Novak Djokovic will never be the most popular tennis player in the world. That is not what the 35-year-old Serb is about. He wants to be the very best ever. The most successful. The tennis player who was the number one in the world for the longest time. The tennis player with the most top prizes. The tennis player with the most prize money. In other words: The Goat, The Greatest of All Time. “I dreamed of playing Wimbledon when I was five when I saw Pete Sampras. And now I’m here for the seventh time with the cup in my hands,” Djokovic said to Nick Kyrgios after winning the final. And in doing so, he equaled his great example from the United States.
Djokovic is now almost the very best ever. But not quite yet. With his seventh Wimbledon title – his 21st overall victory at a Grand Slam tournament – he is well on his way to his ultimate goal. Djokovic has now passed Roger Federer (twenty titles) five years his senior and is still one behind 36-year-old Rafael Nadal. Djokovic will not rest until he has the most important records in his hands. In that hunt, however, he encounters more opposition than professional tennis players from a new generation such as Kyrgios, Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner and Tim van Rijthoven. His toughest opponent of 2022: corona. The virus already kept Djokovic from the Australian Open and will probably also stand in the way of a success at the US Open.
Loan after loan
It’s a bit like Djokovic’s life story. The opposition often comes from unexpected quarters. But that seems to make him stronger. This was already the case in his early childhood in Belgrade where he had to go into air raid shelters for the NATO bombing. Had to queue for food. And in between, inspired by Sampras, played tennis at the bottom of a deflated swimming pool. He learned to fight there.
Djokovic never gave up. Successfully. As a teenager, he was offered a place in 1999 at the Tennis Academy of the Croatian Nikola Pilic in Munich, Germany. Far away from his father Srdjan and his mother Dijana, but with their support. moral. But above all from a financial point of view. The restaurateurs from Serbia took loan after loan for their son’s career. This is how Djokovic learned that there was no going back.
The success story started for Djokovic in 2006 at the Dutch Open in Amersfoort. On the clay courts of Sportpark de Bokkeduinen, he not only achieved his first tournament win at ATP level, but also started working with his coach Marian Vajda. And it was the first time that his then-girlfriend Jelena Ristic traveled with him. They would both become a great support for Djokovic. Are emotional anchors inside and outside the track. He didn’t say goodbye to Vajda until April of this year. His wife was a few seats ahead of his current coach Goran Ivanisevic at the Wimbledon final as his biggest fan in the player box.
Djokovic manifested himself at the beginning of his career in a way that attracted quite a bit of criticism. Within the professional circuit, his funny imitations of other tennis players were looked at with strange eyes. It earned him the nickname joker on. Colleagues were even more annoyed by his haughty gestures, the long bouncing for a serve and the feigning of injuries. Djokovic’s parents also did not contribute to a better image at the time by sitting in the stands with shirts with texts such as The New King is Bornwhile Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal shared the prizes together.
Farewell to father
Djokovic realized that he had to do some things differently to really fight Federer and Nadal. In doing so, he took a few important steps. Djokovic made it clear to his father that his presence along the track was not always desired, although he embraced his parents in the stands on Sunday after the final. And he overcame some physical problems. Djokovic took contact lenses to improve his vision, had surgery on his nose and started a gluten-free diet. Djokovic grew with his ‘elastic legs’ into the physically strongest tennis player on the circuit.
Djokovic not only managed to get involved in the battle between Federer and Nadal, but slowly but surely surpassed them. And in 2021, after winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon, he looked like he was on his way to a Grand Slam – winning the four major tournaments in one calendar year, which only Rod Laver managed in 1969 in the men’s pro era. However, Djokovic lost in the final of the US Open against the Russian Daniil Medvedev. The ultimate seizure of power failed to materialize. A mental blow.
Djokovic was dealt an even harder blow when he was banned from the Australian Open at the beginning of this year after refusing to be vaccinated against the corona virus. In his favorite grand slam tournament, which Djokovic has won nine times, he had wanted to pass Federer and Nadal. Things went differently. Nadal astounded and triumphed in Melbourne, and later in Paris. The Spaniard once again put Djokovic in his shadow.
But not for long. Everything fell in Djokovic’s way at Wimbledon. Federer had to cancel injured, Medvedev was refused entry to Wimbledon as a Russian and Nadal had to withdraw for the semi-finals against Kyrgios with a stomach injury. Djokovic proved at Wimbledon that he was by far the most consistent tennis player. Perhaps with a lesser serve than Kyrgios, with slightly less fighting spirit than Nadal and with less crowd support than Norrie, but all in all, Djokovic was the most complete player.
Standing ovation
The final against Australian Nick Kyrgios was illustrative of Djokovic’s tournament. Or maybe for his entire career. After a wavering start and the loss of the first set, Djokovic stood up, as so often. The Serb stepped up in all respects from behind in all respects. Both physically and mentally, Djokovic proved stronger than it in four sets enfant terrible Kyrgios: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6. He received a standing ovation from the crowd on center court, where Djokovic has never lost a match since 2013. The applause was out of respect rather than love. nole couldn’t stand it. He hadn’t been looking for the popularity prize of in London any more than Kyrgios had The All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.