Dubai: The look on his face with two match points down to Roger Federer in the semi-final at Flushing Meadows said it all.
First there was a hint of resignation — what is fated must come to pass. The inevitable you cannot change. If defeat has to come, let it be quick, but it would not be painless. Novak Djokovic absorbed that reality. It seemed for that one passing second, he knew it was all going to end there. He would not be playing his dream final.
But then came the smile, the nod of the head up and down, as he crouched to return serve. It was the look of a man telling the delirious crowds at Arthur Ashe stadium and the millions watching on television that the match was not over. He was not done yet. He was still crouching to return serve, ready to pounce at anything that came his way.
And at the opposite end stood the maestro, Roger Federer, the man who had ended Djokovic's magical streak at the French Open, waiting to serve. A veteran of many a battle, who like William Tell can target an object placed on your head and you will be intact after he has let the ball fly off his racquet. Painting the T successively with his serve, therefore, would be child's play. The match would be in his pocket in moments.
But Federer wore a different look that day. There was no majesty to him. He looked beaten though he had two match points. He seemed dishevelled from the long battering Djokovic had put him through, hounding his backhand with relentless power and accuracy, forcing him to lose point after point, till he dropped two sets after winning the first two. The maestro recovered from the intense pummelling in the fifth set after Djokovic, who looked invincible till then, faltered.
Federer, earlier while playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, said he had small flashbacks to Wimbledon this year when he lost the quarter-finals to the Frenchman after being two sets up. Did he have flashbacks to the US Open 2010 when he had match points against Djokovic and squandered them away? There clearly was self doubt. And, the man at the other end may have sensed that as he crouched.
Blinding forehand
What unfolded over the next two or three minutes was a fantasy. Djokovic pulled off a blinding forehand winner. Fortune was now favouring self belief. The tide was turning. The Serb came back and ran away with the match. For the Federer devout the pain was numbing. There was disbelief. How could it have happened yet it again.
And as Djokovic dissected his magical win over Federer, he admitted he had to take a gamble when defeat was staring him at the face. But he knew in his heart of hearts he could climb that mountain.
Then came the finals — the adversary Rafael Nadal, the man who has an insatiable desire to win every point, forget every match or tournament. Nadal the Matador, who will fight to the very end, who will come back at you as if he suffers from some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder to rob you of victory.
But this time there was a twist to the drama. Djokovic had beaten Nadal in all the five matches they had played this year. He had won 63 of his 65 matches in the season. Nadal, going into the match, in his own admission, said Djokovic was in lodged in his head. The duel would be mental as well as physical.
The two went to battle, and the next four hours was intense as they moved each other from side to side, traded blistering forehands and sent the ball back and forth with thousands of rotations. Djokovic, it seemed, suffered no flashback to his four-set defeat to Nadal at Flushing Meadows last year. He fought off Nadal and a bad back to triumph in four sets, winning his third grand slam of the year and taking his tally of majors to four. He is only the sixth man in the open era to win three of the four majors in the same year. Djokovic is just 24.
So what has triggered this metamorphosis? What has turned the court jester into the reigning emperor? Is it the gluten-free diet? Is it a new-found belief in his own powers? Is it a new attitude he has donned? Is it sheer hard work?
The answer is a combination of all these factors. He has shunned gluten, which has increased his energy levels. The man who once suffered from breathing difficulty today looks as fresh as a daisy after four hours of relentless jousting. He is playing in an era of two giants — Federer, arguably the greatest ever to have held a tennis racquet, and Nadal, who is a powerhouse of grit and dedication. And yet, today the talk is that Djokovic has thwarted their dominance.
Djokovic attributes his incredible season to hard work. He has consolidated his repertoire with a more effective serve and now resorts to tantalising drop shots to surprise his opponents. He knows he can pull off any shot because he has rehearsed them over and over again during practice. And with that confidence comes self belief. It is not hoping the ball will paint the sidelines, it is knowing it will.
He no longer waits for Federer and Nadal to make mistakes, he goes after them. And in this lethal potion add generous dollops of attitude — ‘throw whatever at me, and I will send it right back with interest'. This is the reincarnated Novak Djokovic.
But he has not lost his congenial ways in this steep climb to glory. He applauds his opponents even when he is down. He will still do a little jig on court if asked to perform for the crowds. He openly gushes over his pet poodle Pierre and suffered from separation anxiety when the pooch was not allowed into the UK during Wimbledon this year. And that is what makes the man endearing. He has not lost his sportsman spirit or his sense of humour. He enjoys his time on court and knows he is privileged to be playing at the highest level.
Playing for history
This season is coming to an end, so what does the next hold for him? Federer says he has not felt this good in a long time. The maestro is hungry. He is playing for history. Nadal is not the one to shy away from battle. If anything he will regroup and come back stronger than ever. And the rest of the pack is also biting at the heels.
Djokovic knows fully well that this has been a dream, magical and riveting. The pressures of the game and being number one are immense. Will this run continue?
Tennis becomes a game of the mind at the level of the masters because all of them have the shots in their arsenal. But the doubt arises at those crucial moments on the big points. He who conquers that lifts the trophy.
If Djokovic continues to sport that look facing match points, he will continue to reign as emperor and go down in history as one of the greats to have played the sport of tennis. It is all in that look.
