By Scoop Malinowski
We were privileged to witness another new dimension of the greatest champion in the history of sport Novak Mr Tennis Djokovic. He overcame the man who defeated him the last five times they played Jannik Sinner with one of his, if not his finest and most important effort, 36 63 46 64 64.
At the end of the third set, it appeared Djokovic’s spirit and drive had been deflated by Sinner’s turbo lockdown gear which whenever he seemed to urgently need, he activated to immediate success. Sinner just served and cracked his baseline shots and it was Djokovic who would wilt from the pressure. But there was one long rally in the fourth set which Djokovic dictated from the middle of the court and after he won it, he unleashed a very positive powerful emotion expression, for the first time in the match, which communicated, “Okay now I’m getting the grasp of this challenge and I know what is needed and I can do it, I can beat this robot.” I can’t remember the exact scoreline moment but it was mid-fourth set around 3-3 30-15. He proved something to Sinner at that moment and something transferred mentally between the two combatants and then the match entered a new chapter.
Djokovic hung on to take the fourth set and then he saved a load of break points in the fifth, in consecutive service games from 15-40 and love-40 deficits. Djokovic was actually summoning another surge of his all time tennis greatness out of his bones, his blood, his soul, his mind, his heart, his feet, his hands, his arm…
Then it was Sinner who began to wilt, not only from the shotmaking magic of Novak but also the entire stadium crowd which was fully behind Novak, a crowd which included the 64 time Grand Slam champion Margaret Court.
Sinner, the villain with his team dressed in all black, saved a miraculous match point with a successful block back but Novak got back to business and finished it two points later with damaging serves and pinpoint strikes.
The magnitude of the moment was surreal. One thing nobody quite realizes or appreciates is that Novak Djokovic saved tennis and he continues to save tennis with the magic he can still perform on the court in pressure cooker second week Grand Slam matches.
Aside from the magical tennis by Djokovic saving 16 of 18 break points, the TV cam showed his coach the Spanish guy fighting back tears when it was over. It showed how much he truly cares. You rarely see that in pro tennis, a box member who really truly cares that much.
After it was over and the handshakes, there was a sense of some disbelief from Djokovic’s aura about how and why he won this, as he sat in his chair, leaning back and looking at the sky and crossing himself. This was a lot more than a tennis match. It was also noticeable from his team who were also partly shocked he actually won this match. No doubt there are great spiritual forces involved. Christ is King.
For Djokovic a date on Sauturday with Carlos Alcaraz will be his 38th Grand Slam final.
Other views of this latest Djokovic tennis masterpiece…
Paul McNamee: What we witnessed tonight from Novak Djokovic is so hard to put into words … on this stage, against such an opponent, he drew on every single cell in his body… which the crowd recognized and responded, and they rose with him … this was memorable, as this was greatness.
Greg Rusedski: Wow! 38 years young. Novak Djokovic shows why he keeps going. He has never lost an Australian Open final and it is Carlos ‘s first Australian Open final trying to be one of the youngest players to win all four majors. The Goat going for major number 25!
PavvyG: In context of everything we’ve seen in this last two years in Tennis, this has been the most important victory in Tennis EVER. I couldn’t express how proud I am of Novak Djokovic and my gratitude to him. He’s worked incredibly hard for this and sacrificed so much. A true HERO.
AO26 · Jannik Sinner · Margaret Court · Novak Djokovic
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