By Damien Cox
Sports Columnist
LONDON
You’ve got to summon the nerve to be great.
That’s what Novak Djokovic did on Sunday to win the Wimbledon men’s title. The moment came not on match point, but the point before that.
Having just broken the great Rafael Nadal to pull ahead 5-3 in the fourth set, Djokovic launched a forehand long to see the game go to 30-30 as he tried to serve out the biggest match of his life.
What now? What strategy? Play it safe?
Nope. The 24-year-old Serbian, for one of the few times all match, served and then rushed to the net.
If the return was perfect, Djokovic would have looked like a foolish riverboat gambler, and perhaps the match would have turned on that decision.
Nadal pounded the return back. Djokovic made the volley, won the point, and one point after that, he was spread-eagled on the court, enjoying the greatest moment of his tennis career as Serbian fans broke into singing and dancing on nearby Mt. Murray.
“It was now or never,” he explained afterwards of his serve-and-volley choice. “You’ve got to take chances. In those moments, you have to believe that you can do it, not wait for your opponent to make a mistake.”
Perhaps it was the nerve born of a child who learned to love the sport while NATO bombs were exploding in his country in those dark days of the early 1990s. Or perhaps the steely resolve of a boy who moved to Germany to accelerate his training at just 12 years of age.
“This success makes you rewind the old days, makes you go back to your childhood and remember what you’ve been through to get to this stage,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy way, but I guess that’s necessary in order for you to fight for what you want to achieve.”
His mother, Dijana, has argued that in leading Serbia to an emotional Davis Cup victory over France last December, her son finally learned to play “without fear.”
“Well, if my mother says that, then it’s like that,” he laughed. “Mother knows me better than I know myself.”
Once his 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 triumph in an intriguing match was complete, Djokovic knelt on the sacred tennis turf and stuffed some of the grass into his mouth, a most unusual celebration never before seen at Wimbledon.
“I felt like an animal. ... It came spontaneously, really. I didn’t plan to do it. I didn’t know what to do for my excitement and joy,” he said.
After five years of having the men’s tennis world essentially divided between Nadal and Roger Federer, with Nadal the persistent itch that Federer couldn’t scratch, now Djokovic has arrived at the top of the sport with a vengeance, determined to make it a three-man competition.
With five straight wins against Nadal, he is to the Spaniard what Nadal has been to Federer, essentially the only player Nadal now can’t beat. Djokovic is enjoying one of the greatest single seasons in the history of the sport, with a spectacular 48-1 record and two Grand Slam victories, and his ascension to the No. 1 spot in world rankings to come on Monday.
“This is the best day of my tennis career,” he said. “For these kind of days, I was practicing every day, being dedicated, being a tennis professional.
“So finally when you really do it and when you know you’re the best, it’s just an amazing achievement.”
So while the argument goes on over whether Federer might one day be supplanted by Nadal as the best player in history, Djokovic is indisputably the top player in the world right now as men’s tennis luxuriates in a new golden age.
Nadal, gracious in defeat, essentially acknowledged that Djokovic has crept into his kitchen, saying the “mental part is a little bit dangerous” for him against the Serb.
“When one player beats you fives times, it’s because ... well, today my game don’t bother him a lot,” said Nadal, denied his 11th Grand Slam triumph. “Find solutions, that’s what I have to try (to do) and that’s what I gonna try (to do).
“If not, I’m going to be sitting here explaining the sixth (loss).”
Tactically, Djokovic handles the ferocious Nadal topspin better than any other player. The Serb is positionally nearly perfect, providing few openings. He has dazzling court speed, and he can change the direction of the tennis ball better than any other in the sport.
“He’s a very complete player,” said Nadal.
Perhaps one of the most complete ever, now armed with the nerve to put him over the top.
