Novak Djokovic’s civil war to become the greatest in history

Daniel Medvedev saw a chance. He has already played in the Grand Slam final, in 2019 in New York against Rafael Nadal. Medvedev lost, but finished the game with a hopeful smile. Soon the trio will retire, he hissed to himself, the future is rosy. For the final in Australia against Djokovic, Medvedev came as an apparent favorite: he defeated Djokovic three times, including the last meeting between them.

Nola was also vulnerable with his mysterious injury and all the mental roller coaster he went through this year. Djokovic turned off the lights on Medvedev. He smoked it and after that threw the difference on the floor and trampled with the heel of the shoe. It was a tennis game between one with a tennis racket and one with a matka. Medvedev came out of this game severely depressed, humiliated. He’s not even close to being where he thinks he is. Sometimes you look at Djokovic and all you see is Pata Morgana.

What does Novak Djokovic want you to see when you look at him, two or three years before he is officially the greatest tennis player of all time? Light and shadow, that’s what he lets you see. It was a difficult year for the Serbian image: the silly corona tournament that infected Djokovic’s participants and family in the corona, the even more silly incident at the United States Championships, his stupid anti-vaccine statements. A difficult year for those who long for love, for recognition.

The total prizes in the Australian tournament have risen this year by almost seven million dollars, an increase of ten per cent, but the prizes for the winners and finalists have fallen by almost thirty per cent. The prizes for losers in the first two rounds rose by almost 17 percent.

To do such a prank, you have to be Robin Hood. Steal from the rich and distribute to the poor, but what kind of Robin Hood is this Djokovic who fights for the redistribution of prizes? Steals from himself and distributes to those who do not have them? What size of shirt does one wear who wears his heart on the sleeve?

What does Novak Djokovic want you to look at? Maybe about the fact that he’s going to break Federer’s record for the longest time as ranked No. 1? Maybe about the 18th Grand Slam, two behind Nadal and Federer? Maybe about the fact that this is his ninth win in nine finals in Australia? If Djokovic were a normal mortal, he might have asked you for those statistics. No, Djokovic will sit you on the toss and tell you: Look how I won this tournament. And he will pass the video fifty times back for you to look at, to see how he won every game in this tournament with no celestial tennis (except for the Serbian rehearsals), no batting highlights, no long points. He turned the Australian Championship into a day in the office.

But what Djokovic really did in this championship was a miracle. With his left foot he chased, and with his right foot he kicked his followers. In the forehand he said to the two big ones: I’m right at your station. In backhand he told young people knocking on their fences: Calm down, your time has not yet come. Perhaps this is what you see when you look at Novak Djokovic, the persecutor and persecutor.

What do Nadal and Federer see when they look at Djokovic? pot. This is what they see. Years of being busy with their wondrous tango. The bull with the lion’s heart, from Europe of the sun, with the male tennis, the warrior, the ego will bend you until you break, shatter on the surface on the biggest stage. And in front of him the dancer from the Alps, the painter who repainted the tennis courts, the architect who re-sharpened the angles of the court, the esthetician. Years they danced, step this and step here. Sorry Novak, but it’s not our problem that Andy Murray did not show up for the date you set. pot.

He looked with closed eyes on the right against the left, in science against art, creativity against pragmatism, talent from another world against competitiveness from another world. And they both love each other! And you can be happy when one wins and when the other wins be a little more or less happy, but not really sad. Who are you a fan of? The Maccabi or Hapoel. Djokovic smiled his bastard smile and dismantled the duo and each of them to pieces. What is Nadal’s strongest trait, mental and physical strength? Djokovic runs it. Nadal finished his games against the Serb as exhausted, shrunken and dehydrated. It’s like beating Larry David in mesanthropy.

Years that Novak tried to get in. The Serbian scoundrel. The man everyone loves to hate (in 2011 a Dutch journalist poisonously asked Djokovic at a press conference whether it was not easier to represent Switzerland than Serbia). There is only a bench for two and there are no places to stand. Predator of the peaks, they called it. Years he tried to get in between them. Get half a tango here, a third rumba there. The crowd’s hostility towards him in games against both was filthy. Then Djokovic did what people like him, his countryman, do to nouveau riches from Europe: if they do not accept them, they build the best dance club in their own world, and make others come to it. What does Djokovic see when he looks at Nadal and Federer? Future decor.

What do viewers see when they look at Djokovic, other than the obvious? When the normal spectator comes to see Djokovic he actually comes to see the opponent, or maybe the next game. A normal viewer did not come to see Djokovic. A normal viewer pays an exorbitant price, looks for an hour of parking, takes out a mortgage to buy drinks and strawberries with whipped cream. He came to escape for a while. From work, from routine, from husband or wife, from children, from stress. He came to run away, mostly from himself. Federer is pure escapism. For Federer, everything is equal.

Djokovic? Djokovic is hell. It is to pay all this price and all through the hardships, to see your life unfold before you in the state of accumulation of a game of tennis. He falls, it hurts, he is thirsty, he needs a break, he punches himself and shouts at himself that he punched him, then uses the self-punch to drive himself crazy. Who can see such a thing? Is that what I look like? What is my life? Where’s Roger or Raphael? Is there a refund? And you sit there magnetized, because there has never been such a show in sports, never have so many people paid so much money, to see a kind of prospect of themselves on the field. Wait, is this real what I see? Did he really get a nervous breakdown on the field? Anyone who came to see Djokovic knew exactly what he was getting at: a person with a disorder who plays genius tennis. “Sometimes my emotions are so strong that I run out of energy,” he once said, “and when I throw the ball up to refuse I feel dizzy and feel like I’m going to collapse.” Breakdown? Check. Panic attacks? Check. Whoever went to the Serbian games does not take a game plan with him, he needs the introduction to psychiatry.

What does history, members of the Tennis Hall of Fame, see when they look at Djokovic? They see the only player other than Rod Lieber holding all the Grand Slam titles at once. They see a player who in 2011 recorded one of the greatest seasons in the history of the industry, and four years later dwarfed that achievement. You can be sure he has at least one more year like this in his belt.

Federer Vandal realized very quickly what the secret to the victory over Djokovic was. That there is no secret. That the only player who can beat Djokovic, the only one who can settle in his head, is just himself. In every game against him, Federer, the virtuoso artist, did not understand what this set was. He came to play tennis and entered the set of a madhouse facing Randall McMarphy. All spectators were in favor of Federer, he submitted twice to win the tournament, and collapsed. You put on tennis shoes, put the drinks, towels and rackets in the bag, put on the jacket, wear the ribbon to your hair. You get ready for the sewing room and find that you have entered the laundry.

If Satan’s greatest trick was to convince the world that he does not exist, then what is God’s greatest trick? That made so many people believe in something they would never see, including the devil? What do you see when you look at Novak Djokovic? A popular man or a heavenly tennis player? Satan or God? What you see when you look at Novak Djokovic is exactly what you are not supposed to see.