Djokovic repped his team and country – and won the ATP Cup for Serbia with one of his best friends by his side

When Novak Djokovic won his ninth consecutive match on hard courts against Rafael Nadal in a pivotal singles rubber between Serbia and Spain at the ATP Cup final Sunday night, he continued the mastery he’s enjoyed over the World No. 1 by winning 19 consecutive sets going back to the 2013 US Open final.

Djokovic’s 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Nadal inside a packed and loud Ken Rosewall Arena leveled the inaugural ATP Cup final at 1-1 and overturned the momentum Spain had established when Roberto Bautista Agut gave his country a 1-0 lead following his 7-5, 6-1 win over Dusan Lajovic in the opening rubber. Djokovic extended his ATP Cup singles unbeaten streak to six and improved his career head-to-head record against Nadal to 29-26.

It also meant the first ATP Cup, which began with 24 teams playing in three Australian cities amid the country’s blazing bushfires and ended with the final two in Sydney at the end of the 10-day tournament, would come down to a winner-take-all live doubles rubber that would decide which country would lift the title trophy. What a way to start the 2020 tennis season!

Looking back, Djokovic dominated Nadal from the beginning of their one hour and 55 minute match. He put the Spaniard on the defensive, both with his returns and during some prolonged and grueling rallies. After Djokovic broke Nadal in the opening game and later in the seventh game of the first set, he hit four consecutive aces to close out the first set. Djokovic maintained his level of intensity in the second set – he would finish with 12 aces and win 84 percent (41 of 49) of his first-serve points – and forced Nadal into a defensive posture that took him out of his comfort zone. As Djokovic later recalled, “I started the match perfectly with everything working for me.

“I was trying to take away as much time as possible from him. I was serving very well, definitely the best serving match I had in the tournament. Just extremely satisfied with the way I performed.”

Djokovic outpointed Nadal 75-59 and saved five of five break points. 

Nadal was matter of fact in his assessment: “Happy the way that I was able to compete. I had my chances. I was very close. Not happy with the loss, of course, but the feeling in that second set is positive.”

Now, with plenty of flag-waving fans repping both countries and with the arena’s namesake, Australian Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall in attendance, it was game on for the champion’s trophy.

While Spain opted not to play Nadal in doubles because he had run out of energy, Djokovic still had something left in the tank to offer Serbia. He was in the Serbian doubles lineup, where he teamed with his longtime friend and teammate Viktor Troicki. Together, they proved clutch against Pablo Carreño Busta and Feliciano Lopez of Spain and won the decider, 6-3, 6-4.

“We won against a really, really good doubles team,” Djokovic said during Serbia’s team press conference. “It was a surprise that Nadal was not on the court, but nevertheless, we had to do the job and the job was done very well.”

Throughout, Team Serbia received tremendous and loud fan support, especially in Sydney, where there is a large Serbia population – and Djokovic fed off of the energy that their vocal cheers of “No-le” and “Ser-bia” created. As New York Times tennis correspondent Ben Rothenberg tweeted, “Every Serbia match felt like a home game, both in Brisbane and Sydney.”

“I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like this on a tennis court. ... You carried us to victory and we owe you a big, big thanks,” Djokovic said during the trophy ceremony in thanking the Serbian fans. “We are part of an individual sport where we play by ourselves. But even when we were playing singles, it never felt like it was only you out there. You always have a team in your corner giving you strength and focus. This was the highlight of the competition, along with the support of fans and the flags.”

As soon as Djokovic served out the final game of the match and the tournament, his Serbian teammates and their captain, Nenad Zimonjic, sprinted from the team zone on to the court and surrounded him and Troicki. Together, they broke into a celebratory group hug that was both genuine and giddy – and thoroughly enjoyable to see.

“I’ll remember this experience for the rest of my life as definitely one of the nicest moments in my career,” said Djokovic following his team’s jubilant celebration. That says something coming from the 16-time Grand Slam champion who will begin his title defense of the Australian Open next week in Melbourne. Djokovic has lifted the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup seven times. 

“Ive been very fortunate and blessed to have an amazing career the last 15 years, but playing for the team, playing for the country with some of my best friends for a long time, you can’t match that. That’s just too special.”

A version of this story first appeared on Tennis-TourTalk.com. 

Screenshot photo courtesy of ATP world video stream.

At the year’s end, one last 2019 travel adventure

Once upon a time, the beloved and respected American actor Alan Alda suggested that you have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. “What you’ll discover,” he said “will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”

As we begin the New Year, 2020, no matter where we may be or reside in the world, it’s worth a moment of our time to consider the meaning of Alda’s words.

Last Sunday, my wife and I returned from a brief but eventful five-day holiday visit to New York City, our fourth trip there during 2019. Each time we go – and it’s only a 3 1/2-hour trip via the Amtrak Northeast Regional – we try to see a different part of what is arguably one of the greatest cities in the world. Our post-Christmas, pre-New Year’s visit rewarded us with a wonderful opportunity to discover new things – and, this time, from a Lower East Side perspective. It was worth it.

Our visit began with theater – we saw the much anticipated “David Byrne’s American Utopia” at the intimate Hudson Theatre (once home to NBC’s “Tonight Show” back in the early 1950s Steve Allen era), featuring a tour de force performance by the Talking Heads superstar that was part TED talk, part rock concert, and very much a bare-footed dance spectacle. There were crowd-favorite hits newly arranged by Byrne like “Once in a Lifetime” and “Burning Down the House,” that complemented songs covering the 67-year-old’s post-Heads solo career. All together, they wove a narrative in which Byrne tried to help his audience find a sense of happiness in these troubled times we all live in.

Our visit included shopping, from loading up on mouth-watering Lindt chocolates to finding new fashion at Uniqlo’s expansive Fifth Avenue headquarters near the Museum of Modern Art just above Rockefeller Plaza, where there was plenty of activity centering around its colorful, larger-than-life Christmas tree and popular skating rink.

We enjoyed a satisfying, educational day visiting two of the city’s finest museums – the newly re-opened MOMA, where we braved the crowds hovering around Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and Monet’s “Water Lillies,” and a hidden gem in the Tenement Museum, located at the corner of Orchard and Delaney streets in the Lower East Side, about a five-minute walk from the Hotel Indigo, where we lodged during our stay.

All along our journey in New York City, which the cast of Hamilton describes it as “the greatest city in the world,” there was plenty of wonderful food awaiting us, from the delicious dim sum at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown on Christmas Evening (very much worth the 75-minute wait just to get a table); to a pre fixe epicurean delight at Butter in Midtown; to late night posh doughnuts at the Donut Pub in Chelsea; and, finally, deli delights at Russ & Daughters Appetizers (bagels with cream cheese) and Katz’s (cheese blintzes).

New York City is a place in which I could never see myself getting bored. There’s always plenty of interesting things to explore and admire – and to be curious about – any time of the day or night.

As I learned once again, it’s easy to get caught up in the city’s history. I was reminded of this when I learned about late 19th/early 20th-century shop life at 97 Orchard Street while visiting the Tenement Museum. I was reminded of this through the art I saw at MOMA; as well as in the Puerto Rican-infused jazz music I heard at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Also, in the theater I enjoyed on Broadway with “David Byrne’s American Utopia,” and from the tremendous choice of food – where, if you think about it, there’s every imaginable ethnic cuisine to be discovered and eaten.

There’s plenty to explore in New York City. I know I’ll be back, again, soon.

In the meantime, I look forward to 2020 and the New Year that awaits. Hopefully, it will be a year full of new discoveries and new travel adventures. It is truly my hope that yours will be filled with new discoveries and new travel adventures, too.

Safe travels and Happy New Year!

Photographs: Michael Dickens, © 2020.