Plotting the Push

I don’t know exactly why I never felt like writing something about Novak Djokovic. There is no shortage of good content. He is always doing other-worldly stuff. The comeback in 2018 when he swept everything in the second half of the year was pretty incredible. The 2019 Wimbledon Final when he saved 2 championship points against Roger Federer and went on to win was something else. His dynasty down under which keeps growing every year could fill a lot of pages. But none of them could stimulate me. After winning 18 grand slams and breaking and setting countless other records, I’d be barking mad to say I was waiting for the best of Novak Djokovic. But with the benefit of hindsight, I can say I was doing just that. I was inspired, make no mistake. But to actually write something, I guess I needed something more, something that would push me over the tipping point that I had been stuck on for so long. After all that he’s achieved, it would have to be some push.

Let’s see what sort of ‘push’ I am after. It has to be one of the slams to start with. Winning any other event on tour can barely poke me. Slams it is. Which one though? Has to be the one he hasn’t had a lot of success at. Easy. Roland Garros. What are some of the epic possibilities? Winning the whole thing of course. But that’s just the overarching story. And it’s an overarching story that I am quite used to. Simply winning the French Open is not enough. I need good subplots.

Subplot 1: An upset scare early in the tournament would get things rolling nicely. Not the first three rounds. Too early. He’ll just cruise through them. Say, in the fourth round. A young, up-and-coming player plays the tennis of his life and really plants a seed of doubt in Djokovic’s mind. He somehow wins the first set. In a tie-breaker it has to be. No way Djokovic is getting rolled over. The crowd erupts, vehemently rooting for the underdog. I am not too worried. There’s still a long way to go in the match. But imagine if he wins the second set as well. That would bring down the roof of Philippe-Chatrier. I would be worried now, but only at the surface. Deep down, I know he would find a way. Even if he’s two sets down and on the verge of crashing out of the tournament. He always does. So let’s assume he turns it around. A combination of his opponent’s level dropping and Djokovic turning on God-mode means bagels and breadsticks for all. That would be quite anticlimactic for all the headline writers.

Subplot 2: Right, into the quarters now. What sort of a match are we looking at? Not a five-setter again. An intense, high-quality four-setter would be ideal. A night-session match with a rambunctious crowd sounds lovely. Djokovic starts off in prime fashion and is up two sets to love in no time. He looks on course for an easy victory. The third set is much tighter. Djokovic is still playing at a high level but the opponent, lifted by the crowd, has also upped his game. We go into a tie-breaker. And…Djokovic falters. A couple of unforced errors out of the blue means that his opponent has managed to sneak the third set. Tension. Djokovic is absolutely disgusted. We go into a fourth. Again, very closely contested but this time, Djokovic manages to come through. The emotion comes pouring out. I love it. The passion-intolerant west will be schooling him on how to behave. I, for the life of me, have never understood these people. Yeah he breaks racquets, he gets angry on the court, lets his emotions get the better of him at times, but so what? He’s not doing an office job out there. It’s bloody sport. And if you can’t appreciate passion in sport, it’s not for you.

Subplot 3: The inevitable is here. You cannot win the French Open without going through Rafael Nadal. If Djokovic were to defeat Nadal in his territory, that would really make me sit up and take notice. While the match is clearly suited for a final, a semi-final clash between the two could be interesting. Psychologically, it would be something different. Nadal doesn’t care whether it’s a final or a semi-final but it could certainly help Djokovic. There is still everything to play for but he would be a lot freer knowing that it’s not the final. And it could be what enables him to play his absolute best tennis because that’s simply what he has to do to defeat Nadal. So, a semi-final showdown it is. I am sure the last year’s final would be fresh in Djokovic’s mind when Nadal just tore through him in straight sets. 6–0,6–2,7–5. That’s the stuff of nightmares, a heavy mental baggage that would follow him into the match, ready to jump on him and drag him down at the first opportunity.

And that’s exactly how it should happen. If Nadal runs away with the first set and it starts to seem like a continuation of last year’s final, then he is in real trouble. The demons in his head would be alive and kicking. The first set is all but gone. Nadal goes up a double break and holds his serve. 5–0. I am hiding under my shirt at this point, just unable to watch it unfold for the second time. It’s a massacre in the making. I have given up. All I am hoping is that he loses respectably. Djokovic holds serve. The relief! I feel a few kilos lighter. He breaks Nadal and holds serve again and is just a break behind. I am jumping around for joy. This is serious improvement from last year. Nadal finally closes out the set but the scoreline is a lot more respectable. 6–3. I’ll take it any day.

Second set. He simply has to win it. Cannot afford to go two sets down against Nadal. The ending of the first set has given me some belief. It seems to be the case with Djokovic too. He is holding serve, threatening to break Nadal’s serve. We have a match on our hands. Nadal’s level drops just that little bit and the next thing you know Djokovic is serving for the set. He does so, saving a couple of break points along the way. Game on. The first set seems like a distant memory.

You can just sense how much is riding on the third set. The intensity has been cranked up. Djokovic is matching Nadal, shot for shot, and all of a sudden, you are watching the sort of match that will be etched in your memory for a long, long time. A match built as the Clash of the Titans fully living up to its rich promise. Extraordinary points. Long, gruelling rallies. Every single point is an event in itself. It’s undulating. Djokovic breaks. Nadal breaks right back. You can’t take your eyes off it. It’s tennis of the highest echelon. The set’s lasted more than an hour and we are still at 4–4. Djokovic breaks! He’ll serve for the set! He gets broken straight back. That didn’t last long. We go on. Tie-break time! The atmosphere is electric. The tension is through the roof. It’s make or break. Both the players have invested so much into this set. If Djokovic somehow manages to come through, it could just be the straw that breaks Nadal’s back. HE DOES! An extraordinary tie-breaker to cap off an extraordinary set that goes the way of Novak Djokovic. Holy Mother of God. I am emotionally drained. The set’s taken a lot out of me. But that’s sport. And that’s why we love it.

Nadal’s struggling now. Djokovic is playing flawless. The fourth set ends rather quickly. The deed was done. He had successfully run the gauntlet. He had broken Nadal’s back. The 13-time Roland Garros Champion was on his way out. The history books were about to be rewritten. I’d bleed adrenaline at this point. There’s just so much of it. It’s been an extraordinary night, one, I certainly won’t forget in a hurry.

Subplot 4: He’s one win away from the title, barring mishaps. Having to play another match to claim the title after that semi-final is an insult to both Djokovic and Nadal. But that’s what makes this scenario interesting. Djokovic had previously defeated Nadal in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros in 2015 but had gone on to lose the final to Stan Wawrinka. That’s another demon that can spring to life if something were to go wrong in the final. Let’s decide on the opponent first. A worthy next-gen contender sounds great. The whole world would be rooting for him. A player with nothing to lose but everything to gain against Djokovic, who still has much to gain but a lot to lose. He cannot afford to slip up, especially after having beaten Rafa. That would be a massive shame.

Since this is our last chance to stuff the final bit of oomph into this ‘push’, might as well invoke Murphy’s law. Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. What can be the worst possible scenario? Djokovic loses the final. No, no that’s out of consideration. Something else. Two sets to love down in the final? And to win from there? That’s a punchy plot. He’s never done it before. I am running with it. The first set is tight. The challenger has come out all guns blazing. We head to a tie-breaker. Djokovic’s level seems to have dropped a bit. The opponent is playing real gutsy tennis and deservedly wins the first set. Am not worried just yet. I am sure he’ll turn it around in the second. Instead, he’s just gone spiraling down. He gets broken. And then broken again. He is sluggish. Committing too many unforced errors. The body language does not look great at all. Before you know it, he’s stretched out to a ball with no real purpose and is already on his way towards his chair as the ball goes past him. The second set, done and dusted in no time. Am I worried? Hell yes. I am positively freaking out. He seems to have run out of gas. The fatigue has finally caught up with him. Looks like Nadal did manage to defeat him after all. Djokovic not winning the title is nothing short of a victory for Nadal.

‘Momentum’ is such a keyword in tennis. It can change with every set, every game, every point. Anybody who watches a match for long enough can tangibly feel these vicissitudes of momentum. It would take something special to turn the tide of this match though. Do I still believe he can? Definitely. Anybody who has seen Djokovic playing under adversity, and there have been more than a few such instances in his career, wouldn’t put it past him to turn it around. He just finds a way. Ups his game at the right time, and just the way he plays the clutch points is a testimony to his mental strength which can’t be matched. The third set begins and you could sense a shift in momentum. Djokovic’s pressing and pressing hard. A lengthy return game finally results in a break of serve and you just know that the floodgates are open. The forehand is firing, the backhand is firing, the accuracy’s up there, there’s a spring in his step. Novak Djokovic is back. And he means serious business. He closes out the third set, secures an early break in the fourth and just runs away with it, and all of a sudden, it’s a one-set shootout for the title. I am practically praying for this to end quickly now. It has been a tortuous ride so far but the juggernaut can’t be stopped now. It’s a tight first few games but Djokovic inevitably breaks. Serves for the Championship and…HE’S DONE IT! Game, set, and match to Novak Djokovic.

I sit back and reflect on the epicness of it all. He has made epic runs in grand slams before. Australian Open 2012, he overcame Andy Murray in 5 hours in the semi-final and then played one of the greatest matches of all time against Nadal in the final which lasted nearly 6 hours. But this one hits different. He hasn’t gotten any younger since then to start with. It’s clay, and it’s a brutal surface. Breaking Nadal’s stronghold on Roland Garros, coming back from two sets to love down in the final, all of it under the immense burden of expectation and history, I mean who’s writing this script? In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been me all along. But that’s exactly the kind of push that will get me to write something. It really has to be that good. I look at the state of the push. My word has it ballooned. Too much oomph. It’s not a push anymore. It’s a knockout. And before I could react, it knocked me out cold.