MIAMI — After twenty years {of professional} tennis, 99 profession singles titles and 24 Grand Slam triumphs, Novak Djokovic has grow to be a thriller — to tennis followers and to himself. Each events try to reply the identical query, from match to match and match to match, as his profession strikes in the direction of an as-yet unknown finish.
Who’s the best participant of the fashionable period at this second?
Is he the participant who pale two weeks in the past in opposition to Botic van de Zandschulp, in his opening match at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, Calif.? Or is he the participant who has plowed via his first three opponents in on the Miami Open the previous 5 days, together with Lorenzo Musetti, the world No. 16 from Italy?
Is he the participant whose return of serve, one of many best within the sport’s historical past, has been a shadow of its typical self? Or is he the participant who broke Musetti 5 instances Tuesday evening on his method to a 6-2, 6-2 win?
Is he the participant ramping up his schedule as he approaches his thirty eighth birthday, as a result of it’s his final spin across the tennis globe? Or is he the participant he described to the Miami crowd when he informed them, “You’re going to be seeing me just a few extra years.”
On the subject of the topic of Novak Djokovic, Djokovic is like everybody else: all the time trying to find the sign within the noise, trying to find the information about himself and his tennis that can permit him to separate what issues from what doesn’t. At this second, there may be each an excessive amount of and never sufficient information to determine who and what the Djokovic of 2025 is. All these years later, however simply 14 matches into this season, he has grow to be the game’s worldwide man of thriller — definitively not what he as soon as was, and trying to find the reply of what he can be.
“I do hope and need for Novak that you just noticed tonight, after which on the similar time, I labored arduous to not have the Novak that was enjoying in Indian Wells,” Djokovic stated within the blended zone with reporters when his match with Musetti was over. “The continuity or consistency of the extent of tennis these days for me is more difficult than it was years in the past or 10 years in the past, 5 years in the past, and I do know that.
“That’s positively not resulting from lack of hours spent on the observe court docket and within the health club as a result of I nonetheless hold the dedication. It’s there, but it surely’s simply makes it a bit tougher for me to keep up the extent.”
Djokovic resides via a standard false impression about what occurs to elite athletes declining from their peaks. The apexes keep sharp and accessible in fleeting moments, even once they want them most: Djokovic discovered his on his otherworldly run to the gold medal eventually 12 months’s Paris Olympic Video games. It’s the steadiness that erodes, the repetitions which are essential to keep up their excellence.
Djokovic’s greatest triumph this 12 months got here on the Australian Open, the place he beat Carlos Alcaraz within the quarterfinals after a sequence of wins that had included severe dips in his stage, throughout which younger and inexperienced opponents discovered methods to harm him however couldn’t end him off.
Beautiful because it was, the victory was additionally one of many strangest tennis matches in reminiscence. Djokovic suffered a muscle tear within the first set, however one way or the other managed to win in 4, due to a heady cocktail of painkillers, adrenalin and an inexplicable Alcaraz breakdown. The Spaniard succumbed to the stress of enjoying Djokovic, of interested by his opponent’s tennis and his bodily situation greater than he was pondering of his personal.
Three days later, Djokovic needed to retire from his semifinal in opposition to Alexander Zverev on the finish of the primary set due to his muscle harm. When he arrived in Florida, he had not gained a match since beating Alcaraz on that January evening in Melbourne.
In Miami, he has wins in opposition to Rinky Hijikata, a 24-year-old Australian who has performed 13 Grand Slam matches, simply over half the variety of Grand Slam titles that Djokovic has gained. He then beat Camilo Ugo Carabelli, a 25-year-old Argentine who has by no means gained a Grand Slam match.
Each matches opened with a blowout set and ended with Djokovic profitable a tiebreak. It’s some of the acquainted patterns in Djokovic matches through the years, simply inverted: the tight set to loosen every part up earlier than the acceleration to victory swapped for a quick begin after which an ebbing finish.
Djokovic has eased via his opening matches on the Miami Open. (Geoff Burke / Imagn Photographs)
Then got here Musetti. On paper, he regarded like a authentic risk. On the court docket, Djokovic picked up his head and noticed Serena Williams sitting within the stands. He checked out his field and noticed Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro, the retired Grand Slam champions. One his coach; the opposite his good buddy. All these massive names made him a bit starstruck and nervous about enjoying properly, particularly in entrance of Williams, the best feminine participant of all time.
Musetti’s elegant all-court sport fits grass, clay and gradual arduous courts, however he stays moderately misplaced on quick ones. In opposition to the most effective hard-court participant within the historical past of the game, he broke serve within the first sport and surged to the phantasm of a 2-0 lead constructed on making the match bodily. Djokovic determined he wasn’t going to play a match like that and gained the subsequent 9 video games to grab management. Musetti confirmed about as a lot resistance as a swinging door.
On Wednesday evening, Djokovic will face Sebastian Korda, the younger and proficient American of a thousand renaissances, seemingly all the time on the cusp of saying himself. Korda, 24, remains to be looking for his means after a few years of wrist accidents; he acquired therapy on his wrist throughout his round-of-16 win over Gael Monfils on Tuesday.
Djokovic gained their solely earlier assembly, in Adelaide, Australia, two years in the past. He would possibly get some extra information about their matchup and about himself Wednesday, but it surely’s not clear how match Korda can be to provide him what he wants. Djokovic not less than has no doubts about his needs: to maintain enjoying on the highest stage in an period when even the youngest gamers method the sport with a stage of professionalism remarkable when he was beginning out.
“Health and restoration and simply general method to the work, from each bodily and psychological facet has improved a lot,” he stated in Miami.
“These days, just about each participant within the high 30 on the earth has a full group of three and 4 individuals round them that takes care of them, their physique and every part, in order that that displays on the court docket. That’s why the careers are prolonged now.”
When he launched into his skilled profession, gamers began counting their days once they hit 30, he stated. Now it’s extra like 35, perhaps extra.
“After all I’m in that group. I’m not going to get youthful, however I nonetheless be ok with my physique and about my tennis.”
Which may be the information level that issues greater than all of the others.
(Prime photograph: Al Bello / Getty Photographs)
