Novak Djokovic Has Proved His Mettle Yet Again

Sport can be cruel and unforgiving, but it is also humbling. Over the years, many great athletes have succumbed to the various forces in playmost of which, if not all, are not under their controland while some could never reclaim their past glory, others showed why they really can never be counted out. Novak Djokovic is one of them

- S. Karthik Iyer

A little over two summers ago, then 29, a certain Serbian was the monarch. Undisputed. Unequivocal. Unquestionable.

And why not? He had—on that fair Parisian afternoon—accomplished something which neither of his illustrious contemporaries, one Swiss and the other a Spaniard, had; no, it wasn’t the act of drawing a huge ‘heart’ on the terre battue and lying in it a la Gustavo Kuerten. Instead, Novak Djokovic had completed the “Djoker Slam”. And not since 1969—when the legendary Rod Laver—did a male tennis player hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time. Laver, of course, swept the year while Djokovic had commenced his four-for-four at Wimbledon the previous year (2015).

Djokovic’s grip on the ATP World Tour had been vice-like. He won 46 per cent of the Majors between 2011 and 2016 (11 out of 24 to be precise). Besides, he raked in another 46 per cent of the ATP Masters 1000 titles during the same period (25 of 54). The Serb would also reign at the season-ending Tour Finals four times in that six-year stretch and lord over the men’s rankings for 223 weeks (a mere 72 per cent of the said timeframe). Such was his prowess that even mysteries beyond the horizon seemed within his grasp—akin to what many thought about Roger Federer after beholding the Basel native’s halcyon days between 2004 and 2007.

But sport—as is the case with life—throws a curve ball or three when few expect. Even those belonging to the highest of echelons aren’t spared. After all, never too old and nor too late for a new lesson!

Djokovic succumbed to woes that were physical and mental.