The former Australian Open champion is not competing in Melbourne this year, having rejected the grind of the tourA long time ago, I took a part-time job in a high-street clothing store. It was late November, and amid the chaos of the Christmas rush I quickly discovered that nobody had the faintest idea what I was meant to be doing or whether I was actually doing it. One morning I overslept and queasily awaited the shrill phone call from a supervisor. It never came. The day passed.More days passed. Days turned into weeks. The payslips continued to hit the doormat. If there was any faint paroxysm of guilt or shame at taking this multinational giant for £5.15 an hour while...
The nine-time Australian Open winner is keen to put debacle of deportation behind him but his public reputation is tarnishedNovak Djokovic’s quiet return to Australia this week could not be starker in contrast to the absurdity surrounding his arrival in Melbourne and subsequent deportation last January.There has been no social media post nor any official words from the nine-time Australian Open champion as yet, though he did practise on Wednesday at Memorial Drive in Adelaide. Continue reading...
Officials are hoping for a positive summer that serves as a full stop to an absurd run of shocking luck for the Australian OpenWhen spruiking a summer starting on Thursday with the heavily promoted United Cup, Tennis Australia opted for a mantra pointing to an optimistic future for the sport. The story, the national federation proclaimed, starts here and over the past week the world’s best players have begun arriving for the country’s annual festival of tennis.While there is no exclamation mark to punctuate the slogan for the 2023 Australian Open, local officials are hoping for a positive summer that serves as a full stop to an absurd run of shocking luck for the tournament. Continue reading...
The Serb is willing to pay price of being unvaccinated but is it worth missing the chance to be seen as the greatest ever?Over the past 11 years of men’s tennis, during which Novak Djokovic rose to dominance and improbably positioned himself as one of the greatest to play the game, the only time his success has been in doubt came after the summer of 2017 when he suffered through many months with an elbow injury.The injury became a point of contention between himself and his then-coach, Andre Agassi, who later said he had swiftly advocated surgery. But Djokovic addressed the injury by resting for nearly six months, believing his body was built to heal itself naturally. It was not....
While Djokovic threatened to overshadow proceedings, he rapidly faded into the background of an epic tournamentDuring the first weeks of the new tennis season, the top players are usually at their most relaxed. As they step forward into the new year after quality time away from competition, they arrive in Australia before the toll of constant travel, countless matches and numerous frustrating losses leaves its mark.But this was no normal Australian Open. The tournament began in the shadow of unprecedented drama as Novak Djokovic’s visa saga played out for nearly two weeks. His building was surrounded by human rights activists protesting for the thirty-plus refugees detained indefinitely, hundreds of Serbian-Australians and numerous anti-mandate protesters. After many long, dull court hearings...