NOVAK’S BACK!
Serb’s epic win against Nadal puts his problems behind him
NOVAK DJOKOVIC pointed to his feet when asked in what battered state he would take his aching body into this afternoon’s Wimbledon final on Centre Court. It was at least a change of anatomical direction, after questions associated with the other end of him — his head — dogged the Serb’s fall from the pinnacle of tennis power over the past 15 months. Well, his head, his heart — and his elbow.
So Djokovic was understandably emotional as he finally beat Rafa Nadal in a five-hour 15-minute semi-final that shone with both beauty and butchery. At times the ball was made to defy geometry.
It was sport of the highest echelon and a packed Centre Court crowd lapped up the privilege fortune had served them by this match slipping over from Friday night and its final two sets being scheduled for before the ladies’ final.
For Djokovic to have reached so deep and found so many answers out there was a remarkable recovery, as he won 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 10-8. If we think back to the end of May, beaten by world No 72 Marco Cecchinato in the French Open, we remember how Djokovic declared himself unsure whether he would play on grass at all this year. His elbow injury, which required surgery, still troubled him at Roland Garros while he had some treatment on his neck during the quarter-final defeat. He added that he ‘did not want to talk about tennis right now’.
Well, right last night he sure as hell did, with Kevin Anderson up today.
And Djokovic addressed, if only in the abstract, the rumours about his broader malaise, problems he has acknowledged were related to, ‘things that I was going through
privately’ and which the Serbian press, if they are to be believed, alleged were directly linked to his marriage.
‘It’s nothing physical,’ he once said during his early slump, proving the speculation was not entirely wrong. He then retired from Wimbledon last year and took a break, having surgery on his elbow. His semi-final appearance here was his first since the US Open in 2016.
The gossip mill went into overdrive. The Serbian scandal-sheets specifically claimed he was having a string of liaisons, while rumours of some sort of trouble at home swept the Tour.
Whatever the truth, Jelena, his high school sweetheart and wife of four years, is at Wimbledon supporting her man this year, having given birth to their second child, Tara, last September. Son Stefan turns four in October. ‘I was very emotional after the match,’ said Djokovic last night, ‘because it’s been a long 15 months for me trying to overcome different obstacles. So to be where I am is satisfying.
‘Yes, there were doubts, frustration, disappointment, where you’re questioning whether you want to keep going in this way or that way or where things are taking you. It’s life. We are humans. We go through that.
‘I managed to overcome the challenges to get myself to the final of a slam. Obviously, if you told me that six months ago, I would take it right away.
‘It’s hard for me to play tennis and not believe that I can be the best at what I do. I’ve been fortunate to achieve so much in my career that every time I go to a tournament, I have the highest of ambitions. After that loss in Roland Garros I said I didn’t know if I would be back. I took a few days
off and regrouped. I wanted to get back on the court and keep going. Obviously it was the right choice.’
Although Djokovic was majestic against Nadal, he was also prone to the odd tantrum. He hit himself five times on his heel with his own racket in anger when the Spaniard broke him for 5-3 in fourth set.
‘I’m not always calm on court, I assure you of that,’ he said with self-deprecation. ‘I had bursts of emotions even today and yesterday. When you’re playing such a high-level match against my biggest rival ever, it’s intense.
‘You can’t always be emotionless. Even though it seems like, Roger Federer, for example, is really a master at that, I’m sure he goes through his own emotions inside.’
The winner of this – a worthy final by repute if not by name – was always going to be favourite to beat Anderson, the big-serving 6ft 8in South African.
But part of the reason for that widely held belief was the level of Anderson’s exhaustion after his own semi-final win over John Isner — the longest ever at 6hrs 36min — on Friday.
But Djokovic can now hardly say he is fresher than his 32-year-old opponent after Nadal took him into the deciding set and left him with less than 24 hours to recover before his first final appearance at SW19 since he took his third title in 2015.
But he will lack no motivation. After all his tribulations, whatever their exact nature, Djokovic has special incentive to prove he is back and at his best.