Australian Open titles, plus a solitary French Open crown in 1996.
Djokovic, who numbers six Australian Open titles among his haul, completed his career grand slam by winning the French Open in 2016, a win which also saw him hold all four grand slam titles at the same time.
The Australian won his home tournament six times between 1961 and 1967, and each of the other grand slams twice each. He is the only man to achieve the career grand slam in both singles and doubles..
Laver’s 11 titles spanned the amateur and Open eras, and he remains the only man to twice complete the calendar grand slam, in 1962 and 1969.
The dashing Swede, pictured below, is best remembered for his five Wimbledon titles. But he was even more adept on the clay of Roland Garros, where he won the French Open six times..