In 2011, men's tennis lives under the yoke of Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian no longer shares.
With his 37 victories in as many games, he gives full meaning to the word invincible.
Even Rafael Nadal admits there is a new sheriff in town following his loss in the Rome tournament final (his fourth in four finals).
"When a player is better than you, you shake his hand and move on to the next tournament."
Understand at Roland-Garros from next week.
If it flirts with the unreal, the domination of "Nole" is due to factors, them, very rational.
Starting with this Davis Cup victory last December against France.
Since he gave the silver bowl to Serbia, the kid from Belgrade says he “feels lighter”.
He also put his staff in order in April 2010 by taking leave of one of his two coaches, Todd Martin.
The American wanted to change his gesture in the service at the cost of an epidemic of double faults.
Today, Djokovic only listens to his historic coach and his friend, Marian Vajda.
"I think he got lost in wanting to expand his structure," confirms the former French player Arnaud Di Pasquale.
He innovated and screwed up.
Now he knows what suits him and what doesn't. ”
The virtues of the ego
At Novak Djokovic, there is this compelling desire to innovate so as never to stagnate. In his game, we observe a more aggressive player who refuses to give up an inch of ground. Arnaud Di Pasquale is struck by this ability to walk on the opponent even when he comes from Mallorca: “Physically, he has this ability to keep his baseline which is impressive. Against Nadal, he never backed down. In modern tennis, the key to success is getting the ball as early as possible ”.
But for the current high-level manager at the French tennis federation, Djokovic's greatest asset is first and foremost an XXL ego: "Novak has limitless ambition, he knows exactly where he wants to go and in a sport. individual it is after all an essential quality ”.
Now his opponents can always hang on to a precedent to give themselves hope.
In 1984, John McEnroe arrived undefeated at Roland Garros before stumbling against Ivan Lendl in the final.
Tennis
Novak Djokovic
Rome
Roland Garros