Miami – After two decades of professional tennis, 99 career singles and 24 Grand Slam triumphs, Novak Djokovic became a mystery – for tennis fans and for himself. Both sides try to answer the same question, from the match to the match and the tournament to the tournament, because his career moves towards the previously unknown end.
Who is the biggest player of the modern era at the moment?
Is the player who faded against Botic van de Zandschulp two weeks ago, in his opening match at BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells in California? Or is he a player who has gone through his first three opponents in Miami Open in the last five days, including Lorenzo Mouseti, world 16 from Italy?
Is he a player whose return serves, one of the greatest in the history of sport, was the shadow of his usual self? Or is he a player who broke my museti on Tuesday evening?
Does the player increase as he is approaching his 38th birthday because it is his last rotation around the tennis globe? Or is he a player who described the crowd in Miami when he said, “You’ll see me for a few more years.”
As for the subject of Novak Djokovich, Djokovic is like everyone else: he always looks for a noise signal and is looking for data about himself and his tennis, which will allow him to separate what matters from what is not. There are too many at the moment, and there is not enough data to find out who and what is Djokovic from 2025. After all these years later, but only 14 matches for this season, he became a sporting international man secret – definitely not what he once was, looking for an answer.
“I hope that and I wish Novak that you saw this evening, and then I worked hard that Novak did not play in Indian wells,” Djokovic said in a mixed zone with reporters when his match with Mouse ended. “The continuity or consistency of tennis levels for me is more difficult for me than it was years ago or 10 years ago, five years ago, and I know that.”
“It is definitely not due to the lack of hours spent in the training court and in the gym, because I keep my determination. It’s there, but it’s just a little more difficult to maintain the level.”
Djokovic lives through a common misconception about what will happen to elite athletes who are decreasing from their highlights. Apexes remain sharp and accessible in fleeting moments, although they need them most: Djokovic found that at last year’s Paris Olympic Games found that his second world run into the gold medal. It is the stability that disrupts, repetitions that are necessary to maintain their perfection.
Djokovic’s largest triumph came to the Australian Open this year, defeating Carlos Alcaraza in the quarterfinals after a series of victory, which included serious decreases at its level, during which young and inexperienced opponents found ways to hurt him but could not finish it.
The stunning, as it was, was also one of the strangest tennis matches in memory. Djokovic suffered a muscle tear in the first set, but somehow managed to win in four, thanks to the intoxicating cocktail of painkillers, adrenaline and inexplicable collapse of Alcaraz. The Spaniard succumbed to the stress of playing Djokovic, thinking about his opponent’s tennis and his physical condition more than he thought of his own.
Three days later, Djokovic had to leave the semifinals against Alexander Zverev at the end of the first set due to muscle injury. When he arrived at Florida, he did not win the match since he defeated Alcaraz in Melbourne in January.
In Miami, he won against Rinky Hijikata, a 24 -year -old Australian who played 13 Grand Slam matches, only over half of the number of Grand Slam titles that Djokovic won. He then defeated Camilo Ugo Carabelli, a 25 -year -old Argentina, who never won the Grand Slam match.
Both matches opened with the set and ended with Djokovička winning Tiebreak. It is one of the most famous patterns in Djokovičské matches over the years, just inverted: a tight set that will release everything before acceleration to victory, which has been exchanged for a quick start and then for a humiliating end.
Djokovic released his opening matches at Miami Open. (Pictures of Geoff Burke / Imagn)
Then he came to have. He looked like a legitimate threat on paper. In Djokovic’s court, he raised his head and saw Serena Williams sitting on stands. He looked at his box and saw Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro, Grand Slam champions in retirement. One of his coach; his other good friend. All these big names made him a little starstruck and nervous of playing well, especially in front of Williams, the biggest player of all time.
The elegant game of all judges suits grass, clay and slow hard judges, but it remains reasonably lost on the fast. Against the best harsh court in sport history broke in the first game and threw himself on the illusion of 2-0 management based on the match physically. Djokovic decided not to play such a match and won nine other games to take control. Mouseti showed about as much resistance as a swinging door.
On Wednesday evening, Djokovic will face Sebastian Kord, a young and talented American, thousands of Renaissance, seemingly always at the top of being announced. Korda, 24, is still trying to find a way after several years of wrist injury; During Tuesday’s victory over Gael Monfils he was given treatment on his wrist.
Djokovic won his only previous meeting in Adelaide, Australia two years ago. He could get more information about their match and himself on Wednesday, but it is not clear how Fit Korda will give him what he needs. At least Djokovic has no doubt about his wishes: playing at the highest level in the era, when even the youngest players approach the game with the level of professionalism unheard of when he started.
“Fitness and recovery, and only the overall approach to work, the physical and mental parties have improved so much,” he said in Miami.
“Nowadays, almost every Top 30 player in the world has a whole team of three and four people around them, who takes care of them, their body and everything, so it reflects it in court. That’s why the career is now extending.”
When he started his professional career, the players began to count their days when they hit 30, he said. Now it’s more 35, maybe more.
“Of course I’m in the group. I won’t be younger, but I still feel good about my body and my tennis.”
This can be a data point that matters more than all others.
(Upper photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
