Allow me to introduce myself. I am a man of rigor and strength. I’ve been here a long, long year, I’ve stolen grand slams and faith from many men. I was there when Roger Federer was going through moments of doubt and pain. He made damn sure Andy Murray lost his hip and sealed his fate. I was stuck at Roland Garros when I saw it was time for a change. He killed the kings and their suitors. Rafa shouted in vain. As every saint is a sinner and all sinners are saints as heads are tails call me Djoker cause I need some restraint.Mick Jagger’s ode to Lucifer could very easily be retrofitted with Novak Djokovic, a figure for whom tennis fans have developed a loathsome sympathy over the years. But Carlos Alcaraz had no such sympathy. He had his own date with destiny. Before the semi-finals, the Australian Open was called a “boring” tournament where the SinCaraz final was inevitable and the rest of the matches could be emailed.
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy For The Devil (Official Video) (4K)
Both semis robbed us of that idea.At first, Alcaraz stumbled before recovering to beat Zverev. Then Djokovic upset the apple cart, defying physics, biomechanics and Father Time to defeat Sinner. This set up one of the most spectacular tennis matchups in recent memory: the man hoping to complete 25 Grand Slams versus the man hoping to become the youngest ever to complete a career Grand Slam.Djokovic has never lost an Australian Open final. Alcaraz has yet to win it.That Alcaraz is something special was obvious to anyone who watched tennis. After Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in the 2023 Wimbledon final – a surface that wasn’t even supposed to be suitable for his natural game – Djokovic summed up Alcaraz’s remarkable ability: “I think people have talked about his game in the last 12 months or so, which is made up of certain elements from Roger, Rafa and myself. I would basically agree with that. I think he has the best of the three.”Game, as they say, knows game.And that was five Slams ago, and Alcaraz has evolved into an even more terrifying monster, albeit one that’s so cute you wouldn’t mind finding it under your bed. He tried to reclaim the pejorative “bot attendant”, sought more control of his forehand, developed the patience of a killer – he didn’t go for the kill – but waited for the exact moment to pull the trigger. And yet after the first set it looked like the Serb would lose the match, completely controlling the ball, with Alcaraz looking on at all times. Djokovic was unbeaten at 87 matches after winning the first set and last dropped a match after winning the first set at Wimbledon 2023 against the same opponent. The younger—as ridiculous as it sounds—Alcaraz might have panicked. But the slightly older version kept its cool despite the early turnaround, so Djokovic wobbled from one end of the court to the other. The only time the Spaniard looked disheveled was the roof, which remained half open despite the windy conditions.But it was evident that Djokovic did not maintain his first set advantage. The dynamics started to change in a second, the character of the rally changed. Alcaraz started to backpedal, started taking Djokovic’s deeper balls early. The rallies lasted longer and were designed to tire Djokovic out until he made a mistake. In the third set, Alcaraz pushed forward and his consistency was too much for the Old Master. In the fourth, both already played longer rallies. Djokovic’s serve still held, but Alcaraz’s returns were now sharper and sharper. At 5-5, a key rally stretched into the teens – with neither man giving an inch – before Alcaraz hit a short forehand that Djokovic couldn’t catch to earn a break. There was a long rally at the championship venue with heavy, spinning balls from both sides, Djokovic struggling to hold on before his final forehand landed long and Alcaraz raised his arms in triumph. And yet, watching Djokovic miss No. 25 didn’t feel like the end. Djokovic has never treated time as a gentleman’s agreement. After all, the man of rigor and strength had already been here and stayed longer than anyone expected. The Stones told us you can’t always get what you want. But Djokovic has spent a lifetime proving that if you try—really try—you can bend fate to the last chorus. And if it was the end of the verse, it didn’t sound like a fade-out. It sounded like a pause. And because he knows Novak Djokovic, he will always feel like a chorus.
The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Official Video) (4K)
As he told Alcaraz after the match: “You’re still so young and you have so much time ahead of you. I’m sure we’ll see each other many more times in the next 10 years,” Djokovic said with a smile. Knowing Djokovic’s determination, this seems like only a half-joke.
