History-maker Djokovic aiming for the stars now

Men’s tennis in 2024 has seen a curious dichotomy exist in close proximity. On one side is the irresistible rise of the younger brigade, with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz sweeping all three Majors held so far. On the other is the timeless brilliance of Novak Djokovic, who at 37 — nearly a decade-and-a-half older than Sinner and Alcaraz — won the elusive Olympic singles gold in Paris to add the one big title that was missing from his glittering cabinet.

Of course, there have been overlaps threatening to blur the reality. Djokovic lost to Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal and then to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final to give rise to a narrative that the Serb’s time as this era’s pre-eminent tennis player was well and truly over. But his victory over Alcaraz in the Olympic final, where with a surgically repaired knee he played his best match of the year, resurrected his season and showed that there was no softening of his steely resolve to win.

When the season’s last Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, gets underway on Monday, it will be another opportunity for the fans to experience this delicate tension between the two seemingly disparate twains and the never-ending tangle between the past and the present. Sinner is World No. 1 and Alcaraz No. 3; Djokovic is No. 2 and the defending champion at Flushing Meadows.

Ready to swing

It helps that Djokovic has trudged into New York in better shape than he has in recent months, a world so far away from his travails for a good part of the season. Prior to the Olympics, he lost to rank outsiders, skipped tournaments he otherwise wouldn’t, parted ways with his coach of six years Goran Ivanisevic — who helped him win 12 Majors— and tore a meniscus in his knee. The defeat to Alcaraz at Wimbledon appeared the last straw; it was his fourth straight against a top-10 player and he hadn’t won a title since beating Sinner at the ATP Tour Finals last November.

Paris, however, changed everything. The victory was unexpected — such is the level to which Alcaraz has grown — and one of the most impressive of Djokovic’s career.

The Serb’s tennis has long been about playing the percentages and managing risk. But with the physical advantage that once separated him from the rest of the field dwindling, Djokovic presumably understood that points needed to be shorter, his technique more refined and shot-making crisp.

This facet was evident in the two tie-breaks he won against Alcaraz; at 3-3 in the first, he attacked a second serve with monstrous intent, and in the second, he produced two breathtakingly good on-the-run forehand crosscourt winners that even a phenom like Alcaraz, who leaves no inch uncovered, could only track but not reach.

With the Olympic singles gold also in the bag, what can Djokovic possibly play for? In a career as storied as his, goal-setting can often seem meaningless. He has a men’s record 24 Grand Slam titles, has won at least thrice each of the four Majors, the nine ATP Masters 1000 events as well as the season-ending ATP Tour Finals, and spent a record 428 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings.

But constantly recalibrating approaches and reassessing targets have been the hallmarks of Djokovic’s career. He turned up to play at Wimbledon 2024 less than three weeks after an operation to fix his knee. At the Olympics, he played through pain, even needing painkillers in the quarterfinal win over Stefanos Tsitsipas. To be sure, he did have a medal from Beijing 2008, a bronze, something most athletes will be satisfied with. Djokovic, though, was not one to settle for anything less than the shiny yellow metal. “That’s probably one of the biggest internal battles that I keep fighting with myself,” Djokovic told NBC after the Paris success. “That I don’t feel like I’ve done enough… on the court and off the court. [So] I’m super grateful for the blessing to win a historic gold medal for my country, to complete the Golden Slam, to complete all the records.”

Double-edged sword

Such closures can have two kinds of effects on players. They can either lead to a loss of motivation or relieve them of the burden of expectations and allow them to play freely. Djokovic, in the past, has experienced the former. He won the French Open in 2016 to complete a career Slam and also become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Majors simultaneously. Over the next two years, until Wimbledon 2018, he didn’t win a Slam, appearing enfeebled and withdrawn.

Djokovic’s aim over the coming fortnight will be to guard against such a downturn. For one, this is the first time since 2010 that he is at the US Open without winning any of the previous three Slams, and he wouldn’t want to end the season without securing even one. But more importantly, he has something momentous to aim at — the chance to break Margaret Court’s all-time record tally of 24 Majors. As the lone representative of the famed Big Three, he can also ensure that 2024 becomes the 24th straight year to have at least one Slam winner from among Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and himself.

“It’s no secret that one of the main reasons I play and compete in professional tennis is to try and break more records and make more history,” Djokovic once said. “That’s extremely inspiring for me. History being on the line is something that is very motivating.”

Bittersweet moments

However, it remains to be seen if the US Open will be amenable to hosting such grand parties. The past tells us that the record is mixed, and Djokovic himself has tasted bittersweet moments. He did equal his childhood idol Pete Sampras’ tally of 14 Slams at Flushing Meadows in 2018, but when presented with a chance in 2021 to complete the Grand Slam — the monumental task of winning all Majors in the same year — he cracked under pressure against Daniil Medvedev in the final. It is also the site where he has lost six finals, the most in his career at a Slam.

Also, no man has defended the singles title in New York since Federer managed the feat in 2008. Over the past two decades, the Big Three have literally cartelised tennis, but the US Open has remained a glorious outlier. It has seen five different winners in the past five editions and even acted like a nursery — as many as seven men have won their maiden Grand Slam titles here from 2003. But Djokovic is someone who is ruthlessly interested in fame and honour, and if there is a player one can bet on to hurtle towards success — or even limp like he did in the last two months — it’s him.

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