Novak Djokovic, who has always been a “reversal expert” on the court, failed to turn over this time, and won his 20th career Grand Slam in 2021. He has been hailed as “should be” the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis; who can Anticipating that he fell hard in front of his best Australian Open the following year, Djokovic insisted on his willpower not to get vaccinated, which caused him to be “expelled” and lost the “Australian Open back garden”, which is the fastest and most stable. The Grand Slam fortress.
The unprecedented rivalry brought by “big 3” is continuing in different forms, but 2022 is the most shocking way; the world’s No. 1 Djokovic, who insists that he is unwilling to accept “invasive” treatment, has not yet played against his opponent. Put yourself on the most critical chessboard. On the other hand, Rafael Nadal was never expected to climb the championship all the way after his return from injury. He also played 5-set reversal and won the masterpiece in an imposing manner. The two are already standing at the golden intersection.
Falling below the current situation of the experts’ glasses, it is actually only 2 months away from the end of the 2021 ATP year when the outside world is optimistic about Djokovic’s strong monopoly.
Success or failure is willpower, Djokovic’s only way out is to get vaccinated
Djokovic was disqualified from the Australian Open because he was not vaccinated. Anyone who heard it would be shocked. What was even more shocking was that the process was extremely absurd and probably unprecedented. At the beginning of January, he first announced in a community po message that he had obtained the legal Australian medical exemption to participate in the competition. He was immediately blocked by customs and cancelled his visa when he landed. The process of being cut off from the outside world caused controversy, but Djokovic immediately went to the Australian tennis court to warm up for training, and the Australian government used its national sovereignty authority to abolish his visa twice. In the end, Djokovic appealed again, did not swallow the defeat unexpectedly, and left Australia sadly.
“I don’t pursue a grand slam record because I don’t have the vaccine” is surprising enough. Djokovic decided to give it a try after obtaining a medical exemption. It may not be his fault, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a fight. A battle that cannot be won; not vaccinating is a personal choice, and he still exposed his lack of awareness of epidemic prevention in the process (or the team did not handle it properly). He even disturbed the local residents in Australia and captured the media for days. As the world’s No. 1, he failed to express his apology. He did not perform well in misestimating the international situation, and his subsequent public relations handling also failed.
Although none of these can offset the unfair experience Djokovic may have faced when he was blocked by customs and his visa was revoked from the outside world (because he did obtain an exemption certificate, it is an indisputable fact that there are internal contradictions in Australia), and his enlightenment coach Recently, he also came out to express his stance, shouting that many players have condolences in private, and they were unable to speak publicly due to their position. Djokovic used to be a person who helped the rights and interests of players of all levels, but in the same way, this still failed to alleviate the world’s No. 1 player. Worry road. In the current epidemic, with the title of “ball king” and in other countries, it is difficult to insist on one’s own opinion (unless there is a health factor that absolutely cannot be vaccinated).
Foreign sources from various countries have written very clearly that both the UK and the US need to be fully vaccinated before they can enter the country. Apart from the fact that the French Open is not currently threatened, Djokovic will not say he wants to create a historical record. If Wimbledon and the US Open cannot participate, he will There is even a problem with keeping the king’s throne; the three 1000-point Masters Tournaments are in the United States, as long as he has no plans to take a vaccine recently, the road to normal ATP tennis will continue to be unsolved. Wait until the epidemic is over and people revoke the norm to get vaccinated and then return? No kidding, Djokovic is 34 years old, how many golden years does he have to wait?
Djokovic has always played a dramatic reversal “playbook” on the court, and it seems that it can’t be calm off the court. The former is great because of willpower, but the latter also drives itself into a dead end because of persistence. Maybe personal choices can’t be labeled right or wrong, but in the chapter of men’s online history, Djokovic has undoubtedly built a high wall for himself, and the possibility of his desire to become a GOAT is annihilated in his own hands. non-adversary.
Djokovic is expected to play in the Dubai Men’s Open on February 21, followed by the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells and Miami Open Masters on March 10. There is his name on the Izumi list, but none of this can be considered final. It will be revealed in March whether he has accepted the option of being vaccinated, or, as estimated by external sources, he may face the worst plan of temporarily retiring.
Nadal’s 21, no one thought it would happen in Australia
The 21st Grand Slam was born at the Australian Open, which is not surprising to the outside world. The surprise was that it was achieved here by Nadal instead of Djokovic, which further highlights that the two are now standing at the golden cross of fate. Whether or not Djokovic is vaccinated is still the biggest key to whether the two will open up and down.
The “Spanish Bull” Nadal, who has always been troubled by injuries for many years, is always considered to have a chance to break through 20, but the probability of occurrence should be in the back garden of the French Open. Since Djokovic took the French Open champion from Nadal abruptly last year, people began to feel that Nadal is quite critical; because the Australian Open has been “curse” for many years and injured his knee, Wimbledon and the US Open are often in maintenance periods. , the only sure-win French Open can’t contain Djokovic, and the road ahead will definitely be difficult. As a result, things are unpredictable. It is interesting that Nadal, who has only won the Australian Open once in the past, suddenly raised an exciting trophy here. Due to his age and style of play, Nadal is inherently disadvantaged on hard courts, not to mention that the outside world often “sings” the injury to him. Similar words, so it is indeed not in the top few candidates for the Australian Open to win the championship.
But in the end, Nadal not only broke his own concerns, but also used the most classic loss, two wins and three reversals to win the 21st Grand Slam Gold Cup in his career, beating Russia’s world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in five sets. The number of matches surpassed Roger Federer and Djokovic in one fell swoop, and it also symbolized the rekindling of the big 3 “GOAT (Greatest in History) Battle”. And don’t forget, the next Grand Slam is clay, and Nadal still has his place.
The Vaccine Theater and the Australian Open battle for hegemony only lasted 2 months, but in just 60 days, the world men’s tennis world was completely reshuffled. Looking back at the assessment in November 2021, people are surprised and sigh that the ball is really round. , no one is guaranteed to win.
There must be shadows behind the sunshine, where will the new generation go?
Russia’s world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev missed this year’s Australian Open men’s singles final, which caused him a great psychological burden and injury. Do you want to say that his mental quality is not big enough? But not necessarily. After all, as a player of the new generation, Medvedev is blunt and outspoken in private. He will not feel wronged when he encounters unfairness on the court. He speaks loudly and logically on public affairs. select.
However, after the Australian Open ended, the situation he faced was the shadow of the big 3 (or big 4); he said in a column a long time ago that there must be a dark side behind the sun. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray fill the big stage with pressure and coexistence, and there are really few opportunities to learn these details “beyond hitting skills”. Just imagine, the Big 4 played in a 4-2 matchup in the Grand Slam finals. Although there were occasional players who made it to the top 4, there was still a big gap between the tension and intensity of the final victory.
Medvedev’s remarks at the press conference after the loss to Nadal was actually worth pondering. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the malicious interference of Australian audiences and fans in the final, and the whole audience wanted to see Nadal perform a super reversal. Medvedev became more and more anxious after the fourth set, and he could still be seen in the third set. His expression seemed to think that the loss of a set was just an accident, but he didn’t expect that when the audience was not the backer, and when the opponent was Nadal, he was in a mess. How absurd it sounds to him that he will no longer dream of majors in the future, and only fight for those who support him, or fight for Russia. But it’s not strong enough to just take this sentence as a defeat, and that’s too harsh on Medvedev! In fact, he has armed himself to the extreme, so that he can become a new generation player who has entered the Grand Slam final twice in a row when the middle and new generation players from all walks of life are unable to maintain “long-term stability”.
You can say that his heart is not big enough, you can also say that you ask him to learn how Djokovic climbed from the third to the top; but in the same way, don’t ignore the huge impact of the golden age big 4; For a long time, there will be more time to be missed, and there will be more and more players who doubt their abilities, emotions, and can’t face being badly praised.
Medvedev is a crime of non-war. If you have seen his performance against Djokovic at the US Open in 2021, if you have seen him win the first two sets at the Australian Open this year when everyone is cheering for Nadal, in fact, he has already pay all. It is this generation that has given Medvedev the biggest problem. It is easier said than done to defuse an extremely complex bomb, let alone the three that have been continuously pouring in each other.
The middle- and new-generation players each have their own challenges; Alexander Zverev is often regarded as a candidate to win the championship, but standing in a Grand Slam event seems to be in a parallel world. So far, he has won two ATP year-end tournaments and Olympic gold medals, but the Grand Slam tournament has won two gold medals. Guan has always been criticized for being “soft-handed”. Stefanos Tsitsipas has the courage to play. He has made a name for himself and even competes with Nadal on the clay, but he is always caught in the toilet storm, “coaching” controversy, out of order farce, and the grand slam summit is always bad. step. Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov are technically not as comprehensive as the above-mentioned ones. If you want to succeed as a dark horse, you have to rely on luck. Medvedev is already the best choice among all people to carry the brand name of the new generation. At least he has a bottom line like Djokovic. The ability to draw and serve also has the attitude of a giant gun. Although the rescue is not as soft and easy as the king of the ball, and the instantaneous explosive power of the front and backhands is not as good as the big 3 can dominate the key, the front of the net and the volley need to be strengthened, but he is the one who has already People who carry a lot of pressure, all he needs is time.
After Nadal picked up “21”, the world men’s tennis world went to an unknown; Djokovic’s loss, Nadal’s comeback, Federer’s comeback and Medvedev’s resentment, after the intersection of the four, 2022 can be said to be a special situation that cannot be predicted at all . What can be grasped is that Nadal’s focus will definitely be on the French Open, and he may continue to take care of himself in the second half of the year; Djokovic sees his choice. If he figures it out, Wimbledon may still be the biggest advantage. The US Open is still the place where Medvedev’s generals are the easiest to kill.