Novak Djokovic, MS Dhoni and the painful April of watching the unbreakable legends break

Novak Djokovic can be advised to follow MS Dhoni’s IPL season. If the Serb finds cricket boring, he can just watch his four-ball inning – calling it a painful-to-watch outing would be more apt – against Punjab Kings in CSK’s last game.

Dhoni, 43, has looked in shape, sufficiently beefed up. But he couldn’t middle many balls. When he did, he failed to clear the ropes, like he did once upon a time. CSK’s fortunes would get impacted. The IPL final is still about a month away but the multiple champions are out of contention. Dhoni failed when his team wanted him to succeed the most. And in his and CSK’s failure, is a lesson for Djokovic – Form wasn’t on tap, it doesn’t flow by just turning the knob.

Few days back, towards the end of last month, Djokovic, 37, had lost to World No.44 Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets. It was a meek surrender. Acknowledging his fall but not sure if it was time to call it quits, Djokovic spoke about a “new reality”. He confessed how his goal these days was to win a few rounds and not the tournament.

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But like all sporting greats, in the business of performing miracles all their lives, he wasn’t writing himself off at Grand Slams. “Obviously Grand Slams are the most important tournaments for me. Which doesn’t mean that I don’t want to win here, of course I wanted to, but Grand Slams are where I really want to play the best tennis,” he said. That was the catch. Djokovic believed that “best tennis” was on tap and he was capable of turning the knob four times a year.

An honest assessment from Djokovic after his loss to Arnaldi earlier 🎙️#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/2TObDyqXtl — Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 26, 2025

Watching Dhoni might make the tennis legend wiser about his future. Dhoni’s April was far worse than Djokovic. Very early this season, the IPL trophy was nowhere near his sight and winning a few games was his team’s realistic goal. Personally, playing a winning hand seemed beyond him. These days, he had modest targets – it was about getting a clean connection between bat and ball.

Dhoni had been living the ‘new reality’ that Djokovic spoke about for the entire 2024 season. 2025 was about him waking up to an ‘age-old reality’. A shadow of his old self, he was a walking warning to the pros dragging their feet even after father time had blown the final whistle.

Back in the day, Dhoni always rose to the occasion. Now that was not the case. For CSK and Dhoni, that game against Punjab Kings was crucial. It was now-or-never – win or forget playoffs moment. Chepauk was packed. It was an arena that has witnessed many magical Dhoni knocks. The venue, the fans, the cause – this was the famous Thala hour. It took four-balls to realise, this used to be the Thala hour.

A shadow of his old self, Dhoni was a walking warning to the pros dragging their feet even after father time had blown the final whistle. (BCCI) A shadow of his old self, Dhoni was a walking warning to the pros dragging their feet even after father time had blown the final whistle. (BCCI)

CSK were about 170 in the 18th over when Dhoni walked in. They needed to cross 200 to make it a game. The first ball from the tall South African pacer Marco Jansen was short, aimed at his head. Back in the day, Dhoni would have swatted it over square leg. He swung the bat, it caught the top edge and flew for four. Chepauk erupted. The next ball too was short but he couldn’t clear the boundary. At least it went where he intended.

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Next up was Yuzvendra Chahal. Dhoni knows him inside out. The leggie used to be his pupil, rather a puppet, when he was the India captain. From behind the stumps, he would tutor Chahal all the time. Chahal pitched his first ball on his stumps. Dhoni lofted it for a straight six. How times change. Now, it was Chahal who was reading his master’s mind. Aware that Dhoni had got slower and lost touch, Chahal tossed the next ball outside off. Dhoni failed to reach or make a solid connect. He was caught on the fence. The touch had vanished, and so had the halo.

In a season where he has scored 151 in 10 outings, this has happened often. Dhoni is losing his aura, an important weapon that helped during those tight last-over situations. There was a time when Dhoni would leave it for late and pull off impossible wins – that was his way of leaving his signature on a winning game. This IPL too he tried the Houdini but his team sunk. He no longer could unshackle the chains in time.

Djokovic too is a master of tight matches. He has perfected the art of winning tie-breakers – where the situation isn’t too different from cricket’s final overs. There have been times when Djokovic would be down 0-2 but he would still wear that nonplussed Dhoni expression. Such was his winning percentage in 3rd, 4th and 5th sets, that he, his rivals and the world knew who was the favourite when the game went to the wire.

Il punto con cui Botic van de Zandschulp ha sconfitto Novak Djokovic a Indian Wells! 🇳🇱pic.twitter.com/M0AYKFkCW7 — Quindici Zero 🎾 (@quindicizero) March 9, 2025

This April, the month when the mighty fell, Djokovic too wasn’t his old self. He lost three matches in a row, something he hadn’t done for ages on the tour. His last loss was to Dutch lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells. The game went to the deciding third set but he couldn’t beat the World No. 85. That day he committed 37 unforced errors – if cricket kept that statistical count Dhoni’s numbers would be similar. After the game, Djokovic confessed “it was a struggle”.

It is these struggles that make fans, accustomed to dispensing superlatives from their couches, wince. They feel betrayed by the slowing reflexes of the aging of Supermen. Sport has always been about those obsessed with the singular Peter Pan story. Nobody stops ageing – neither stars, nor fans. But spectators would always want their heroes to be super-fit and super-successful.

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Watching Dhoni, Djokovic will get to know that the ‘new reality’ of downsizing ambitions comes with risks of shrinking your stature, denting your reputation and adding an anti-climatic postscript to your legacy. Form or best tennis aren’t on tap, they need to perennially flow. Only when ‘giving your best’ becomes a habit, it will organically flow into your veins at the opportune time. Dhoni couldn’t do that, wait for Paris to find if Djokovic can.

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