Novak Djokovic and his craving for love

After 20 years of professional tennis, 94 ATP titles including 38 Masters 1000 wins, a record 389 weeks as the World number 1, and a staggering 23 Grand Slams later, Novak Djokovic has won every possible thing on the ATP tour multiple times. He has earned more money than anyone else in Tennis and has a lovely family to support him yet one thing evades him every single day of the life when he steps on the court on the grandest of stages. Tennis can make you feel lonely when things are not going your way. There is no hiding space and the player has to face everything all on his own. Sometimes it's the antipathy within the crowd, sometimes the overwhelming support for the home favorite, and more often than not it is the underdog who gets all the cheering from the crowd. It is probably a combination and culmination of all these things over so many years in the case of Novak Djokovic. 

It would not be fanciful to say that the Serbian has gotten used to not just playing against the opponent but also the crowd. Australia would probably be the only place where he doesn't get booed as much as he does at all other slams. Wimbledon has been harsh on him for quite a few years now. It was already bad when he beat Roger in two consecutive Wimbledon finals in 2014 & 2015 but it started getting worse in 2019 when he came back from two match points down to beat Federer again. Everybody inside the centre court wanted Federer to win it and Djokovic somehow produced miraculous 30 minutes of tennis to break million hearts. After the Championships were voided due to Covid for a year, Novak returned to the Centre Court for the next two years for his 7th and 8th Wimbledon finals against Matteo Berrettini and Nick Kyrgios respectively. Having lost the opening sets, he won both finals in 4 sets competing against the crowd. It started brewing in Melbourne earlier this year when the Australian crowd turned against the Serbian when he played the home favorite Alex de Minaur. It continued in Paris where he was getting booed virtually during every match. Novak came to Wimbledon as the overwhelming favorite and was on his way to having another shot at the calendar slam. He looked as comfortable as ever against all the opponents he played before the final. He looked invincible against the Italian sensation Jannik Sinner in the semifinal. He made very few unforced errors but whatever he missed was getting heavily cheered which was disappointing to see. Novak entered the final as being unbeaten at the center court for more than 10 years and was the favorite to beat Alcaraz. He completely demolished the Spaniard in the first set which spurred the crowd even more. The entire Centre Court gave an empathetic applause to Carlos Alcaraz when he won the only game in the first set. Novak was constantly staring at the crowd and making various gestures. It felt as if it was Djokovic against the World which was clearly unfair to a man who has given so much to the sport. There aren't many things that can rattle him but heavy wind is one of the few factors. The weather turned very windy as the second set made its way into the tiebreaker and Novak was taking time to serve. The chair umpire Fergus Murphy eventually had to call the time violation and that produced a massive cheer from the spectators. He went on to lose the next two sets before pulling one as he served at 1-1 on break point in the deciding set. Djokovic sensationally recovered from a slip to stay in the point but a poor approach to the net allowed Alcaraz to make the backhand pass comfortably. It was boiling for well over four hours and it finally had to give in something. Novak looked at his box and smashed his racket against the net, something Mats Wilander reckons he will regret in a few years time. He went on to lose the match and it ended his 4 year reign as the Wimbledon Champion but it was much more than that. It was the first time he looked old and tired of the constant booing. The Centre Court for once was pandemonial and each one of the 15000 spectators was rooting for Carlos Alcaraz. It has been a number years now since Djokovic has been dealing with this but it deteirorated to depths we couldn't imagine. Novak is a mental monster. We haven't seen a tennis player as mentally strong as him. But even for him, the atmosphere at the Centre Court was beyond toxic. The way he burst into tears during the trophy celebration was one of the most emotional moments I have seen in Tennis. After all these years, on sunday finally it looked as if he has given up on his craving for affection from the tennis fraternity. 

Novak is better than Roger and Rafa by numbers but he has never been loved by the tennis public as those two have been. He is probably the most markatable male tennis pro after Roger Federer. He speaks fluenty in English, Serbian, French and Italian. More often than not he is very honest and humble in his post match interviews. He has tried his best to give love to the fans but it hasn't been the same from the other side. There is no doubt that Djokovic has earned emormous respect, probably more than anybody, from everybody because of the background he has come from and the challenges he faced when he was young. He constantly talks about how difficult it was growing up in a war torn country such as Serbia. Statistically, he is the most successful tennis pro to have ever lived. Therefore anybody who doesn't respect him, doesn't respect the sport. But respect and love are two completely different phenomenons. Love is more subjective than respect. Djokovic has been catching everything on his racket for the last two decades but he somehow can't catch love from the tennis public. Not many players can hit winners past the Serb but its the affection from the public that has been a constant miss. Maybe its the bad bounce or the heavy wind or maybe its about the vaccines and controversial injury statements. Every game in tennis starts with love and very seldom does Djokovic finish the game with love next to his name on the scoreboard, maybe he is too good for that. Respect could be directly proportional to the statistical success but love doesn't always sit comfortably with the parameters of grand slams and numbers. Love is complicated and it finds mysterious ways to get past people. No sport is short of mysteries with very little explanations. How Novak Djokovic, probably the greatest tennis player of all time, has failed to earn affection and love will forever remain one of the saddest mysteries of our sport.