Despite the warmth with which he has been received following last year’s deportation drama, and for all the astounding brilliance of his play, Novak Djokovic has found plenty to take issue with at the Australian Open.
“The media are publicly lynching me,” Djokovic told Serbian reporters last week after Eurosport published a social media post wrongly suggesting he had left the court without the umpire’s permission during his match against Enzo Couacaud.
The 35-year-old has been similarly disgruntled by suggestions that he may be exaggerating the extent of a hamstring problem.
“When other players are injured, they are the victims,” Djokovic told the Serbian press. “When it is me, I am faking it.”
Djokovic was reportedly involved in a locker room bust-up over the issue with a member of another player’s team, and has also stated that he has “no relationship” with Alex De Minaur, whom he obliterated in the last 16, after the Australian criticised the “circus” surrounding his deportation last year.
Even Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, has not escaped his employer’s wrath. As Djokovic went about dismantling Andrey Rublev, the Russian fifth seed, he aimed a verbal volley of alarming intensity at Ivanisevic, who looked utterly nonplussed – understandably, given that the Serb had just won the opening set at a canter and was on serve early in the second.
Yet it would be wrong to suggest that all is not well in the world of Djokovic as he draws closer to the 22nd grand slam title that would draw him level with Rafael Nadal. On the contrary. He was a title winner in Adelaide before the tournament. He has spoken heart-warmingly of his two young children, Stefan and Tara, and led a round of applause for Roger Federer – as well as a chorus of “Happy birthday” for his mother, Dijana – in his on-court interviews. And far from refusing to speak to Eurosport, as he had threatened, he not only chatted with Barbara Schett after his latest win but also presented her with a bunch of flowers. Talk about brickbats and bouquets.
Above all, injury or no injury, Djokovic is looking frighteningly good. After a dominant 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Rublev, he will face the unseeded Tommy Paul, who sealed a 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win over fellow American Ben Shelton, in the last four. It is the ninth time he has reached that stage in Melbourne, and we know what normally happens next.
So why the discontent? Clearly there is frustration over his physical condition. While many would concur with De Minaur’s assessment – “It looked good to me,” said the Aussie after a solid performance earned him a meagre five games – it should also be remembered that Djokovic is scrupulously attentive to his physical wellbeing, with the significance of any niggle or discomfort magnified accordingly. There is also, quite clearly, a burning desire to rectify the perceived wrongs of last year, one that will not be sated until he once again has the Norman Brooks Challenge Cup in his grasp.
Above all, though, Djokovic thrives on friction. He is never better than when cornered or criticised, never more effective than when he feels the world is against him and he has something to prove. His tearful reaction to the support he received in the 2021 US Open final against Daniil Medvedev, when his resistance seemed to fade in direct proportion to the wave of affection that rolled down from the stands as he fell agonisingly short of a calendar-year grand slam, is the exception that proves the rule. Call it creative tension, call it a naturally belligerent nature or just sheer bloody-mindedness, but Djokovic needs something to work against.
Rublev provided little of that. Having shown his hand when he remarked after his epic victory over Holger Rune that he would rather be in any part of the draw than face Djokovic, it took all of four games for the moment of crisis to arrive. That was as long as Djokovic needed to impose his will, for Rublev to wilt under the suffocating pressure, for the Russian’s hopes of reaching a first grand slam semi-final at the seventh attempt to go up in smoke.
Having survived a break point in his opening service game after leading 40-15, Rublev was unable to perform an encore when an identical situation arose in the next one. The 25-year-old overcooked a second serve to fall 3-1 behind, and it was all over bar the shouting. Of which there was plenty, as it turned out. From Rublev, tortured by his inability to make any impression on a player ranked just one place above him but playing tennis from another dimension. From Djokovic, who raged against Ivanisevic, and then at the swirling wind on Rod Laver Arena, in the absence of any meaningful challenge from the other side of the net. From the inevitable heckler who laboured fruitlessly to disrupt Djokovic in the early stages.
In the end, though, the biggest noise came from the jubilant contingent of Serbian fans that gathered outside Rod Laver Arena in the aftermath of Djokovic’s victory, just as they have done following each of his matches. It would be no surprise to see those celebrations repeated in four days’ time.
“With this kind of game, of course the confidence level rises,” said Djokovic. “I feel good on the court, better and better as the tournament progresses. I’ve been in this situation so many times in my life, in my career, never lost a semi-final in the Australian Open.”
He doesn’t do too badly in finals, either. The smart money says Djokovic will be all out of complaints come Sunday night.