DRIVEN fiercely by national pride, superb athleticism and great all-court skills; newly-crowned US Open Novak Djokovic created history by becoming the sixth player in history to win three grand slam titles in one calendar year.
The indomitable Serbian rose to the top of the rankings and added the US Open title to the Australian Open and the Wimbledon crown during a historic march to the number one position, ahead of two of the greatest players of all-time in peerless Roger Federer and pugnacious Rafael Nadal.
The 24-year-old Djokovic whipped Nadal for the sixth consecutive time during the 2011 season following his heroic 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 and 6-1 US Open victory at Flushing Meadows on Monday last.
It was Djokovic’s tenth title for the season and his sensational run of successes took his overall match wins to 64 out of 66.
The competition between the two has been of the highest level and these two great champions pushed each other to the limit with relentless accuracy and high quality groundstrokes, coupled with stunning speed and decisiveness placements.
There were many special moments of great skills and tenacity exhibited by both players but it was Djokovic who excelled despite the remorseless pressure exerted by the Spaniard whose fitness and dexterity had put him above all the players including Federer and the Serbian.
However, Djokovic has changed his attitude and is much more determined to win more titles for his countrymen and to inspire the younger generation of Serbians who would seek to emulate his stupendous feats. The athletic Serbian has played beyond expectations and struck a purple patch.
His magical performances have stirred much debate and analysis as to who is the greatest among the awesome threesome.
Regardless of what the experts say, Djokovic becomes the sixth player in the Open era to win three Grand Slam titles in the same year. Don Budge (in 1938) and Rod Laver (in 1962 and 1969) went one better and recorded the historic grand slam sweep.
But Djokovic’s magnificent showing this season has put him in the forefront of all time. His only defeats since last year November have been against the unsurpassed Federer in the semifinals of the French Open (won by Nadal) and against Great Britain’s Andy Murray in the Cincinnati Masters final, when he retired hurt.
That means that Djokovic had only one major blemish to his overall phenomenal achievements just when many were discussing whether Federer or Nadal will increase their overall grand slam successes.
But his meteoric rise to the top has been fuelled by patriotic pride which took hold of him and transformed his attitude and relentless drive to become the topmost player of this decade. It was amidst passionate scenes at Belgrade Arena last December; Djokovic influenced and inspired his Serbian teammates to register their country’s first-ever Davis Cup win.
In the final against France, Djokovic exhibited raw aggression and fury by smashing his racquet when he fell behind Gael Monfils during their singles battle.
And at the point of victory, the court jester draped himself with his country’s flag and did a special dance to celebrate their historic achievement.
When he returned home with the famous Wimbledon Challenge Trophy, there were over 100 000 people to greet him in Belgrade with posters of ‘Nole’ plastered all over the place. He had become his country’s national sporting icon and ever since he has pushed himself to win every trophy to bring joy and happiness to his people.
Imagine what the scenes were on his return with the US Open trophy. Djokovic has become his country’s greatest public figure and his compatriots hero-worshipped like no one before.
He had outgunned and overpowered Nadal at his brilliant best and in the process underlined his greatness with the most compelling performance seen at the Arthur Ashe court.
While many experts had described the Nadal-Federer five-hour marathon battle for supremacy at the 2008 Wimbledon final as the greatest match ever; the Djokovic vs Nadal encounter will probably be discussed as the greatest-ever match-up in the US Open history.
Djokovic attributes a change in his diet and his fitness and stamina regime for his extraordinary turnaround of fortunes at the grand slam events.
He enjoys a gluten-free diet and trains harder than before to maintain maximum fitness levels to compete with the best in tennis history.
In addition, he chooses the tournaments he plays in leading up to the major grand slams. This gives him the right preparation and he avoids the burnout effect some of his established rivals have had to endure in their quest to remain the number one rated player.
The US Open final between Djokovic and Nadal lasted four hours and ten minutes of gruelling and high intensity battle for the coveted title. No two players ever struck the ball with such venomous power and displayed such superb athleticism in their quest for glory.
Majority of their stunning rallies lasted over twenty strokes of the highest quality and had everyone spellbound as to their dexterity in keeping the rallies so long and not giving any advantage to their rivals until Djokovic pulled off a series of great shot to outfox his indomitable opponent.
It was tennis at its best and the heroism displayed, rivalled anything that had happened on a tennis court during the open era.
Djokovic’s newly-gained self-confidence was boosted against Federer during the US Open semi-final encounter when the Serbian prevailed with two match points. He subsequently lost that final to Nadal but returned this year and avenged the loss and also dethroned the Spaniard from the top of the ratings chart.
It was a clinical display of high quality tennis by Djokovic and he has won over many ardent fans who may previously been supporting either Federer or Nadal to clinch another grand slam title. They now know that it’s not a two-match race for top honours but a triumvirate of the greatest players of all-time vying for world supremacy.
Novak Djokovic star is rising quickly and with his overall improvement, both Nadal and Federer have greater challenges to stop the Serbian from becoming the most dominant force with a tennis racquet in hand.
The Serbian superstar is driven by nationalistic pride to bring honour and glory to his people and his country. Many Guyanese and other West Indian sports personalities could emulate the driving force that has made Djokovic such a special player and an international sporting icon.
His next major quest will be to win the grand slam sweep in a calendar year.
The French Open will test his skills and stamina, but judging from his new found supreme confidence, athleticism and all-round court craft; the ebullient tennis artist is capable of re-writing tennis history with golden and memorable strokes.
His reign could be a long-lasting one to match his illustrious predecessors who thrilled millions across the global landscape with tennis of the highest order.