Djokovic the Unloved Greatest

Possibly the greatest tennis player of all time, the paradox of Novak Djokovic will be that tennis fans will never embrace him as such.

The tennis debate is apparently settled. By winning the 2023 French Open, Novak Djokovic has surpassed Rafael Nadal in the total number of grand slam tennis titles, and has won all four grand slams three times compared to twice for Rafa and Rod Laver, and only once for Roger Federer. More titles, more all-court dominance, and nearly as much longevity as his two great contemporaries, Novak Djokovic has definitively burnished his GOAT (greatest player of all time) credentials. His recent French Open victory and indeed the grand slam titles he will accumulate in the remaining few years of his career may well be the key to cementing that status. Consider why.

Tennis is punctuated by developments, mostly technological and some related to human athleticism, that raise the level of the game. The move away from heavy wooden rackets and the availability of new strings were two such in recent times.

Today the defining change is that rackets have become so light that it allows for spectacularly harder hitting. As a result, there is a new geometry to tennis with the court effectively becoming much larger. Players are standing farther away from the baseline to handle the pace so that the playing surface has expanded considerably length-wise, and also horizontally because more angles have opened up.

This development has seen the resurgence of the volley, drop shot and lob — staples in the armoury back when tennis was played mostly on grass — to exploit players standing far back. Tennis has become, paradoxically, more varied and interesting for the spectator. One of the new joys is to watch the many different ways in which Carlos Alcaraz — the most exciting prospect in years — executes the drop shot which is all feel and finesse, and the exact opposite of the violent force that the modern rackets force players to unleash.

This next generation of players has had to respond by becoming stronger in order to hit harder, by moving faster sideways to handle the new pace, and by moving quicker up-and-down to reach the drop shot and retrieve the follow-up lob. For the spectator, a Carlos Alcaraz or Casper Ruud or Holger Rune scampering across the court is to witness a new species of tennis athlete.

All this is a prelude to emphasise the Djokovic achievement. Approaching 37, at a time when tennis is a different game in terms of court size, power and athleticism, Novak has not only made the transition, he has despatched with ease the young, kinetic pretenders (who could almost be his children), and that too on the most physically demanding surface, namely the clay of Roland Garros. Novak is the king of two generations (and levels) of the game.

Yet, fans have not truly warmed to Djokovic. Why? Perhaps they have never forgiven him for being the spoiler at the Rafa-Roger party. Darling of the fans — each for his own compelling reason — Novak dared to vanquish them, puncturing the magic of enthralled fandom.

Novak’s own personality and eccentricities have also contributed. His nationalism, anti-vaccine creed, occasionally inappropriate remarks, and edginess on court have all undermined his endearability quotient. Some of this is unfair because he is often overtly appreciative of his opponents during a game. Some of it is surprising because he has a compelling story of overcoming adversity. Practising on courts as bombs explode around you (like the gun shots that was background noise for the Williams sisters learning tennis in the cratered courts of Compton, California) and having one’s parents make big sacrifices in the war-torn Serbia of the 1990s should be the stuff of Hollywood scripts.

But there is probably a deeper tennis-related reason for the tepid embrace of fans. Novak’s tennis lacks flamboyance and distinctiveness. Federer floated and danced on or rather above the court like Nureyev. Rafa’s matadorian, hustling muscularity and de facto ambidexterity will remain inimitably sui generis. Posterity may also be kind to Del Potro’s forehand, McEnroe’s volleying (and tantrums), and Borg’s backhand (and bearing). Yes, Djokovic’ return of serve is special as is his physical elasticity but they delight the expert but elude the average fan. Lacking that one big tennis attribute that could be etched in our consciousness, Djokovic is condemned to weak remembrance.

What Novak has done instead is to take the routine to such a level of subtle excellence that we focus on the former without really understanding, let alone recognising, the extraordinary skill involved in that conversion. He plays the game of a run-of-the-mill, even nondescript, tennis player but produces results that belie the pedestrian style. We see the soaring bird but without any dazzling plumage to admire.

The Federer-Nadal 2008 Wimbledon final is remembered as one of the greatest tennis matches ever played. The truth is, for sheer tennis quality, competitiveness and endurance, that accolade should probably go to the Australian Open final of 2012 where Novak prevailed over Nadal in an epic 5-setter that lasted nearly six hours. We don’t remember that game because the victor was Novak Djokovic. That Novak is not as appreciated as he deserves to be says less about him than about us not-discerning-enough fans. Novak’s fault has been to operate in the realm of the ordinary even though he has rendered it extraordinary.

Novak Djokovic could yet win the calendar Grand Slam this year, which would be the first since Rod Laver did so more than half a century ago. Having exited from tennis, Roger Federer is now more likely to be seen with Anne and Anna, marketing Switzerland’s mountains with the former and purveying the latter’s fashion wares. Rafa’s exit is imminent as he, sadly, struggles with a body battered by the very distinctiveness of the game that so thrilled us. It is time for fans to let go of the Rafa-Roger fetish and stop seeing Novak as a spoiler.

Perhaps then we will open our eyes and our affections to the genius, hard though it is to grasp, of Novak Djokovic.

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The writer is former Chief Economic Adviser, Government of India