It used to be a running joke when players won the first Grand Slam event of the year that they would be asked, at some stage in their post-match press conference, whether they thought they might be able to win the calendar year Grand Slam. When it comes to Novak Djokovic, though, it is a serious question.
No man has managed to win all four majors, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, in the same year since Rod Laver did it for a second time in 1969. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic himself have all managed three in one year but all found the complete set one step too far. The demands of the modern game, experts said, make the Grand Slam almost impossible but suddenly, in the era of Novak, it seems possible once more.
It was fitting that Laver should be there to see Djokovic move alongside him and Bjorn Borg in the all-time list of Grand Slam champions with 11. That puts him fifth equal, with just Roy Emerson, whose record of six Australian Opens he matched, on 12, Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal on 14 and Federer still out on his own at 17.
Though he won his first Grand Slam title in 2008, in Australia, it took Djokovic three more years to win his second , again in Melbourne. Since then, he’s won nine of the past 20 Grand Slams, as dominant as anyone has been in the game’s history. He has won four of the past five Grand Slams, his only disappointment coming at the French Open last summer, where he lost in the final to Stan Wawrinka.
It still takes an awful lot to achieve the Grand Slam. Not only does it require staying fit and healthy, avoiding injury, it also needs a bit of luck and for no one else to have a hot streak, as Wawrinka did in Paris. At 28, Djokovic is still improving, and if anyone can do it, it’s the Serb.
In Australia, on a surface he loves, Djokovic seems unbeatable. Against Murray he ran through the first set and then, when Murray upped the ante on his groundstrokes in the second and third sets, he used his incredible athleticism to nullify the threat.
In reaching 17 straight finals, across the regular Tour and Grand Slams, Djokovic has compiled a 92-5 record, equalling Federer’s record in 2006, the year he dominated the Tour like no other.
Federer’s attempts to win the Grand Slam were always denied by Nadal at the French Open, the only one of the Slams Djokovic has still to conquer. On this form, it is going to take something special to stop him and at this rate, Federer must be wondering if Djokovic could overtake his record of 17 Slam titles.
Prashanth
