This week, on the leader’s bed, they accompany us tennis player Novak Djokovicnumber 7 in the world. Yes, this summer we leave the business leaders and focus on the sports professionals, Well, January, for sports fans, is synonymous with the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.
And this sporting event, the first of four Grand Slams, not only brings together the best tennis players of the moment, but the living legend, the last of the generation that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. They were surprised by tennis and the personality of a person whose courts were very short.
Good, bad, Djokovic has made this story not only because of his victories and defeats, but also because of his personality, a personality that has caused him more than one problem because of his positions and opinions. on difficult issues such as Serbian politics, war and religion… without forgetting that in recent years He led a global anti-vaccination campaign in the middle of the pandemic.
Also, Nole is a fan of health, a concept that includes a list of courses that strengthening physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health with the aim of increasing longevity. For this reason, the GOAT meditates, reads poetry in many languages, does tai chi, runs, does yoga, listens to classical music and does things related to the good life.
Yes, Balkan earthquake He is a prolific athlete, controversial and dangerous, who is able to control – in good and bad ways – the attention and interest of the press, people and the world, pushing the media cart beyond the traditional limits of sports where its stars They talk about tennis only.
Like it or not, Novak is a man of our time, because as Max Colodro says in the introduction to Twitter vs. Twitter (X), from journalist Rosario Moreno, we are in a new culture “Digital communication and social media have brought people to the beginning of a strange renaissance, to a strange civilization where rules and restrictions are trying to keep them from falling.”
Djoker, unlike other former numbers, such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, has broken the mold and for journalists like Sebastián Festthe author of I’m not red, Nole’s behavior in front of cameras and microphones is unusual, because – in his eyes – Serbian efforts to be liked can be too much. Let’s go with it:
“Almost everything is a little bit more about Djokovic: from his tennis and impossible shots, to his celebrations, through a long list that includes imitating his opponents, Serbia’s political interests, promoting a gluten-free diet or the unfortunate image with a gun. . together and his friend Janko Tipsarevic.”
To this list we must add his already mentioned work as an anti-vaccination leader, his difficult conversations and stadiums where he is shot or his celebrations wrapped in the Serbian flag, kissing the cross that is always around his neck. Yes, Djokovic is not afraid of excess, controversy, people or the media, achieving more than fifteen million followers on Instagram and nine million on Twitter.
And that’s why no one wants to miss the show he can give in Australia, because as Sebastián Fest would say, Novak doesn’t play games where you’re a spectator, “They play with the audience.”
Evidence of this is the conversations they have with people or the chocolate they give to journalists at press conferences, or major events such as entering with a cup of Firefighters in New York City to honor them – after the attack on the Twin Towers – in the US Open, if’ eat grass from a tennis cathedral after winning Wimbledon or enter the Rome Masters with a bicycle helmet after accidentally receiving a bottle in 2024.
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A lot of What is really going on
Yes, Nole is not unknown and we can say, following the psychoanalyst Luciano Lutereau, that his insatiable mental hunger is anxiety, good an elastic person Not only has he won 24 Grand Slams – almost 100 titles in his career – and two Olympic medals, but he has been number one in the world for 428 weeks and has earned more than one hundred and eighty million dollars, not counting his foreign earnings. of the circle
What more could one want – or one of the best tennis players of all time?
Much, much, because as Lutereau says, “An anxious person wants something to happen, but for it to happen because even if something doesn’t happen, he is alone with his pain.” Yes, the Serbian is worried and interested, because following this trans-Andean expert, stories like this exist. “the external observation and their actions are done at a high price of magic, -and constant control”, Because the anxious person’s attention is very excited and his gaze is alert and alert, without rest.
Press conference, Australian Open 2025. Photo: REUTERS
And this happens in a time when, following Max Colodro’s introduction, personal boundaries are not clear. Yes, we are no longer selfish and modern Cartesian people, or Freudian people who had a conscience inside as an alien, because. “Now it’s the Internet and social media that have made us unconscious and machine-driven, a threat that drives our desires and decisions through algorithms and artificial intelligence.”
Returning to the Australian courts, we must not forget that this Olympic gold medalist does not play with Nadal, Federer or Murray, but is ten or fifteen years faster than him.
Will they be able to steal the lights?
It’s true, Novak is no longer number one in the world, but no other player or legend arrives in Australia with ten trophies in his pocket. Yes, the Serbian has lifted the Norman Brookes Cup ten times – between 2008 and 2023 -, four more titles than Roger Federer on Australian soil, eight more than Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Vilas, the only South American to win the trophy from Australia and America in the late 1970s.
On our side, two Chileans reached the final grand final in Australia. The first was Marcelo RÃos in 1998, who fell in straight sets (6-2, 6-2, 6-2) against world number two, Peter Korda. And Fernando González, who fell at the end of 2007, to none other than Roger Federer, in a tough 7-6 (2), 6-4. 6-4.
González, who defeated Novak Djokovic twice, admitted, some time after the final in Australia, that was the best tennis of his lifebecause just to reach that stage he had to defeat Lleyton Hewitt, James Blake, Rafel Nadal and Tommy Haas.
Today, almost twenty years later, we are about to see the goat once more, but – if we are lucky – to see him play against. Alejandro Tabilo, Nicolás Jarry or Christian GarÃnincreasing, in an unprecedented way, the chance of the Chilean to beat Novak again, as Alejandro Tabilo already did at the ATP in Rome last year.
And if that happens… everyone will know.