Novak Djokovic has won Wimbledon once again, taking his grand slam tally to 21, one more than Roger Federer, and one away from Rafael Nadal.
While Djokovic’s defence and extraordinary fitness have been talked about repeatedly, the one thing that sets him truly apart has not been discussed much, his mentality.
Djokovic, nicknamed ‘Djoker,’ is the real-life manifestation of Gotham’s clown prince, whom he is nicknamed after.
It’s not his heinous crimes that set the Joker apart from the rest of the Batman villains, nor his best intelligence to rival the Dark Knight on a regular basis.
But it’s his mentality, his wickedness, his crooked ambitions and rivalry with Batman are what makes Joker one of the greatest comic book villains to have ever existed. You need to pit him against the wall to get the best out of him.
And enter Djokovic.
The Serb is nothing different. At some point, tennis looks too easy for him, and only in adversary, you can find the true Djokovic – relentless, unstoppable, unbeatable.
It’s his mentality that sets him apart. That desire to be the best, that continuous search to be the number one is what makes Djokovic probably the most perfect player in tennis history.
“In terms of playing ability, there is nothing to choose between number one and 100. Instead, it's a question of who believes and who wants it more? Which player is mentally stronger? Which player is going to fight the hardest in the big points? These are the things that determine who is the champion,” these words from Djokovic explain a lot about him.
Federer is an artist on that court. While the best might be the Serb, nobody’s game in tennis history is as much poetry as the Swiss’. It seems like Federer paints a picture on the court, and Nadal on the other hand is a relentless fighter who, against all odds, keeps on coming back like that superhero you read about.
But Djokovic is made of different mettle. He is not a regular role model. He is publicly against vaccines, and despite it harming his career, he did not budge against his own belief.
While not deciding to take a Covid-19 vaccine while being a public figure is worthy of criticism, the most important part about him doing so is that he is unwilling to let go of what he believes.
Because as it looks like, everything is a competition for him, to be the odd one out, to be the only one standing high.
Like every other sport, tennis saw its duopoly between Federer and Nadal. But Djokovic stormed in and made it a race because that’s what he needs to thrive.
For many tennis fans, the Serb was the disruptor in their utopia of a two-man show. For Djokovic, he is happy to be the disruptor because that’s what all his game is about.
Djokovic’s game depends more on antagonising the opponent, rather than himself going for the jugular. He, with his relentless and unimpregnable defence, waits and waits for his opponent to tire out, and then lands the killer blow, or just simply forces his foe into a mistake.
"What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger," the Joker had said.
Djokovic might say the same. Or just simply win the most grand slams, and dismiss all that talk about him not being the ideal tennis master.
