It has been an unfamiliar few months for the man who has dominated the tennis scene for the last two years. Since winning Wimbledon in 2014, Novak Djokovic has not just stood atop the rankings but opened a near-insurmountable gap between himself and the rest of the field.
Until winning this year’s French Open for the first time, that is. The emotional and physical demands of completing the Grand Slam circle, and of holding all four Majors at the same time, took their toll.
There was a surprise third-round loss at Wimbledon, an opening-round loss at the Olympics, and withdrawal from Cincinnati, and Beijing.
Not that the second half of his year was without success: Djokovic won the Rogers Cup, reached the final of the US Open, and the semis of the Shanghai Masters. But by his remarkable standards—and in the last two years he has won five Grand Slam titles from seven finals and 10 Masters titles from 13 finals—it has been a lean six months. So lean that Andy Murray, whose trajectory since the clay season has soared, took the No1 ranking just last week.
But so close are these old adversaries that the No1 ranking is up for grabs at the season finale this week. It could even come down to the final match if both make their way to next Sunday’s climax.
Djokovic, not surprisingly, has been quizzed at every turn about his form, his fitness, and about his opinion on losing, and trying to regain, the No1 ranking.
Not surprisingly, too, a little edginess has surfaced in response, not least as he faced the media before the start of the World Tour Finals, followed, however, by a growing sense of perspective.
“I was talking about having certain ups and downs that everybody has. [But saying] I’m not myself emotionally or physically the last few months is too rough of a statement. I thought I had a good couple of months, maybe not up to the standards of 12 to 15 months before that. You can’t always expect to win.
“The high standard of results and success I’ve had the last couple of years probably has taken their toll. I didn’t get to recover, I guess, as fast after the French Open, to be ready to compete on the highest level. I had to dig deep and obviously take some time to reflect on everything because it was an incredible achievement. It took a little bit of time to get back on track.”
“I played well at the US Open, I thought, made the finals, winning Toronto. That injury took me off from the Olympic Games but all in all a very good year that I’m proud of. I’m here in London to try to crown this year with best possible result.”
And there is no doubt that he is still driven to succeed, which he puts that down to an undimmed passion for his sport.
“Even after 10 plus years at the professional level, still feel I have lot of gas in my tank. I feel like I still have a lot more years ahead of me. I feel great joy when I compete, when I play.”
Certainly on paper, this is the tournament where he could return to his best. Among the elite of his sport for the 10th year in a row, he is pursuing a record-equalling sixth title. He is the only man to have won the year-end title four times in a row, and has lost just one match, in the round-robins last year to Roger Federer, in that four-year span: 19 matches, 18 wins.
He opened now against debutant Dominic Thiem, the youngest and lowest ranked of the eight in London, knowing that he needed to win at least two of his round-robin matches on his way to winning the title.
And as he had an unbeaten record not just against Thiem but against all three men he would meet in these early stages, he was certainly favourite to top his group.
Thiem had made few inroads in his three meetings with Djokovic, and after a blistering start to the year that saw him surge from No20 to inside the top 10 by June, fatigue seemed to kick in. He played more tournaments than anyone in the top 10, 26 of them, and more matches than anyone but Murray, 79. But he won all four of his titles in those first six months—and reached his first Major semi-final at Roland Garros—but since September, he had won just two matches in four tournaments.
What did he have left in the tank for this gruelling week, and how would his nerves stand up to playing in this cauldron of an arena for the first time?
In the early goings, it looked as though this contest would unfold in much the same way as their previous ones. Thiem had never won a set, never won more than four games in a set, and he quickly faced a break point in the fourth game.
He held, though, and with his fair share of support from the crowd, he took advantage of a subdued Djokovic to stay on level terms to 5-5. He then worked a timely break point but could not convert and they headed to a tie-break.
Thiem was going for his shots, playing aggressive tennis, and slotted a couple of superb backhands down the line. It sent Djokovic tumbling as he lunged for a ball at the net, and Thiem was 6-3 up.
The weight of the moment, though, gripped the 23-year-old: two double faults and Djokovic served to level 6-6. Thiem lost another set point, and then Djokovic had his chance to close out the hour-old set. But they headed to 10-10, and finally Thiem converted his seventh set point, 7-6(10).
The loss stung Djokovic into action—though he earned a warning for thumping a ball into the crowd in the process—and suddenly he produced his merciless brand of shot-making, dragging Thiem from side to side. He raced through the second set with the minimum 24 points required, 6-0, in 23 minutes.
And with both momentum and confidence, Djokovic is as dangerous as they come. He broke in the third game of the third set, broke again for 5-2, and served the match out to love—but it had taken more than two hours and every bit of experience the defending champion had.
He was pleased with his performance: “It felt very good. Even though I lost the first set, I thought I didn’t do too many things wrong. It was just the very high quality of his game that prevailed in the first set… I started swinging more freely in the second set. Obviously made him play an extra shot… I thought I played very well in the second set especially, but the third as well.”
Challenged about his warning, though, the edginess surfaced again: “You guys are always picking these kind of things.”
It speaks volumes about the tension he has felt through much of a demanding year. But this match, and that search for his old perfection, prove he will not give up this title, nor his No1 ranking, without straining every sinew.