Djokovic has two sets while Berrettini one. A fight for the fourth set. 5 games to 3. Djokovic is at an advantage. If he wins this championship point, he equals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer’s 20 Grand Slam titles. Every single muscle in the stadium is tense. Novak is not himself today. There are no occasional outbursts of passion, no grins, no grimaces. A picture of serenity. And at this championship point of the fourth set, he is a calm boat, gliding through a gentle river. But a few paces ahead, the cliff starts and a roaring waterfall lie waiting. The crowd, the players, and the fans at home can hear the faint song of the rushing water.
Berrettini serves. The rally begins. We wait for something to happen. And then it does. The ball returns from Berrettini’s racquet and collides with the net on its journey home. It is done. Djokovic, overcome with joy, collapses on the ground. He greets his fans, eats the grass of Centre Court, and embraces his team. His team is overjoyed. They hold him tight, tousling his hair and patting his back. Sixty Grand Slam Titles are now shared between just three men- Rafa, Roger, and Djoko. On 11th July 2021, tennis history was made.
Every person on Earth gets to witness history being written. Here it is, in a matter of a few seconds, a record has been broken. We cherish these moments. We treasure them, so that years later while reminiscing about some old memory, we come across them. We remember the intensity, we remember the trends, we remember the goosebumps. We shed a tear and beam.As soon as Djokovic reached 5 games, I scrambled for my phone. I could not forget to do this. Shakily, my hands held it mid-air and pressed record.
Tennis is beautiful. A dance with a ball and a racquet. A furious dance, a gentle dance. And sometimes we forget to savour these few moments recorded in stone. Bjorn Borg won an early tie-breaker in 1980, 8-6, and held the Wimbledon trophy.
Djokovic, following tradition, walks up the carpeted stairs the inside of the Wimbledon Centre Court. There, he engages in pleasantries with the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge. But rewinding a bit, let’s go back to his interview.
As Novak cannot contain his joy, he stands in front of the many spectators. One of his fans shouts “I love you!”. To this, he grins and replies, “Thank you, I love you too!”. Laughter echoes through the stadium. He recalls his time as a young boy in Serbia, constructing the Wimbledon trophy out of any material he can lay his hands on in his room. And here he is, cradling and kissing it. As he takes off his shoes and shirt and throws it into a crowd of waving enthusiastic arms, he notices a little girl in the frontlines. He simply takes his racquet and gives it to her. She can barely hold it, and her father takes it from her, all the while ecstatic and showering her with kisses. I don’t know what it is, but maybe he saw something of himself in her. A little child in Serbia, waving madly at his hero, dreaming big.
By, Aviendha Asati, Sub-Editor
