Some maintain that sport and politics should not intersect. The manner in which Novak Djokovic advanced to his 10th Australian Open final highlighted the futility of such a position. A day after his father, Srdjan, became embroiled in controversy after he was filmed posing with supporters of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, Djokovic produced a strangely uneven performance against Tommy Paul, faltering after a strong start before recovering to claim a 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 victory.
Djokovic, who committed an eyebrow-raising 39 unforced errors, admitted afterwards that he was “not pleased” about the furore, which comes at an unwelcome moment as he bears down on a 22nd grand slam title. Srdjan did not attend the match, electing to watch from his hotel room after footage emerged of him posing with Putin sympathisers following his son’s quarter-final win over Andrey Rublev. One of the men wore a T-shirt bearing the letter “Z”, a pro-war symbol that has been adopted by supporters of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Djokovic senior said in a statement released on Friday that he had not intended to create “headlines or disruption” and had inadvertently become caught up among demonstrators as he sought to join Serbian fans gathered outside Rod Laver Arena. But the pictures caused an international incident, with Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia calling for Srdjan to be stripped of his accreditation, and Tennis Australia was moved to release a statement of its own underlining its support for “peace and an end to war and violent conflict in Ukraine”.
“It has got to me,” admitted Djokovic after booking his place in Sunday’s final against Stefanos Tsitsipas. “I was not aware of it till last night. Then, of course, I was not pleased to see that.
“My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the 90s. As my father put in a statement, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war. We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war.”
Even as he won five of the first six games, there was a palpable unease about Djokovic. By the time he steered a regulation forehand into the net to miss a set point at 5-1, he had racked up an unthinkable 16 unforced errors. For context, that is only five fewer than he committed over the entire duration of his victories over Roberto Carballés Baena and Andrey Rublev earlier in the tournament.
Even more inexplicably, Djokovic then became embroiled in a contretemps with the chair umpire, Damien Dumusois, over the use of the shot-clock, which he argued should not have started until he had finished towelling off. The exchange triggered a run of four straight games for Paul, an unseeded American ranked 35th and appearing in his first grand slam semi-final, and although Djokovic recovered to take the set, he was booed as he went to his chair. With characteristic belligerence, he was having none of it, inviting the crowd to intensify their taunting before pointing to the vociferous pocket of Serbian supporters and waving a fist to the rhythm of their chants as they chorused his name.
It was another testy moment in a tournament that has been full of them for Djokovic. But he tends to thrive on conflict, and so it was again as he raised his level to sweep through the next two sets. Djokovic said afterwards that his father had been unwittingly “misused”, and expressed hope that he would return to his box for Sunday’s final, where the winner will not only claim the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup but also relieve the absent Carlos Alcaraz of the No 1 ranking.
“My father, as he said in the statement, has been going after every single match to meet with my fans at the main square here [at the] Australian Open, to thank them for the support, to be with them, pay them respect, and make photos,” said Djokovic, who appears less limited by the hamstring injury that afflicted him earlier in the fortnight.
“The photo that he made, he was passing through. I heard what he said in the video. He said, ‘Cheers.’ Unfortunately, some of the media has interpreted that.
“I’m sorry that that has escalated so much. But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that. My father, as I said, was passing through. There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That’s what he thought. He thought he was making [a] photo with somebody from Serbia. That’s it. He moved on.
“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this, with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. It’s not something that I want or need. I hope that people will let it be, and we can focus on tennis.”
Such focus will be needful against Tsitsipas, who continued his impressive progress at his “home slam” with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 win over Russia’s Karen Khachanov. The Greek third seed looked poised for a straight-sets victory when he twice held match point in the third set, but Khachanov held firm to extend the contest. At that point Tsitsipas – ever a faithful adherent to the view that, when the going gets tough, the tough head off for a bathroom break – made recourse to a well-rehearsed routine for dealing with such situations. Duly refreshed, he returned to see out the victory, his first in four attempts at this stage of the tournament.
It sets up a repeat of the 2021 French Open final, which Tsitsipas led by two sets to love before Djokovic cantered to victory. In a brazen-faced act of psychological one-upmanship, Djokovic professed not to remember the match when the subject was raised earlier this week. “I don’t remember either,” Tsitsipas deadpanned.
“I’m playing great tennis,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m enjoying myself. I just see no downside or negativity in what I’m trying to do out there. Even if it doesn’t work, I’m very optimistic and positive about any outcome, any opponent that I have to face. This is something that has been sort of lacking in my game. I genuinely believe in what I’m able to produce. That is more than enough.”
Whether it is, we shall see on Sunday.