Serb launches player rebellion against the game’s ruling body by assembling his masked rebels on a Flushing Meadows courtAt first glance, Novak Djokovic’s uprising at the Battle of Flushing Meadows looked to be as clumsily executed as Arthur Scargill’s 1984 miner’s strike. A leader with career earnings of more than $$140m and probably worth twice that has asked his troops, struggling after almost six months without work, to risk their careers bang in the middle of a crippling pandemic and with winter only a couple of months away.Yet, as with the old Yorkshire comb-over, it is hard not to sympathise with him, and his followers. They want more fairness, more money for their poorest members, a bigger say in the...
Nadal and Djokovic have plausible claims to be the greatest of the past 50 years but their serene, ruthless rival aces it for meFew rivalries in sport divide fans with quite the fervour and wilful lack of understanding for an opposing point of view as does that involving Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.When those whose recall reaches back beyond the start of the millennium to weigh up the merits of Pete Sampras and Björn Borg as the other contenders in a magnificent top five, the battalions of young social media hawks smile upon them as quaintly romantic, with their love of wooden rackets, tight shorts and bad mullets. As great as those two players were, with 25 majors...
World No 1’s stock has taken a pounding as ill-fated Adria Tour brutally acquaints tennis people with pandemic realitiesAfter all the hugging, football games, invasions of personal space, dancing in stuffy Belgrade clubs, kids’ days, basketball games and more, the enduring images of the fateful Adria Tour should be the final ones. Following the cancellation of the championship match, the deflated players were ushered into a parking lot at the dead of night as they queued to see whether they too had been infected after Grigor Dimitrov’s positive coronavirus test.Some of the details were striking. After two weeks of bros prancing around big crowds in the middle of a pandemic, everyone was suddenly wearing a mask for the first time....
Grigor Dimitrov’s positive test brought an end to the Adria Tour and also to Djokovic’s idea that he was somehow immune to the troubles of the wider worldNovak Djokovic has gone to ground in Belgrade, embarrassed, perhaps, possibly contrite, after the coronavirus pandemic crept up on his Balkans carnival of tennis, bringing the Adria Tour to a shuddering conclusion.It began in such robust spirits in his home city two weeks ago, in a makeshift setting at his tennis complex on the banks of the Danube. There were doubts and warnings about playing in front of fans but Djokovic, determined to showcase some of the best players in the world – Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric among...
The Serb’s views reflect how thin the line is between finding solace in spirituality and potentially projecting dangerous narratives, like opposing vaccinationAfter a cool hour of discussion on Instagram live, as Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic reminisced on their rapport of 22 years, the most revelatory moment came right at the end and in the form of a seemingly mundane question delivered by a fan: What are the first three things you do after you wake up?Djokovic spoke slowly and deliberately in response: “Gratitude and prayer, a couple of long, deep breaths, hugging my wife and running to my children.” Murray nodded limply, he successfully kept a straight face and at some point he even awkwardly uttered: “Nice!” Then he...