An Australian Open and the intense drama

The first big major event of the New Year, the Australian Open had everything for every tennis enthusiast. Top quality tennis for sure and enough drama and perhaps a touch of melodrama as well. For those who had pinned on a new generation player to come to the fore, then Jannik Sinner provided that in plenty with his master class display in defending the title the Italian had won last year for his third Grand Slam overall. For those who wondered what ambition, grit and talent put together can do, then Madison Keys provided that in style to the delight of the sport’s lovers. Soon to turn 30, Keys, playing in only her second major final and that too after more than a seven-year gap, grabbed a Grand Slam title for the first time. There was Serena Williams once and now we have another American again, to proudly take the legacy forward.

That is not all. Perhaps the Australian Open this time also brought into focus the state of perhaps the last representative of the old era, none other than Novak Djokovic. The 37-year old Serb certainly set the Melbourne event buzzing with his court display and off it too if one can say that!  Even as the Australian Open was to start he had the media in a frenzy with his supposed remark in an interview given some time back to a magazine that he had been given poisoned food while in detention during the 2022 Australian Open. At that year’s event, with Australia’s strict Covid-19 rules and his unvaccinated status meant Djokovic had to share space with asylum seekers in a Melbourne hotel. The incident happened then but the drama in a way unfolded now and the world’s top player had straightaway come into the news for all the wrong things.

Far from his fighting best, thanks to constant fitness issues, the Serb became the target of the Australian spectators. Djokovic is a kind whom tennis followers would perhaps love to hate! And he provides enough reasons. But on the court, his campaign for the goal of a 25th Grand Slam title, something that would help him rise to a peak no other Tennis player (man or women) had reached, began on a sedate but positive note. The American of Indian origin Nishesh Basavareddy had the privilege of playing a famed opponent in the first round and it must be said the plucky 19-year-old enjoyed every bit facing his idol. Why, he even grabbed the opening set from his famed rival to earn rich approbation from the hugely involved Melbourne crowd. For Djokovic it was a tidy warming up session overall, nothing to indicate how things would go awry much later.

Ever since he came on level with the other two greats of his time _Roger  Federer and Rafael Nadal_ to form the illustrious triumvirate, his physical parameters had often begun to let him down. It started way back in 2006 French Open when he had to retire against Nadal and the same repeated a year later in the Wimbledon semifinal. The trend seemed to continue but self-belief in the great man never let him down. The greatness about him has been his ability to overcome the shortcomings to build his own empire. And so, when the serious look on his face was punctuated at times with a grimace during his high intense quarterfinal against the sprightly opponent Carlos Alcaraz, doubts had arisen if his body had begun to fail him again.

The Spanish star himself seemed to get the hint that things were not as it should be for Djokovic. When the Serb lost the first set, Alcaraz must have felt that this could be an easy way to avenge his loss in the gold-medal loss in the Paris Olympics. But despite the long medical time out and heavily bandaged thighs, Djokovic rose like a phoenix to sweep away his young rival. “Was he not injured?” wondered the many watching the contest and certainly Alcaraz who had till then thought of a different end script to the match. But the intensity had taken its toll on Djokovic’s body and the semi-final brought this out painfully.

The man searching for this only goal now of his enviable career achievements, that one single Grand Slam title just had no answer to his body demands and after losing the first set to the German Alexander Zverev, shook his head and gave up. No more, he decided after a left leg muscle tear worsened his pain. The packed audience rose not to moan but to begin booing. Some great performers at times have this kind of relationship with the paying public. Djokovic walked away. No emotions shone but by now what seemed just a routine exercise. So went away his dream of annexing his 11th championship at the Australian Open.

A dream may have died, momentarily for the great man is not contemplating to give up, as yet. Passage of time has done what is inevitable even to the man who has always known to be a master at such endurance tests as playing in the majors. Djokovic has shown his capability several times but that too has to fade at some point of time. Age is a factor. At his age his peers earlier like Federer and Nadal had stopped functioning at their best. Both of them won their last Grand Slams at 36. Can the Serb come out with a different response even if statistics, as he himself put it, seem against him. The future does not look bright but one can never say when it is Novak Djokovic! For all that he has contributed to enrich the sport, time should stand by if anything to help him realise his last dream, so to say!