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Is this Novak Djokovic’s last dance? · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Monday, January twelve, twenty twenty six. Anthony Albanezi's hate
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  Speaker 1: speech laws, due to be unveiled within days, must be
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  Speaker 1: embraced by all sides of politics, says eminent Jewish business
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  Speaker 1: leaders Stephen Lowe. Lowie also says the Royal Commission must
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  Speaker 1: cover immigration policy as well as the rise of anti Semitism.
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  Speaker 1: That's an exclusive live now at the Australian dot com
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  Speaker 1: dot au. If you love tennis, the most glorious part
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  Speaker 1: of the year is about to start. The long night's,
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  Speaker 1: high emotions and stunning athleticism of the Australian Open under
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  Speaker 1: baking Melbourne skies. For years, this tournament was dominated by
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  Speaker 1: the Big three RUFA Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
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  Speaker 1: Age and weariness is claimed Ruffer and Roger, and now
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  Speaker 1: there's just one old warrior left, the joker who loves
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  Speaker 1: to play the hero and the villain for fight up
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  Speaker 1: Australian fans. So will Djokovic make it to Melbourne and
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  Speaker 1: will it be his last dance Today? The Australian's Tennis
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  Speaker 1: writer Will Swanton joins the fronts Kristin Ainiott.
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  Speaker 2: Lenzie. Youngster Novak Djokovic was told by his father that
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  Speaker 2: he wanted him to be a soccer player or a skier.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe he's about the show Dan and he made the run.
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  Speaker 3: Choice lastin Drive say so wonder the title put a
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  Speaker 3: Serbian superstar p history.
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  Speaker 4: Made no Champion of Australian third.
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  Speaker 2: But he is the best player on the planet again.
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  Speaker 3: He has done it. Major title, Uperdrupty one Chex is over.
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  Speaker 2: He's kine writer, a rapper.
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  Speaker 4: Novak Djokovic a Grand Slam champion again twenty four and
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  Speaker 4: he still wants more.
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  Speaker 2: Novak Djokovic, serial record breaker, achieves a centuries of career titles.
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  Speaker 3: It's another landmark moment.
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  Speaker 4: The first time I saw him was that the good
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  Speaker 4: old Sydney International, which probably gives away Novak's age because
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  Speaker 4: that was his first big summer in Australia and it
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  Speaker 4: was at a tournament that no longer exists. So he's
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  Speaker 4: outlived this in the International.
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  Speaker 5: At the endway this is sport reporter Will Swanton. He's
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  Speaker 5: reminiscing on the first time he saw a young Novak
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  Speaker 5: Dokovic play tennis in person.
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  Speaker 4: But anyway, this was before he won majors, and he
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  Speaker 4: was just this talented, volatile, entertaining, ambitious, driven young serb
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  Speaker 4: who had a bit of hype about him. I still
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  Speaker 4: remember going out there, stinking hot ken Rosewall Arena to
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  Speaker 4: watch this tall, skinny, lanky, cranky serb, and I still
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  Speaker 4: remember we were sitting courtside and he was so cranky,
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  Speaker 4: and he threw his racket and the little vibration dampener
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  Speaker 4: that you get that you're put in your racket strings
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  Speaker 4: flew off his racket and hit me straight on the
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  Speaker 4: forehead in the front row of the and he had
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  Speaker 4: this smashed racket and he wanted his vibration damp in
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  Speaker 4: the back, and we threw it back onto the court
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  Speaker 4: for him. But it's fruscating to think of that now,
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  Speaker 4: because it didn't walk away thinking there's an all time great,
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  Speaker 4: like good player, had a lot going for him, super fit,
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  Speaker 4: all that kind of thing. But the first time I
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  Speaker 4: saw Roger Federer play was at the same tournament, and
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  Speaker 4: I still remember Federer and it was just you had
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  Speaker 4: this sense of magic. First time, Novak, it was just
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  Speaker 4: like good, methodical, efficient player and you would never have
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  Speaker 4: thought what twenty twenty five years later that Novak's won
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  Speaker 4: more majors than anyone in history, more than Roger, more
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  Speaker 4: than Rafa Novak.
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  Speaker 5: Djokovic is of course one of the greats of the
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  Speaker 5: men's game, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and if you're
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  Speaker 5: feeling generous, Andy Murray. Between them, they've won almost seventy
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  Speaker 5: Grand Slam titles in one of the single greatest eras
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  Speaker 5: in sporting history. And although he's pushing forty, Djokovic is
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  Speaker 5: the last one standing. He's also lifted two dozen Grand
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  Speaker 5: Slam trophies, ten of them at the Australia and Open.
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  Speaker 4: I've seen him in all all the majors, and like,
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  Speaker 4: I look back on it now and I think you have,
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  Speaker 4: like a feeling of admiration and respect for the fight
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  Speaker 4: is always put into it. We could talk for hours
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  Speaker 4: about that whole greatest debate, because what is the greatest?
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  Speaker 4: Is he the greatest because he's won the most or
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  Speaker 4: is it also a big part of it the way
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  Speaker 4: an athlete makes you feel. So when he came along,
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  Speaker 4: there was one hundred percent the sense of Roger and Raffa,
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  Speaker 4: we're going to be unbeatable for the next ten to
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  Speaker 4: fifteen years, and Novak, to his eternal credit, was the
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  Speaker 4: only one of the next group of players who basically
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  Speaker 4: thought stuff that I'm going to throw everything I've possibly
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  Speaker 4: got into beating them, because why can't someone beat them?
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  Speaker 4: And he's done it, he says himself. He doesn't have
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  Speaker 4: their natural flair and that kind of thing. So the
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  Speaker 4: way he could beat them was to just be insanely
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  Speaker 4: super fit. To start with best of five, if it
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  Speaker 4: went for three, four, five hours, he wanted to last
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  Speaker 4: longer than them, and you know, just a style of
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  Speaker 4: play that basically amounted to don't miss, and it's these
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  Speaker 4: super athleticism and everything else just allowed him to basically
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  Speaker 4: get to every ball and get it back. And what
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  Speaker 4: he did have was just a sky high level of
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  Speaker 4: self belief, And honestly, it's one of the most incredible
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  Speaker 4: things in sport that he had this what seemed like
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  Speaker 4: an impossible dream. He was open about it, and twenty
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  Speaker 4: years later he actually did what he said he was
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  Speaker 4: going to do. And it's a beautiful thing. For all
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  Speaker 4: the tennis he's played and everything he's won, he's still playing,
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  Speaker 4: I just think it's that true affection for his sport
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  Speaker 4: that he's not quite sure how to give it away.
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  Speaker 5: What do you think he wants out of the Australian
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  Speaker 5: Open in twenty twenty six, which may very well be
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  Speaker 5: his last Grand Slam. What do you think he really
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  Speaker 5: just wants to keep going until he physically cannot walk
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  Speaker 5: onto the court.
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  Speaker 4: We might have to drag him out by the ankle.
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  Speaker 4: It some stays. And I think what he wants is
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  Speaker 4: the same thing that I suspect you wanted last year.
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  Speaker 4: Was he wanted a barometer of where he actually stands
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  Speaker 4: now against these young guys. Remember last year at the
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  Speaker 4: Aussie Open, he beat Alcaraz in the quarter finals and
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  Speaker 4: then lost in the semi, So he knew then he
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  Speaker 4: could still beat Carlos Alcaraz. Oh, we were lucky enough
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  Speaker 4: to be at the Olympics when he beat Alcaraz, and
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  Speaker 4: you just thought there's no way on their form through
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  Speaker 4: the Olympics, and Alcaraz not long before it had thrashed
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  Speaker 4: Novak in the Wimbledon final. Alcaraz was flying and he
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  Speaker 4: just never thought I really did not think there was
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  Speaker 4: a way Novak could win. And it was just like
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  Speaker 4: willpower got in that gold medal. The fight he showed
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  Speaker 4: in that match, and there's plenty of times where young
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  Speaker 4: Alcas just looked like he was all over him, but
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  Speaker 4: Novak just fought and fought, and you've never seen a
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  Speaker 4: happy athlete. And Novak after that, and he's wrapped in
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  Speaker 4: the Serbian flag and you can hear him all over
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  Speaker 4: rolling Garos, shouting and they're celebrating.
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  Speaker 3: It's good, big games to finish cats when he wanted.
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  Speaker 3: He's a good player to complete the career to God
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  Speaker 3: and Slam.
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  Speaker 4: It took him a while to come in and do
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  Speaker 4: his interviews, and I actually thought he might retire on
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  Speaker 4: the spot because that was like that was his holy grail.
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  Speaker 4: He'd always he was the huge favorite for the Olympics,
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  Speaker 4: and I just meant so much to him that it
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  Speaker 4: meant too much, and he kept blowing up at the Olympics.
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  Speaker 4: So he finally got one, and I really thought he
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  Speaker 4: might come in and say, thanks very much everyone, I'm done.
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  Speaker 4: But he did and he's still going. And the funny
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  Speaker 4: thing is he's still number four in the world. But
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  Speaker 4: I feel like Ossie opened his best tournament, most successful tournament.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's always a good chance for him at
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  Speaker 4: the start of a year to see if father time
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  Speaker 4: has finally slowed him down too much or if he
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  Speaker 4: can still match it with the ngblos. Any major from
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  Speaker 4: now on he could call it quits. I think probably
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  Speaker 4: Wimbledon would be his grand finale, and I think he
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  Speaker 4: might even announce before Wimbledon that's where he's going to finish,
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  Speaker 4: because the Australian Open has been great for him, but
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  Speaker 4: Wimbledon is the one that means the most to him,
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  Speaker 4: and I hope he does let everyone know because these
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  Speaker 4: great champions of sport, when you know, you're watching them
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  Speaker 4: for the last time. So if everyone rocks up at
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  Speaker 4: Wimbledon next year knowing it's the last ants for the
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  Speaker 4: great Novak Djokovich, what a great tournament would be fantastic.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up? What is tennis and the Australian Open without
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  Speaker 1: the Joker?
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  Speaker 5: Do you think the game will change when Novak Djokovic
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  Speaker 5: does eventually retire, when the last of the old guard
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  Speaker 5: is gone.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's already changed. He's thirty eight years of age, Novak.
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  Speaker 4: He's the only guy in the top twenty who's over
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  Speaker 4: thirty and he's nearly forty. It's an enormous kind of
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  Speaker 4: handicap for the Novak and the older he gets, the
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  Speaker 4: more I admire that he he still doesn't want to
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  Speaker 4: give it away and he's probably never going to win
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  Speaker 4: another major. But I do think well Novak, Roger and
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  Speaker 4: Rafa and good old Andy Murray were the benchmark for
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  Speaker 4: all those years, but al Karaz and Sinner for a
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  Speaker 4: sheer quality of tennis. Alcaraz and Sinner play at a
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  Speaker 4: higher level now than Novak and the big three plus
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  Speaker 4: Andy Murray ever did. It's incredible. They're even more athletic
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  Speaker 4: than those guys were some of those matches al Karaz
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  Speaker 4: and Sinner have played. It's a form of tennis that
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  Speaker 4: you wouldn't think was possible, four or five hours of
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  Speaker 4: non stop, full on power, endurance, great athleticism, entertainment, shop making,
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  Speaker 4: all that kind of thing. The way Novak used to
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  Speaker 4: play does still play. Alcoraz and Sinner kind of play
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  Speaker 4: the same way that they never miss, but they've turned
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  Speaker 4: it up to eleven by doing that with even more power.
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  Speaker 4: So now it's not just the age handicap that he's got.
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  Speaker 4: I just think this standard of alcorazm Sinner, which is
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  Speaker 4: such an amazing thing for tennis because for years there
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  Speaker 4: was a bit of a thought of how is men's
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  Speaker 4: tennis is going to stay so popular when Roger and
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  Speaker 4: Rafa and Novac go. But these two young twenty year
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  Speaker 4: old guys have rocked up and they're just as watchable. Besides,
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  Speaker 4: the way sport goes, every generation is a little bit
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  Speaker 4: better than the next.
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  Speaker 1: Will Sponton is a sport reporter with The Australian and
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  Speaker 1: he was speaking to Kristen Amiet. You can follow all
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  Speaker 1: the action from the Australian Open live at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot au
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  Speaker 4: M