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Over the last week or so, it’s been easy to forget that Novak Djokovic is not the defending Australian Open champion. Partly because he is a 10-time winner here, partly because of his outsized profile, and partly because he remains a magnet for drama — even when he’s not playing.
Ahead of the tournament, he appointed old rival Andy Murray as his coach in a shocking — but also logical — union of two of the most important men’s tennis players in the last 20 years. Then he agreed to play doubles with Nick Kyrgios, clinching their transformation from adversaries to brothers that began with Kyrgios advocating for Djokovic after his deportation from Australia over Covid-19 protocols in 2022.
He was only just getting started. As the players descended on Melbourne Park for pre-tournament news conferences, Djokovic resurrected memories of 2022 in two interviews. He told the Herald Sun of the “trauma” he feels when entering Australia, and then claimed he was “poisoned” by the food he ate while detained in a hotel three years ago in an interview with GQ.
“I realised that in that hotel in Melbourne, I was fed with some food that poisoned me,” Djokovic said.
“I had some discoveries when I came back to Serbia. I never told this to anybody publicly, but discoveries that I had a really high level of heavy metal. Heavy metal. Very high level of lead and mercury.”
It’s always been part of the package with Djokovic, who said at the French Open two years ago that: “A drama-free Grand Slam, I don’t think it will happen for me.” Then, he waded into tensions between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in the conflict over Kosovo by writing “Kosovo is at the heart of Serbia” on a camera lens. At last year’s Wimbledon, he accused the crowd of booing him and disrespecting him after the thrashed Holger Rune, largely because they were saying “Ruuuuuune,” which Djokovic, perhaps wilfully, interpreted as boos.
There, he reached the final weeks after meniscus surgery before Carlos Alcaraz blew him off court. Here in Melbourne, he entered the Australian Open with his tennis aura significantly dimmed for the first time in years, before taking his customary primetime evening slot on Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
He initially struggled in the face of the impressive American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy before winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Basavareddy played brilliantly before he was ultimately overwhelmed by Djokovic’s force of will — and on the night, his exceptional serve. Djokovic hit 23 aces — including a whole game of them towards the end of the third set — with 68 per cent of first serves in and 78 per cent of those points won.
Since the start of 2011, aside from at Roland Garros, it’s pretty much been the case that, if he’s fit and motivated, Djokovic’s best level will be too good for everyone else. That’s no longer the case, and with Sinner and Alcaraz blunting his tennis edge, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is falling back on his off-court aura to become the biggest show in town.
There’s an element with the off-court theatrics of Djokovic just not being able to help himself — he believes strongly in a number of issues and is always liable to speak about them in a compelling way — but it also feels as though he is relishing being a sideshow. At 37, he knows that it won’t go on forever — and it’s the biggest edge he has over his new great rivals.
The last 12 months have introduced mortality to Djokovic’s tennis. Last year he failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2017 and was handily beaten by both Sinner and Alcaraz at the majors. Both of those players have screeched past him, winning a pair of Slams each last year, and they and the tennis world know that if they bring their best level over five sets, they are too good for Djokovic.
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