Would it be imaginable to whistle at Rafael Nadal in his kingdom at Roland Garros or at Roger Federer in the sanctuary of Wimbledon? Unlikely, very unlikely, hence the impact of what happened in Melbourne, where when Novak Djokovic left the court he was accompanied by boos; not generalized, but audible and choral enough to prevail over the applause.
The Serbian, who will turn 38 in May, has triumphed 10 times in Australia – an absolute record among men, four ahead of Roy Emerson and Roger Federer – and is the most successful male tennis player of all time, with almost all the records. there have been and to be had in your resume. However, this time he cannot continue on the track because three days before he suffered a muscle tear, competing against Carlos Alcaraz, and the pain is now unbearable. On other occasions he beat him, but against Alexander Zverev he gave up. 1h 21m have passed and he has lost the first set in the tiebreaker (7-6(5). At that moment, the whole world wonders how on earth the stands can whistle at the wonder who made this court his Eden and who beat Rafael Nadal in the longest final of all time, in 2012 and after 5h 53m. Logically, it hurts a lot. Even more than his thigh.
Djokovic speaks biting his tongue because, otherwise, everything could be worse. Much worse. “People came here, paid the tickets and expected a fight, but they didn’t get one. From that perspective, I understand it. I try to at least understand them, I don’t know if they understand me or want to understand me. I know how I feel, how much I have given to this tournament over the last 20 years. So I’m going to stop now so as not to continue in the wrong direction…”, he concedes in his meeting with Serbian reporters, after an embarrassing scene that has led his rival and friend, Zverev, to ask for mercy from Rod fans. Laver Arena: “Please, do not boo a player when he is injured. I know you paid your tickets and wanted to see a great five-set match… but Novak has given his life for this sport. If you can’t continue playing, you can’t. Please be respectful and show some love for Novak.”
The Serbian’s relationship with the tournament on which he has mostly built his unparalleled empire is strange, to say the least. He gave everything, he has given everything. Will everything be given? Who knows. “I don’t know, it’s a possibility,” he answers in the conference room. I’ll have to see how the season goes, but I want to keep going. I like coming here, the place where I have had the most success [10 títulos]”So, if I’m fit and I’m still motivated, I don’t see the reason why I’m not going to come,” he extends, knowing that a few days ago John McEnroe left a trace of skepticism in the air about his injury and that the message has ended up catching on with Australian fans. So he shoots: “I haven’t read what he said in detail, but what I can say is that it is always easier to judge and criticize than to understand. That’s my life lesson.”
Feeling like the ‘ugly duckling’
The fact is that since the police detained him at customs three years ago, later detained him in an isolation center and the judge finally ordered his deportation from the country, as a result of the episode of non-vaccination against covid, something broke. . He felt deceived and attacked. “They made me the number one villain in the world,” he explained in an interview with the magazine GQpublished just before the tournament. Djokovic argued that during those days of control and confinement he came to feel “like a fugitive,” and that this entire serial was due to a “political” maneuver to neutralize the “hero” for being a “public threat.” Australia pardoned him and he was able to return in 2023, when he triumphed for the tenth time, in the same way that the athlete said he forgave; However, since then a trace of resentment seems to have remained.
It is, in reality, the never-ending story. It happened to him at Wimbledon, where it was of little use to him to chew the grass on the court and win seven titles because the stands showed their undisguised predilection for the aristocratic Roger Federer, and now he turns his face and expresses disaffection in Australia, the first big stage he set foot on. . It was in 2005 and I was 18 years old. The Russian Marat Safin was opposite. He was a hooligan and very talented competitor who lost that day, but then some already predicted a splendid future for him. It was said that he would return and do something great. And so he did, but now, as the only giant standing, he receives a dart in the chest. Whistle Melbourne. He, misunderstood, the guerrilla who came from Belgrade and who is haunted by that history of suspicions from the past. Injury or not? Are you pretending or not pretending? Strategy? Very difficult to accept, to understand, he says. And theorize.
Once again, he expanded after defeating Alcaraz with the Serbian journalists, a safe haven. “Many people have doubted me my entire life. People constantly try to undermine my achievements, but that’s part of being a successful athlete. In my case even more so, due to where I come from and a million different things and reasons. It is not something that discourages me, on the contrary, it motivates me to prove to others and to myself that I can still win on the biggest stages. Today I have proven it again,” he conceded in a statement published by the portal Tennis Majors. Djokovic feels a kind of endless persecution, another disagreement and points to the construction of the story: while Nadal and Federer were always presented as the ideal link, he has had to fight against the stigma of being the ugly duckling of the trident, he says.
And from a distance, Boris Becker, who was his coach, speaks out: “Now the question is: ‘What are you doing?? Where does the path go? I hope he keeps going, but these are difficult times for Novak Djokovic.”
