WIMBLEDON, England — The last year has seen Novak Djokovic experience the highest tennis highs, by winning a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in one game, and the lowest lows, including imprisonment and deportation, after arriving in Melbourne in January to attempt his title to defend at the Australian Open.
On Sunday he will get a chance to win a seventh Wimbledon singles title against an opponent, Nick Kyrgios of Australia, who few, including Kyrgios himself, thought would ever find the mental toughness needed to take on the biggest stage of sport to achieve.
Djokovic secured his spot in Friday afternoon’s final with a four-set win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie, overcoming some inconsistencies early in the game that are becoming something of a habit. He withstood both a strong start from Norrie and a rowdy crowd from his hometown on Center Court to win the semifinals 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4.
It was the only men’s semifinal to be played on Friday.
Rafael Nadal was eliminated from the tournament on Thursday with a torn abdominal muscle. Nadal’s decision not to play after exacerbating the rift in his five-set quarterfinals win over Taylor Fritz allowed Kyrgios to effortlessly advance to his first Grand Slam singles final. It also ended hopes of a coveted showdown between Djokovic and Nadal, who have won 42 Grand Slam titles combined but only played for the trophy once at Wimbledon in 2011. Djokovic won.
What the duel with Kyrgios in the final might lack in historical value – nobody, not even Kyrgios, expects him to become an all-time great at 27 – it could well make up for in drama. It’s a duel between two players that many in and around the sport see as villains.
Djokovic’s boisterous and contrarian behavior, especially when compared to his main rivals, the gentleman Nadal and Roger Federer, has long made him more feared than loved, a cracker in the binary tennis rivalry that Federer and Nadal first created more than 15 years ago to have.
A spirited and explosive talent who has spent his career battling the tennis establishment and his own demons, Kyrgios is an uncontrollable and disruptive force who has stolen the Wimbledon spotlight since the early days of this tournament.
He can explode at any moment, and he has done so repeatedly over the past two weeks, at chair umpires, opponents, fans or anyone who he feels is treating him unfairly. Sometimes it’s real, sometimes just to rouse and distract his opponent. He’s earned $14,000 in fines at this tournament, but he’s played to packed stadiums with fans lusting after his booming serve or the occasional sneak serve and trick shots through the legs.
It was revealed on Tuesday that Kyrgios was due to appear in court on August 2 to face charges of assaulting a former girlfriend. Chiara Passari told police Kyrgios grabbed her during a domestic dispute in December. On the advice of his lawyers, Kyrgios did not want to comment on the allegations.
“There will be emotional fireworks,” said Djokovic, a favorite in the match despite never beating Kyrgios or even winning a set.
Djokovic and Kyrgios haven’t played since 2017 and they’ve never played in a Grand Slam event. But the two fought verbally at the Australian Open in 2021, a tournament held at the height of the pandemic.
Djokovic criticized the tournament organizers for the restrictions they imposed on players who came to Australia for the tournament. Most players were under a limited two-week quarantine, but many stayed in their rooms for 14 days after a handful of people tested positive for Covid-19 on their special flights to the country.
Kyrgios had stayed in Australia for most of the first year of the pandemic, taking time to deliver food and other supplies to people who were struggling to get them during the country’s tight lockdowns. Djokovic, who has refused to be vaccinated, has been skeptical about the public health community’s handling of the pandemic.
Long before officials gave the green light to public gatherings, he staged a tennis exhibition that grew into a superspreader event. Then, shortly after arriving in Australia, he criticized the rules.
“Djokovic is a tool,” Kyrgios wrote on Twitter.
Djokovic then said in a press conference that he respected Kyrgios’ tennis talents but had no respect for him off the court.
Kyrgios hit back, saying he couldn’t take Djokovic’s criticism seriously given Djokovic’s behavior.
“He’s a very strange cat, Novak,” he said. “A hell of a tennis player but sadly someone partying shirtless during a global pandemic. I don’t know if I can give this man anything.
In the meantime they have reached a kind of relaxation. It started earlier this year when Kyrgios campaigned for Djokovic after Djokovic was arrested during the controversy surrounding his vaccination status in Australia, which ultimately led to his deportation.
Kyrgios even described Friday as a kind of “bromance”. Djokovic wouldn’t go that far.
“I think everyone knows that love wasn’t lost there for a while,” Kyrgios said. “I think it was healthy for the sport. I think every time we played each other there was hype about it.”
Djokovic said relations are far better than before.
“When things were really tough for me in Australia, he was one of the very few players who came out and supported me and stood by me,” he said. “I really appreciate it.”
Djokovic remains unvaccinated and unless the United States and Australia change their rules, Sunday’s final could be his last Grand Slam match in nearly 11 months and he doesn’t expect it to be easy.
“He plays without lights every time he enters the pitch,” Djokovic said of Kyrgios. “Just a lot of power in his serve and his game. So I’m sure he’ll pull through with it.”
Djokovic struggled to try on Friday on a sun-kissed 80-degree day that saw forecasters call out a heatwave in London. Norrie, a stable left-hander who would never die, was the better player early and in the opening games of the second set, going toe-to-toe trying to pass the best rallying player in the world.
Djokovic struggled with his serve and finding his signature precision on his groundstrokes. He also doesn’t like playing in the heat. Halfway through the first set, with Norrie pushing forward, Djokovic sat in his chair and draped a towel over his head as the packed crowd on center court roared for a compatriot with a house just up the road.
Norrie, who lives so close to the All England Club that he cycled to the ground at the start of the tournament, hit an ace to win the set, pumping his fist and basking in the sound. In addition to the spectators in the stadium, there were thousands more who picnicked on Henman Hill and drank beer and Pimm’s while watching the game on a big screen.
But Djokovic is so good at taking an opponent’s best – and blaming a crowd – and biding his time until an opening appears. He did so when he lost a set to hot Dutch unknown Tim van Rijthoven in the fourth round, and in the quarterfinals when he lost the first two sets to Jannik Sinner of Italy, one of the greatest young players in the world.
Djokovic donned a baseball cap to protect himself from the heat of the sun and stopped giving Norrie free points midway through the set. Suddenly, Norrie was fighting break points on every serve. In the eighth game of the set, Norrie sent a long forehand to put Djokovic 5-3 ahead. Djokovic turned to his box and clenched his fist as if to say, “Don’t worry, I’ve got that.”
There was never any doubt. Djokovic sprinted through the third set as Norrie’s game slipped and he caught an early serve break in the fourth. Norrie struggled to keep it tight, but in the end that was all he could do. A small win, but not the one he wanted.
On the final point, Djokovic, who had played 68 Grand Slams and reached the final 32 times, squashed a serve down the middle and then turned to bait a fan who had been screaming to try and get his final shot disturb. He later claimed with a smile that he blew kisses to someone who had supported him.
Now he meets Kyrgios, a player he said he and others had long considered one of the most dangerous in the world if he could ever get control of his emotions and devote himself to the sport he has, at least for now.
“For the quality player he is,” Djokovic said of Kyrgios, “he has to be here and he deserves it.”