Novak Djokovic is trying to end a rather troubled season with a flourish. The former world number 1 paid the price for his choice not to get vaccinated against the Coronavirus, which forced him to skip the Australian Open and the US Open.
In addition to suffering serious damage to his image, the Serbian phenomenon has seen his eternal rival Rafael Nadal stretch in the all-time Grand Slam standings. Also due to his vaccination status, the 35-year-old from Belgrade also had to give up all the American Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal and Cincinnati).
His 2022 took a different direction thanks to his seventh victory at Wimbledon, the fourth in a row. Nole has thus equaled his idol Pete Sampras and hoisted himself to 21 Majors, just one distance away from Nadal’s record.
The ‘Djoker’ is busy this week at the ATP Finals in Turin, where he is the big favorite for the win. Novak has taken off the pass for the semifinals with a day to spare and will face Taylor Fritz for a place in the final.
In the latest edition of the ‘Inside-In’ podcast, Jim Courier analyzed Djokovic’s prospects in detail.
Courier praises Djokovic
“So it looks like he has all of his options again and his 35-year-old body is not the average 35-year-old body and I could easily see him playing for Tom Brady like years,” said Courier.
Courier also believes that Novak Djokovic has started using his kick serve once again for the first time post his elbow surgery in 2018. “I’m really excited about him and as fans is that he’s started to hit that kick serve again which had disappeared after the elbow surgery.
So that’s another part of his arsenal that he can bring in and get people off the ad court where he’d been largely just hitting more body serve and slice serves to seemingly protect his elbows,” Jim Courier added.
Despite his astronomical success in tennis, the Serb doesn’t enjoy the same level of fandom compared to his rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. I know that people sometimes think I’m fake, that I do certain things because I want to be loved.
It’s not like that, I’m just trying to be genuine. It’s something we’re losing. It is not possible to please everyone but by now the politically correct forces us to give up expressing our ideas with respect, without hatred, but with freedom. Freedom of speech for me today is just an illusion,” Novak Djokovic said.