Stadiums are kangaroo courts, infamous for their hasty judgments. Sports fans are instant opinion-makers. They are also the judge and jury.
So, last weekend at the Australian Open, after his loss to 22-year-old Jannik Sinner in the semifinal, the verdict on Novak Djokovic was diligently passed. The greatest ever tennis player was past his prime at 36; the 20-something Gen-Next had finally caught up and it was curtains for the Djokovic era.
The undisputed World No.1 would call the face-off with Sinner his ‘worst Grand Slam match ever.’ Statistics too indicated so. The man known to play a flawless percentage game had 54 unforced errors. One of the best returners in the history of the sport didn’t have a single break point on Sinner’s serve. It was the darkest day of Djokovic’s sparkling career.
Thankfully, there was the ageless champion of her time, Martina Navratilova, to put a rational frame of perspective around the rattled Djokovic statement after the shocking loss. ‘When you get older, the bad days get worse,’ she would say. And be it the GOAT or a 9-to-5 mortal, who doesn’t have a bad day at the