Polarized Novak Djokovic prepares to complete the extraordinary revenge arc | Novak Djokovic

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There was a familiar roar from the crowd as Novak Djokovic appeared at Melbourne Park on Friday to power himself through largely celebratory moves for a 10th Australian Open semi-final win. There’s a distinct Djokovic sound these days: not exactly cheers or jeers but a kind of jumbled stillness, a fuzz of public sentiment, the glitz of the event, the gushing energy.

A few hostile shouts from the stands raised a look of slight dismay across that imperial landscape, only to be seen in a televised close-up. What does Djokovic look like these days? He hasn’t changed physically to begin with, and it’s still the same vision of highly flexible adaptation. He still looks a bit like a tennis ball, with his clean, fuzzy hair, soft straight nose, and mischievous eyes.

But there is another feature now in this period, her controversial maturity period, the wellness guru years. For 10 years, Djokovic was the least possessive of the top three male tennis players. the other guy. default option. However, at 35 years old, he is now on the verge of completing one of the most mind-boggling cinematic narrative arcs in sports history. Although he is already underrated and a bit underrated for his uncomfortable politics. Can we go there now? Can we just dip a hand into this thing and get a little into the details, enjoying pure sports revenge theater? Because like it or not, this is indeed one of the most extraordinary stories modern sport has ever produced.

Djokovic went on to battle the semi-finals in straight sets against America’s Tommy Ball, who looks like a compound boy on YouTube but is also an excellent mover and managed to capitalize on some unforced errors in the first set.

In the end, Djokovic was playing at something close to irresistible court, a level of intensity and precision where the opposition becomes essentially irrelevant, an ominous prospect for Stefanos Tsitsipas on Sunday afternoon. And maybe it’s worth giving a summary at its stage, if only because it all seems so far-fetched. Djokovic played his first round match at this tournament a year after his arrival in Serbia, having been deported by the Australian government as a public health risk, likely to spark civil unrest by his mere presence.

At the time Australia demanded full vaccination for visitors or a cast-iron alibi. There was an insane arrogance to Djokovic’s sloppy attempts – he’s not vaccinated – to enter under a fake medical exemption. His visa has been cancelled. It has been demonized by some, and has been swept up in wider waves of social unrest and polarized politics.

Now, a year later, we have this, a 35-year-old man blazing his way through the tournament in a haze of righteous anger. Earlier in the tie, Djokovic evaporated Alex de Minaur, one of his staunchest critics last year, and was elated with victory. Also on that list is Scott Morrison, then-Prime Minister of Australia, who undoubtedly used Djokovic as an electoral lever last summer, walking his anti-extremism phone boy for a spin around the venue and yelling on Twitter about getting stronger.

Morrison still lost his election. Australia’s travel ban for non-vaccinated people was overturned soon after, in the same month Djokovic won Wimbledon. Is it wrong, is it weak, is it politically questionable to appreciate the dark fun in this Avenger’s story, unusual dramatic arc? Is this all forbidden fruit, a tennis version of the good chops with the devil in Paradise Lost that you’re not supposed to enjoy?

Fans wave Serbian flags during Novak Djokovic’s semi-final victory over Tommy Paul. Photo: Andy Cheung/Getty Images

As always, there is a very polarizing aspect to this. Djokovic becomes somewhat of a freedom fighter icon during his altercation with the Australian Border Force, another note in this scheme that runs all the way from a believable distrust of systems through cryptography, and Bill Gates’ chat, which is full of paedo-ring stuff. There was more evidence this week of that bizarre anti-knack to catch the rise of world politics as Djokovic’s father was pictured partying with people holding a flag with Vladimir Putin’s head on. How long, you wonder, before this improbable magnetism strikes again, before we hear tales of Djokovic out there shredding ice caps, decimating snow leopards, and turning giant asteroids toward planet Earth? Optics here, Novak. Can we think of optics for once?

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However, of course, none of these things really hold up to even the most polarizing of perceptions. Djokovic’s indecision about the vaccine was not linked to any coherent line of political thought. It was a personal weakness associated with his obsession with eating and purity. He’s still, for one, a student of wellness guru Chervin Jafaria, who has a podcast with the horrible/wonderful name Wake The Fake Up, which starts each day with an hour and a half of trampolining followed by a touch of “Longevity Mushroom,” which he basically wants to sell you. his health products via Novak’s Instagram page.

Djokovic is prone to this, and he’s also obsessed with his own physicality—every microbe in his diet is striped and checked. This is the superpower that has turned him into an aging marvel of elastic and tensile strength. Is it any surprise that this being nine-tenths the weight of celery juice didn’t want to shove something new into his arm?

It still feels like an oddity, a blunder, a confusion of incoherent voices, that Djokovic should have become a divisive figure, the embodiment more than any other athlete of the polarized rage of modern public life, the dichotomy between condemned rage or unquestionable champion. -Worship. What is certain is that he remains utterly magnetic on the court, a miracle of balance and control, as he hits the ball from a coiled mind, takes whispered dance steps so small you can’t even hear him move with light, and this Sunday victory will complete the most extraordinary personal arc, a feat of pure athletic will. Which deserves a little space to marvel at.

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