SOMETIMES IT'S TOUGH TO BE A TENNIS FAN.
So Friday morning was the Wimbledon semifinal between Djokovic and Federer, which I expected Novak to win, if not easily, then at least successfully.
And he didn't.
Losing in the semis was bad enough, but losing to Federer? Just added insult to injury.
I was more puzzled than anything else, because honestly? Djokovic was not playing anything like what I've become accustomed to seeing at all. I wanted to reach through the computer monitor and shake him and demand, "What is WRONG with you?"
One of the things that has always most impressed me about Djokovic is his movement on the tennis court. He's speedy and sneaky and it surprises me every time, probably because he doesn't look like he should be able to move that quickly. Those long limbs of his aren't graceful, just lanky, and it gives the impression of sloth as well as awkwardness. He's skinny, yes, but every inch of his body is roped with solid muscle, and he is astonishingly flexible even so. He can slide into a point that makes my knees twinge in sympathetic pain just to watch, and make the most impossible shots by doing so, yet on Friday, it looked like his feet were nailed to the grass.
One of the fundamental rules of tennis is, "Go for every shot." Now, granted, at the professional level, that's just not practical. There just really isn't going to be enough energy available to chase down every ball, especially a clear winner. "Know your limits" might be a better interpretation. Still, on Friday Djokovic was watching balls sail by him that he would've gone for on many other occasions that I'd seen him play.
I don't think Federer's ace count would've been as high if Djokovic hadn't been so clearly off his game.
Which brings me back to the question: WHY?!?!?
I kind of feel like I'm the only one asking it.
The sportswriters seem to have universally decided that Djokovic was nothing more that a flash-in-the-pan anyway, and this is his natural fall back into the bottom of the pack.
The commentators are pretty much united in the belief that Djokovic hasn't been able to handle the pressure, both internal and external, of being Number One in the world, of trying to capture and hold all these titles and break or set records, of upholding the faith not only of his family and loved ones but of an entire country.
I'm sure that's part of it.
But pressure is generally the kind of thing that gets you underestimating your opponents, that gets you losing Miami in a surprise attack from John Isner and bouncing back to win Indian Wells, not necessarily the kind of thing that upends your entire mindset and throws your entire game out of whack for months on end.
I'm wondering if the problem, while still mental, might be something a bit more prosaic.
Djokovic's beloved grandfather died while Novak was playing the Monte Carlo tournament.
He hasn't played the same since.
When my maternal grandfather died suddenly, I was a freshman in high school and we were on vacation in North Carolina. I remember that my mom was absolutely DEVASTATED. For months after, maybe as much as a year, she was just barely functioning. I used to come home from school sometimes and find her in bed, and let me tell you, that was not something my mother EVER did.
It was decades before she told me that the reason for her excessive distress was guilt: the night before we were to leave for the trip, she had taken me and my brother up to visit her parents and say goodbye, like we always did. We'd been late, of course, as always, and apparently Grandpop had been annoyed and left for his Knights of Columbus meeting without waiting for us. Mom had been mad at him for not waiting, so we'd visited with Grandmom and then gone home. The next day, we'd left for North Carolina.
A week later, her father was dead, and not only had she had never said goodbye, but she'd parted ways in anger.
Of course, it didn't have to be anything quite that drastic for Djokovic. Losing a close family member as an adult is different that having it happen as a child. And everything for his family is colored by the war, and what they went through during the bombing of Belgrade. I can't even imagine what a difference that makes: it must draw an already close-knit family even closer, and make it that much worse to lose a member of that family.
For Djokovic to be away from his family when he got the news, and even worse, to miss the funeral, must be a very difficult thing indeed. I wonder if he's even really had the time to grieve properly.
And that, I think, is the kind of thing that weighs on the mind, that can cause the kind of erratic play I've been seeing.
It's a terrible shame, really. This is high season for tennis, and there's really no break, no time for him to take without withdrawing from important tournaments. And doing so could mean not just a financial loss, but also one of clout. He's already lost the No. 1 ranking because of this loss to Federer, and in the politics of the tennis world, that also will have lost him a significant percentage of power. And it's not just his own bank account that suffers, but also the livelihoods of the people who work and travel with him.
It's an awful decision to have to weigh, and I don't envy him.
Of course, this is all speculation. I could be totally off-base, here.
But I get the funny feeling that maybe I'm right.
And he didn't.
Losing in the semis was bad enough, but losing to Federer? Just added insult to injury.
I was more puzzled than anything else, because honestly? Djokovic was not playing anything like what I've become accustomed to seeing at all. I wanted to reach through the computer monitor and shake him and demand, "What is WRONG with you?"
One of the things that has always most impressed me about Djokovic is his movement on the tennis court. He's speedy and sneaky and it surprises me every time, probably because he doesn't look like he should be able to move that quickly. Those long limbs of his aren't graceful, just lanky, and it gives the impression of sloth as well as awkwardness. He's skinny, yes, but every inch of his body is roped with solid muscle, and he is astonishingly flexible even so. He can slide into a point that makes my knees twinge in sympathetic pain just to watch, and make the most impossible shots by doing so, yet on Friday, it looked like his feet were nailed to the grass.
One of the fundamental rules of tennis is, "Go for every shot." Now, granted, at the professional level, that's just not practical. There just really isn't going to be enough energy available to chase down every ball, especially a clear winner. "Know your limits" might be a better interpretation. Still, on Friday Djokovic was watching balls sail by him that he would've gone for on many other occasions that I'd seen him play.
I don't think Federer's ace count would've been as high if Djokovic hadn't been so clearly off his game.
Which brings me back to the question: WHY?!?!?
I kind of feel like I'm the only one asking it.
The sportswriters seem to have universally decided that Djokovic was nothing more that a flash-in-the-pan anyway, and this is his natural fall back into the bottom of the pack.
The commentators are pretty much united in the belief that Djokovic hasn't been able to handle the pressure, both internal and external, of being Number One in the world, of trying to capture and hold all these titles and break or set records, of upholding the faith not only of his family and loved ones but of an entire country.
I'm sure that's part of it.
But pressure is generally the kind of thing that gets you underestimating your opponents, that gets you losing Miami in a surprise attack from John Isner and bouncing back to win Indian Wells, not necessarily the kind of thing that upends your entire mindset and throws your entire game out of whack for months on end.
I'm wondering if the problem, while still mental, might be something a bit more prosaic.
Djokovic's beloved grandfather died while Novak was playing the Monte Carlo tournament.
He hasn't played the same since.
When my maternal grandfather died suddenly, I was a freshman in high school and we were on vacation in North Carolina. I remember that my mom was absolutely DEVASTATED. For months after, maybe as much as a year, she was just barely functioning. I used to come home from school sometimes and find her in bed, and let me tell you, that was not something my mother EVER did.
It was decades before she told me that the reason for her excessive distress was guilt: the night before we were to leave for the trip, she had taken me and my brother up to visit her parents and say goodbye, like we always did. We'd been late, of course, as always, and apparently Grandpop had been annoyed and left for his Knights of Columbus meeting without waiting for us. Mom had been mad at him for not waiting, so we'd visited with Grandmom and then gone home. The next day, we'd left for North Carolina.
A week later, her father was dead, and not only had she had never said goodbye, but she'd parted ways in anger.
Of course, it didn't have to be anything quite that drastic for Djokovic. Losing a close family member as an adult is different that having it happen as a child. And everything for his family is colored by the war, and what they went through during the bombing of Belgrade. I can't even imagine what a difference that makes: it must draw an already close-knit family even closer, and make it that much worse to lose a member of that family.
For Djokovic to be away from his family when he got the news, and even worse, to miss the funeral, must be a very difficult thing indeed. I wonder if he's even really had the time to grieve properly.
And that, I think, is the kind of thing that weighs on the mind, that can cause the kind of erratic play I've been seeing.
It's a terrible shame, really. This is high season for tennis, and there's really no break, no time for him to take without withdrawing from important tournaments. And doing so could mean not just a financial loss, but also one of clout. He's already lost the No. 1 ranking because of this loss to Federer, and in the politics of the tennis world, that also will have lost him a significant percentage of power. And it's not just his own bank account that suffers, but also the livelihoods of the people who work and travel with him.
It's an awful decision to have to weigh, and I don't envy him.
Of course, this is all speculation. I could be totally off-base, here.
But I get the funny feeling that maybe I'm right.