Last year John Isner, the American tennis player who is a self-confessed “diehard fan” of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), described Novak Djokovic as the “excellence of execution” in his tribute to the 2016 WrestleMania on The Players’ Tribune website.
By comparing Djokovic to Bret “The Hitman” Hart, Isner was trying to draw “some parallels between the two worlds that I know best: the ATP World Tour and the WWE”, and surely no one in the tennis world of that time deserved the tag more than Djokovic.
Assured on and off the court, Djokovic was the undisputed king of men’s tennis 12 months ago, winner at the past three grand slam tournaments and favourite to end his frustrating wait for a first French Open title.
True to predictions, the Serb did scale his final frontier at Roland Garros last summer, but he has been but a shadow of his formidable self since.
Still No 2 in the world rankings, Djokovic has not gone beyond the quarter-final of any tournament since his Doha triumph in the opening week of the season. He defeated Andy Murray in that final, but in the five tournaments and 12 tour matches since, he has not beaten any player ranked higher than No 19.
Djokovic has lost the ruthlessness that took him to the peak and his woes were evident yesterday in his 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 win over world No 76 Nicolas Almagro in the second round of the Madrid Masters.
His Spanish opponent is no mug on clay courts, but Djokovic, with a 4-0 career record against him, was expected to cruise through despite his form. For a while, that looked the most likely outcome as the defending champion cruised through the first set.
Then, it seems, an impersonator took his place.
To use pro-wrestling analogy, the Djokovic of the second and third sets looked like the knock-off “Renegade Warrior” whom World Championship Wrestling signed in the 1980s after baulking at the original Ultimate Warrior’s US$2.5 million (Dh9.18m) asking fee.
An impostor is what this 2017 Djokovic appears; erratic and unsure. But thankfully, the original showed up just in time as he broke Almagro in the 11th game of the deciding set before serving for the match. Had he lost, this would have been Djokovic’s first back-to-back defeat since the 2012 London Olympics, where he lost in the semis to Andy Murray and was then defeated by Juan Martin del Potro in the play-off for the bronze medal.
No doubt he will be relieved he avoided that fate, and the late turnaround might even be pedalled as a positive.
Still, the Serb looks a pale shadow of his former self – not just through the matches, but even in his post-match celebrations. There was absolutely no emotion when Almagro pushed a backhand into the net on match point. The Djokovic of old would have screamed his lungs out after winning such a match, pumped his fists, or even ripped his T-shirt off like Hulk Hogan used to do.
Instead, this Djokovic just walked to the net, cold and head bowed, shook hands with Almagro and disappeared.
Perhaps, this newfound calmness comes from his continued association with life coach and former tennis player Pepe Imaz, the only surviving member of Djokovic’s erstwhile entourage.
Boris Becker departed at the end of last season and last week, the Serb ended his long-term partnership with coach Marian Vajda, fitness coach Gebhard Phil Gritsch, and physiotherapist Miljan Amanovic.
The same time last year, Murray had made a similar choice, parting ways with Amelie Mauresmo and the change has worked for him.
It can work for Djokovic, too, if he can find the right person to guide him – Andre Agassi, perhaps? – or at least someone who can wean him away from Imaz.
Lines like “difficult paths lead to beautiful destinations” have a place in life coaching, but they are not something you would have heard Djokovic saying when he was the lord of men’s tennis.
arizvi@thenational.ae
