Djokovic dominates tennis, unmarred by pandemic theatre setbacks
National Post, 14 September 2023
The Serb is the greatest tennis player of all time. His rise is unlikely to be repeated
With the conclusion of the U.S. Open, won by the incomparable Novak Djokovic, the tennis Grand Slam season is over for 2023. And tennis fans — who have an unusual degree of devotion to their sport — are witnessing something rare, beautiful and never to be repeated.
For nearly two decades, the “Big Three” — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic — battled each other in an epic triplex rivalry, each of them staking their claim to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
How dominant were they? Tennis offers four Grand Slams each year: the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, as well as Wimbledon. For the last 20 years, the Big Three have won 66 out of 80. With his U.S. Open victory, Djokovic holds the all-time record, with 24 Grand Slam victories; Nadal is second with 22 and Federer has 20.
Federer is retired. Nadal was injured and didn’t play this year, but hopes to return next year before his planned retirement. Meanwhile, Djokovic, at age 36, won three of four Grand Slams this year. He is simply the most dominant athlete in any single player sport on the planet.
Each Grand Slam offers — for the finalists — seven matches. Djokovic played seven in all four slams this year, with a record of 27-1. His nickname, a phonetic play on his surname, is Joker. But most often he leaves players 15 years younger in tears.
Sports offer their fans two types of excellence. There is the excellence of sublime competition, the heroic clash of champions, each pushing each other to the limit. The other is the excellence of dominance, that rare victor who rises to another level entirely, vanquishing all in his path. Various sports throw up one or the other: boxing’s Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier’s titanic threefold combat in the 1970s, the airborne ascendency of basketball’s Michael Jordan in the 1990s.
Tennis fans had experienced the former, the equivalence of extraordinary excellence, for so long with the Big Three. Now, astonishingly, it has given way to the excellence of execution, as Djokovic reaches a level of unprecedented dominance. In 2021, he reached the finals of all four Grand Slams, winning three. In 2023, he did it again. He won three slams also in 2011 and 2015, back at the height of the Big Three. Neither Federer nor Nadal come close to that record.
How astounding is Djokovic’s dominance now, in his mid-30s, playing against 20-year-olds? He has won seven of the last 12 Grand Slams, and he could only compete in 10 (he was barred from competing in Australia and the U.S. in 2022 for not being vaccinated against COVID-19). Simply the best men’s tennis performance ever.
Fans cherished the Big Three era, but the reserved Serb, Djokovic, was often considered a villain against the Swiss and Spanish glamour of Federer and Nadal, forever posing as they were for stylish photo shoots. Fans have now started to cheer for Djokovic with genuine warmth. He is not as photogenic or fashionable as the others, but the sheer magnificence of his play earns respect and even affection. Fans know that they are watching what no tennis fan has ever watched before.
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