Novak Djokovic in an emotional state of emergency: "I'm glad it's over"
Novak Djokovic described the final at the US Open as the most important match of his career - in the end it was lost . Because Daniil Medvedev did a great job, but also because Djokovic played "as haphazardly as never before," as Boris Becker analyzed.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Sep 13, 2021, 12:20 pm
The bitterest defeat of his career was a good hour ago when Novak Djokovic said the one sentence that actually described everything for him on this black Grand Slam day. The erratic, nervous, shaky appearance in the final of the US Open, the violent failure in three smooth sets (4: 6, 4: 6, 4: 6) against his brilliant Russian challenger Daniil Medvedev , his own tears already in the last meters of this memorable lot. "I'm just happy that it's over," said Djokovic, "I wasn't really there today."
In an emotional state of emergency, in extreme pressure situations, he had often found himself this season, whether at the Australian Open in Melbourne, the French Open in Paris or even at Wimbledon - but the burden of achieving his magical dream goal, winning all four majors in one season, had finally overwhelmed him. 27 victories , more or less hard fought against teenagers and ancestors, against established stars and ambitious newcomers, followed the sudden fall into the New York Depression. The powerful closing words of this Grand Slam year did not come from the most successful player of the last decade, the supposedly unbeatable but suddenly very vulnerable Djoker, but Medvedev, one of the young savages in the traveling circus.
Daniil Medvedev is the spoilsport
Everything was different on a New York tennis night, when everything was supposed to be the same as it always was this year. Djokovic, otherwise the tolerated front man of the tennis world, was the celebrated darling of the masses - but also the big, heavily touched, bitterly disappointed loser. And Medvedev, the slightly weird chess grandmaster of tennis, was the bogeyman who was booed in the match, and in the end was repeatedly showered with abuse - and at the same time the triumphant cup hero. The man who destroyed a moment of sporting history with cool elegance and strategic foresight. The man who destroyed Djokovic's long-awaited rendezvous with eternity and created the last sensational plot at a tournament of extreme capers and curiosities. "I know that I'm the big spoiler today," said Medvedev in the applause of the fans, "Novak is and will remain the greatest tennis player of all time."
Rod Laver is replaced by Stan Smith
52 years ago Rod Laver, the legendary Australian, last managed the feat of writing a Grand Slam march from Melbourne to New York in the history books. Laver, now 83 years old, was sitting in the official gallery that evening, he was also ready to hand over the trophy to his successor Djokovic in the arena and to lead the column of congratulations. But when the last point of this game, which went against all expectations, was played, Laver disappeared discreetly into the presidential box of the US Tennis Association - the congratulations to Medvedev were conveyed by another great from the past, the American Stan Smith.
Boris Becker: "Djokovic haphazard like never before"
The triumph of qualifier Emma Raducanu in the women's competition was not followed by a step into normal tennis, the widely predicted victory of Djokovic. Because from the first to the last minute of this one-sided duel, the 20-time Grand Slam champion was not himself, the tough competitor, the mentality world champion, the escape artist from necessity. Djokovic had no answers when things got tough. He appeared, as Boris Becker found, "more haphazard than ever before" in such an important match. Not a single one of the so-called Big Points went to the Grand Slam professional of the year 2021, who had dominated until then, the dreaded all-round winner. Djokovic later said that he would never forget the affection, "the love of the fans that touched my soul", that meant as much to him as winning the title . But he would have been only too happy to exchange the pity of that night for the former detachment of the rough-legged fans.
Djokovic was the hunter all his tennis life. He was the first player to intervene in the duel between the titans Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and then ended the sole rule of the Swiss maestro and the Spanish matador. He moved closer and closer to their necks at the Grand Slams, he became the strongest player in the majors, with the win at Wimbledon he also put himself formally on a par with Federer and Nadal - the Big Three now had 20 Grand Slams each -Collected trophies. Djokovi's biggest booty would have been the calendar Grand Slam, the coup that no player in the modern tennis era had ever achieved. He would have been Djokovic's real legacy, his unique selling point against all supermen of the past five decades.
Novak Djokovic: new start in 2022?
When Djokovic hid his face under a towel in the last break of the game, at a score of 4: 5 in the third set, tearful, he had somehow turned back into a person of flesh and blood. The technocracy of his successes, the often mechanical appearance, the robot-like appearance - it was all gone, disappeared in the looming failure so close to the finish line. The new Grand Slam year begins in four months, in far-away Australia, Djokovic's favorite location. There he has already won nine times, the tenth triumph could bring him the top position in the eternal Grand Slam hit list. But whether Melbourne will once again be the start of a comparable winning streak, whether there will be another chance to march through the title in 2022, is rather questionable. An opportunity like the one on September 12, 2021 will probably only come once in a lifetime, even for someone like Djokovic.