When Djokovic is on like he was in the second week of this tournament, his game is all about firsts. Line-scraping first serves that give him the first point of his service games. First breaks of his opponents’ serves that become a first dagger, and first-set wins for a player who rarely lets anyone creep back into a match.
He does not let opponents catch their breath, smacking returns at their shins, forcing them to hit yet another shot, and then another one after they think they have won a point. It’s tennis a form of suffocation. Tommy Paul, the American who was Djokovic’s victim in the semifinal, said when it was over that much of the first set was a blur. Paul had played tennis his whole life but this time, the seconds between points, between the moment he hit a ball and then was on the run chasing after the next one, had never passed so quickly.
Andrey Rublev, a Russian with a fearsome forehand and serve, paced in the hallway in the minutes before being called onto the court. He had played Djokovic three times before, and even beat him once, but had never faced him at Rod Laver Arena, where across the net he faced an even more invincible version of Djokovic than what he had seen in the past.
“He was playing much better,” a dazed Rublev said when it was over. “I don’t know what else to say.”
In the fourth round Alex de Minaur, playing in front of a hometown crowd ready to cheer him into battle, won just five games. After demolishing de Minaur, Djokovic said to the Serbian press that playing against an Australian in Australia motivated him because of what the country’s government had done to him the previous year, detaining and deporting him because of his notoriety and his stance against mandated vaccinations.
But Djokovic’s reclamation mission in Australia was filled with hazards. Ahead of the tournament he aggravated his hamstring, forcing him to take the court wearing a thick strapping around the injured area until the final. He hobbled through the first week, playing without the magical movement that is the foundation of his game.
And then, as with so many of his previous injuries, a combination of rest, massages and painkillers made the pain and discomfort go away when it mattered most arrived. He heard the noise on social media questioning whether the leg had ever been hurt at all, and shot back that no one questions the validity of other players’ injuries — an unsubtle reference to the always banged-up Nadal — only his.
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