Perhaps more than any of its predecessors, however, Djokovic, 33, is heading towards the heat. He knows the dangers that this can bring. But he is willing to manage the consequences of his behavior, which may involve trying to organize a tennis event in the early months of the pandemic; explosions on the court, including one that led to his disqualification from the US Open; or pressuring the organizers of the Australian Open tournament on behalf of 72 players who ended up confined to their hotel rooms for 14 days after arriving in Melbourne, because on their flights they were exposed to people with the coronavirus. His recommendation for the early end of the blockade and access to tennis courts in private homes, among other demands impossible to meet, attracted widespread ridicule.
“I think Novak feels an obligation to be the best player in the world, to be a voice for players,” said Craig Tiley, who is the executive chairman of Tennis Australia, which organizes the Open, and who has responded to these demands, he rejected almost all of them, then did his best to carry out Djokovic’s damage control.
Nevertheless, this tournament gave Djokovic what he often finds when playing in Melbourne – the chance to straighten his ship and start his tennis year.
In Sunday’s final, he will face Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, who hasn’t lost a singles match since October. “He is the man to be defeated,” said Djokovic of Medvedev. A win would give Djokovic his third straight Australian Open championship and a ninth record. He never lost in a final here.
This year’s script hardly followed its traditional form.
Djokovic angered local residents with his pre-tournament demands, and the turbulent support he usually receives from fans here has almost disappeared, except from groups of native Serbs who faithfully attend each year to attend his countrymen. He injured an abdominal muscle during his third round game and appeared on the brink of elimination before winning in five sets.
Djokovic used the injury and that of other players to spark another controversy, citing them in his criticisms of people who run professional tennis and insisting that special arrangements have to be made for tournaments to continue amid all travel restrictions and fears related to the spread of the virus. He raised the possibility of a series of bubbles, such as the one the NBA created last year in Florida, arguing that travel-related quarantines would compromise players’ safety because they would have to compete after getting limited training time.
“There are a lot of injuries,” said Djokovic. “Most players just don’t want to go through with the season if we have to be quarantined before most tournaments.”