It’s January in Melbourne and you know what that means: behold Novak Djokovic, always the winner — but never, ever the sinner.
Don’t take my word for it. Just ask him.
Novak Djokovic celebrating his win over Tommy Paul on Friday night to make the Australian Open men’s final.Credit:Eddie Jim
Djokovic is presently the world’s greatest tennis player, and arguably the greatest of all time. But by his own assessment, the GOAT never acts the goat in his downtime. In life as on court, Djokovic does not make mistakes. And as on court, if things go wrong, there is always someone else to blame. Fans? Often. Umpires? Sure. His racquet? Why not? He’s always got another one to smash when it does him wrong.
This weekend, the fault for the international controversy involving his father is, of course, not Novak’s (correct) and nor is it is father’s (unclear).
It is, as always, at least partly the fault of the media “misinterpreting” things.
Did his father say “long live the Russians”, in Serbian, as translators of the video shot at Rod Laver Arena claim he did?
Srdjan Djokovic posing with the Russian supporters.
Or did he say to his son’s fans: “Cheers”?
Yes, that’s right. As Djokovic told the media: “He said, ‘Cheers’. Unfortunately, some of the media have interpreted that in a really wrong way.”
I don’t speak Serbian, and if Papa Djoker has been stitched up by a dodgy translation, then it is grossly unfair. But there is a broader point here, and that is the uncanny knack Djokovic has for finding himself so often adjacent to things that can be “misinterpreted”.
So many things – COVID test results; allegedly exposing people to COVID; his father saying “Cheers” — are lost in translation.
But some things are crystal clear. For an insight into Djokovic senior and his offspring, let’s revisit last January’s drama. To quote Djokovic senior at the time: “Our Novak, our pride. Novak is Serbia and Serbia is Novak.”
He was, Papa Djokovic said, “a leader of the free world”.
We are left with the impression that Novak the boy was never told ‘No’, and the result is that Novak the man is once again immersed in a controversy that has nothing to do with the sport he plays so brilliantly.
To be fair, let’s acknowledge that Novak did issue one grudging apology last January. Under pressure, he said he regretted some of his risky behaviour after allegedly testing positive for COVID in Europe. But you had to dig through his protests about “disinformation” to get to the mea culpa. It felt like a cost-benefit analysis — an Instagram-regret balanced against the bigger things at stake — and admitting an “error of judgment” won the day.
It’s a shame to revisit this old ground, and like most Australians I’ve been happy to put the bitterness of last January in the past.
I was in the stands when he played his first match on Rod Laver Arena this year, and stood and applauded along with everyone else.
There was a spirit of new beginnings in the room.
Forgive and forget, right?
Well, sure. But my goodness, he makes it hard.
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