Novak Djokovic was only five games into the first set of his Australian Open defence when John McEnroe and Jim Courier started wondering out loud about when the Serbian freight train might pull into the station.
The verdict: maybe never.
Djokovic, 36, was playing Croatian Dino Prizmic, 18, on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night and doing it oh-so-easy against someone half his age.
Footwork, McEnroe and Courier agreed, was the first thing to go in an ageing player, and even though Djokovic himself says he’s slowing down, the two American champions sitting in the Channel Nine commentary box could not see it.
“He’s never played better,” McEnroe said.
Then this from Courier: “He’s never been more experienced than right now”.
Novak Djokovic.Credit: AP
Funny that … although we understand the point he was trying to make.
Legendary athletes are like legendary rock bands: they’ve been at it for so long, excellence becomes innate. Just as Keith Richards could play the opening riff to I Can’t Get No Satisfaction in his sleep, Djokovic could similarly bang down a second serve at 200 km/h with his eyes closed.
When Prizmic called a medical timeout for treatment on a strained quad, the cameras focused directly on Old Man Djokovic, who was staring straight ahead as if possessed.
Maybe he just realised he’d left the iron on back at the hotel. He was more likely thinking about how he could crush his wounded opponent like a paper cup.
When play resumed, it was clear he was going to run Prizmic – whose leg was heavily bandaged – off his feet. Quick game’s a good game and all that.
As Djokovic went about doing this, Courier trotted out the well-worn but still relevant quote from Andy Roddick in 2021 about the world No.1: “First he takes your legs, then he takes your soul”.
Roddick’s observation was actually a tweet during the fourth-round of the US Open when Djokovic was playing another rising star in 20-year-old American Jenson Brooksby. He dropped the first set before running Brooksby into the ground, winning the next three and the match.
Prizmic, though, dug in. Instead of being run ragged by the best baseline brawler we’ve ever seen, he claimed the second set, then found himself up a break in the third.
Long he has reigned … Djokovic celebrates winning the Australian Open in 2008.Credit: Vince Caligiuri
When Djokovic won his record 10th Australian Open last summer, he dropped one set for the entire tournament. Now he’d dropped a set in the first round because of some dazzling Prizmic passing shots and also because he was being unnerved by the crowd, who were childishly making noise as he was about to serve.
(Heaven forbid Djokovic is ever scheduled to play on Court Six, the so-called “Party Court” which features an adjacent bar.)
With Djokovic down a break in the third, the fatalist onlooker might wonder if this was the moment when he was slowing down. Boxers can look old in one round – maybe Djokovic was ageing in one match.
Then he promptly broke back, claimed the third set, then the match.
But it had been a street fight. Djokovic might have taken Prizmic’s legs but not his soul. The match went for 4 hours 1 minute – the longest first-round match of his grand slam career.
Djokovic is starting to ask the same questions that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal grappled with in their twilight: how much longer can my body do what my mind still desperately wants?
‘For Djokovic, there are still plenty of legs and souls for him to take.’
Notwithstanding punch-drunk boxers, most tennis players run themselves into the ground like few athletes.
Early retirement seems impossible. Maybe it’s the prizemoney. Maybe it’s ego. Maybe it’s because they know nothing else after picking up a racquet as a fetus.
Djokovic won the first of his 24 grand slam titles at the Australian Open in 2008. It seems an eternity ago. Barack Obama had just been elected US president. Apple released its second iPhone. I had hair.
No player – including Federer – has dominated as long as Djokovic.
After he wiped the floor of Rod Laver Arena with Stefanos Tsitsipas in last year’s final, you couldn’t help but ponder who could stop him.
Sure, he lost an epic Wimbledon final to 20-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. Italian Jannik Sinner beat him a couple of times late last year.
He’s also carrying a wrist injury this year after struggling with groin and hamstring problems during last summer’s tournament.
It won’t be another player who stops Djokovic, but time.
As this masthead’s columnist Nick Kyrgios – welcome aboard, comrade! – mused on Monday: “Sit back and enjoy the show. Who knows how many we have left?”
You sense, though, that Djokovic has years ahead of him. He’s like LeBron James and Steffi Graf and Bernard Hopkins and Tom Brady. They never get bored with winning.
For Djokovic, there are still plenty of legs and souls for him to take.
Watch all the Australian Open action live on Nine, 9Gem, 9Now and Stan Sport.
