There are a great many ways to describe Novak Djokovic’s ascent to the top of the Australian Open, but dominant is, perhaps, the most apt. After a fortnight in which he rampaged through his supposed peers to take a record seventh Norman Brooks Challenge Cup, he wound up fortifying his stranglehold on the sport. And so utterly transcendent was he that fellow finalist Rafael Nadal, the only entrant in the draw who could boast of a better run-up to the championship round, looked pedestrian by comparison.
Considering the ease with which Djokovic claimed his third straight Grand Slam title, it’s fair to marvel at the dramatic turnaround in his career. This time last year, he was a fourth-round casualty about to go under the knife for an elbow injury. Convalescence would then take his world ranking to lows he hadn’t experienced in 12 years. And then something — everything — clicked. Win after win after win, including at Wimbledon and the United States Open, came, and, with them all, a strengthening of the confidence that, for all his storied accomplishments, reached new heights over the weekend.
How otherworldly was Dojokovic at the Rod Laver Arena the other day? Consider this: He gave up a single point on serve in the first set, had just four unforced errors after the second, and put the finishing touches in the third to complete his conquest of the Australian Open in a mere two hours and four minutes, 24 minutes — yes, 24 minutes — shorter than the women’s final the day before. That he did so with Nadal (who, given the unprecedented number of times they had hitherto faced, knew his every tendency) on the opposite end of the court served only to highlight the extent of his mastery.
In the aftermath, Djokovic deserves all the accolades he received, and more. He reduced Nadal, who had never emerged from a major final without at least having won a set, into an overmatched mess; at one point, the latter even whiffed on a forehand that was otherwise recognized as the most devastating weapon in tennis. And now he’s on the cusp of rewriting history: Should he triumph at Roland Garros, he will become the first player to simultaneously hold all the hardware from the sport’s four premiere events on two different instances.
Little wonder, then, that Djokovic was all smiles as he contemplated the future. At 31, he’s primed for more; he’s just two and five behind Nadal and Federer, respectively, in Grand Slam hauls, and there’s every indication he’ll get even closer to, if not overtake, them. No one can predict the future with certainly, but he has become the closest to a sure thing as tennis can produce.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
