The old mountain wolf has come full circle. The only thing missing for Novak Djokovic, 37, was the Olympic laurel, in a career with extraordinary figures: 24 Grand Slam titles, 40 Masters thousand (each tournament won at least twice), eight years closed in first place. In each entry into tennis, he has something more than his eternal rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. This was the mission already accomplished, now completed and definitively sealed on Sunday, August 4.
An old saying goes that victories are not counted, but weighed. Beating an indomitable Carlos Alcaraz, 16 years his junior, in August in Paris, on the court that made the Serbian Philippe Chatrier suffer and cry the most, well, it was (perhaps) the last great pearl of a career. On the podium of the most prestigious victories, with the interminable battle against Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open or, it will sayduring the legendary epilogue of Wimbledon 2019 against Federer. Three matches that tell better than many words the indomitable character of the Balkan team.
Around his neck, for his beloved Serbian land, he wears this coveted gold medal. Declared goal of the year and internal torment for a decade. Federer had tasted the precious metal in doubles, Nadal imposed himself in both disciplines in two different editions. Many pointed it out to him and he outlined: he would have loved to offer another joy to the plavi after the 2010 Davis Cup.
There is little to say. Djoker is undoubtedly the strongest and most successful tennis player in history. Any number is on his side. And he deserves to be among the greatest athletes in the history of the sport, alongside Michael Jordan, Mohammad Ali, Carl Lewis, Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Eddy Merckx and a few others. Nole may not have attracted millions of fans to buy a racket and try themselves on the courts as Federer did with his irreplaceable class, but he has projected his sport into another dimension, thanks to his mental and physical approach.
From the strict diet, now essential for any professional of any discipline, which at some point became too “Taliban” and therefore revised, to the need to constantly improve every part of the technique. A tennis student who is always eager to learn and cultivate every aspect with obsessive care. Djokovic improved further when he reached his thirties, adding details to his net game and a mean serve, always under control. While several colleagues struggled athletically, he became even stronger. He applied Kobe Bryant’s “mamba mentality” with the same ardor.
He who comes from a country, the former Yugoslavia, where, in sport, yes “he died beautifully.” There was almost pride in playing well and losing, a lifestyle of the Balkan game, once very much inclined to entertain, to enchant and then to let slip the most coveted trophies. Djokovic was the sworn enemy, the redemption of an entire people: not the most beautiful to look at, but absolutely the most efficient and the most successful.
The “wall” he brought down in the Balkans has been underestimated in the media. Nole publicly declaring his football support for Croatia on the eve of the 2018 World Cup final is worth years of reconciliation policies between the two peoples. An “approval” that made many compatriots turn up their noses, but which helps to calm the atmosphere. Nole naturally choosing Goran Ivanisevic as his coach is another historic decision. The greatest Serbian tennis player trained by the greatest Croatian tennis player. Movie stuff. However, like almost all Serbs, he is not willing to back down on a hot front: Kosovo is the heart of Serbia.
The media have unfortunately exaggerated the “extravagances” beyond measure: broken rackets (even amateurs destroy them), quarrels with the public (sought to find a new competitive life), the famous controversy over Covid (the result of the “holistic” experiments undertaken with his wife Jelena). A way of smoothing the hair of the passionate (or presumed to be) tennis public, divided between fans of Federer and Nadal.
He, the third wheel, the underdog, the “bad guy”, who arrived with his contemporary Andy Murray, when the fans were already lining up behind the two main teams, invested in himself, fully convinced that one day he would win even more than them and he would have beaten them even on their respective favorite fields.
The Serbian wolf fits well among the greats of the sport for the way he has achieved many of his triumphs. Coming back, in difficult situations, with opponents who have played even better, with the crowd against them. A champion who knows how to reverse fate when it seems unfavourable to him. Almost like a Marvel superhero, who always finds new stimuli. After ousting Federer and Nadal from the throne, he does not hesitate to fight Alcaraz and Sinner, aware that the fight against time cannot be won, but only postponed a little longer. But from now on, he will do it for the pure pleasure of the game, because the long pursuit towards great goals is over. And if I think of the Olympic motto – “citius, altius, fortius”, faster, higher, stronger – the DJer cannot help but come to mind.
