A couple of weeks after Apollo 11s lunar odyssey in 1969,a shy Australian achieved the moon,so to speak. Wielding his wooden racquet,wristy Rod Laver conquered New York,and the world watched in awe as the 30-year-old navigated tennis gloriously through uncharted territory the Open era. By winning all four majors in a year for the second time (he had won a Grand Slam in the pre-Open 1962),Laver was bestowed with the title of the greatest tennis player ever. To this day,he is worshipped by his most worthy successors. Pete Sampras modelled his game on him; Roger Federer cannot maintain a dry eye in Lavers presence; Rafael Nadal stopped singing lavish praises of his Swiss arch-rival after uncle Toni narrated heroic tales of Laver on a flight to Melbourne.
Thats what it once took to be the best in the business revered by colleagues,adored by fans and worthy of feats unachievable by the rest of mankind. Today,public perception has perhaps made it a lot easier. The title now rests with a man whose claim to fame is being on the verge of equalling an outlandishly long streak,set over a quarter-century ago.
Without taking any credit away from the Serb,it will be interesting to see how he will be perceived once the anomaly comes to an end. One burst of rhythm,like in Djokovics case,is at best a stepping stone to the pinnacles that the likes of Federer and Nadal have achieved.
John McEnroes 1984 run of 42 unbeaten matches in a year and Guillermo Vilass 46-match streak on all surfaces in 1977 are under threat. But does that make it better than when Federer was unbeaten for 65 matches on grass over five seasons,or even a smudge on Nadals 81-match purple patch on clay? These too are record streaks,ones where form stayed constant,week after week,season after season.
In 2011 so far,Djokovic has seized control of everything hes stepped on,conquering Melbourne,the hard courts of Dubai,Indian Wells,Miami and his beloved home town of Belgrade. But it was the last two clay tournaments of Madrid and Rome that forced the gaping spectators to replace his joker tag with that of king. Taming Nadal twice on his surface of choice probably had something to do with it. With a fantastic command over his double-handed backhand,Djokovic has negated Nadals affinity to break down the weaker side of a tennis player. By hitting lower and flatter while standing on the edge of the baseline,he has countered the unbelievable top-spin revolutions the Spaniard gives to a tennis ball. Its easy for an above-average player to look good on the run,but only a true champion,as Djokovic is turning out to be,shows his class from defensive positions and pressure zones.
What makes for an interesting case study is the eagerness with which the modern-day tennis fan waits to kill the prophets. Even before Djokovic can go on to do anything substantial (winning two Australian Opens doesnt gain anyone an entry into the pantheon of the great),Federer is erased from popular memory. All this while he is still the third in world rankings. His record 16 Slams,a trophy on every surface,an unbelievable 237 weeks on top of the world and a half-dozen encryptions on Londons SW 19 helped him capture the human mind with possibilities,much the way Laver did. Blessed with an art that both W.B. Yeats and Jimmy Page would have been inspired by,Federers technical skill-set bordered on flawlessness. And by the time he was Djokovics age,he had won three of the four majors,and a total of six Slams.
To put things in perspective,Federer has had two consecutive all-surface streaks of over 35 Samprass best was 32. Djokovic,going for broke ever since he won the Davis Cup for his country,has had one terribly long and astonishingly successful run. Even labelling him Federers successor is an insult,as Nadal,just a year older than the Serb,has won nine Slams to Djokovics two in all four cities to Djokovics one.
Djokovic could very well be the new prototype in the art to command the baseline for future generations. But as far as being the greatest is concerned,his truest test will begin once the amnesia-inducing streak is broken. The moon,in Djokovics case,is still an astronomical distance away.
aditya.iyer@expressindia.com
