Djokovic’s relief of a break-fast

When a champion loses, especially after a winning spree, there is a break in the music, a falling out of a march, an anomaly in the equation. For the champion, apart from the disappointment, there is, as Novak Djokovic said after losing the US Open final on Sunday, ‘relief’. This is not just making the best of an unexpectedly bad situation. It is a release of load that comes when one is released of a self-oath — in Djokovic’s case, winning the Grand Slam (Australian and French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) in one calendar year. The last time this was achieved was when man first landed on the moon, in 1969. Rod Laver had won the Fab Four. But Daniil Medvedev ended the glorious Djoker run short.

What transpired before the failure to reach the mark doesn’t get buried, but still.… Apart from being outplayed by Medvedev, Djokovic was also outplayed by great expectations. Even the finest cannot, most of the time, escape this great gravitational tug. Champions are aware of the risk of being complacent, and take measures to not be ‘fall-ready’ before pride. But the burden of carrying out a near-assured job to fruition can snap the strongest that ‘one time’. Not bearing this weight any more is relief. The proof of the champion pudding is return to trajectory. This is what separates a champion’s defeat from a break-fast.