Ever since Novak Djokovic landed in Perth just a few days after Christmas, he has pushed himself relentlessly. Not for him the two-week break in the Bahamas, or a pat on the back for the feats of 2010. Instead he trained, and trained, and trained, leaving himself hardly enough time for his hair to grow back after shaving it all off in an on-court bonding experiment as Davis Cup champions. He sprinted, he sweated, he worked, all in aid of making the transition from sometime threat and one-Slam man. He is already one of the best tennis players in the world. That's not enough. He wants to be the best.
And this evening, he proved that he can be. His demolition of Roger Federer in three sets in their Australian Open semifinal was nothing short of startling. It is not often that one sees Federer the great sweat, or look angry, or annoyed, or take a bathroom break. But he did all of those this evening as he fought in vain to stem the inspiration seeping from Djokovic's every pore.
Admittedly, the characterful Serb had won the duo's previous meeting, at the same stage of the 2010 US Open. But that was a five-set epic, one that required Djokovic to save two match points as he scrabbled and scrapped his way to his second US Open final. And, it was against the pre-Annacone Federer, the one who used to get stuck into long rallies he was prone not to win, not the one who has been shortening points with sprints to the net, outlandish winners, and pure Federer magic.
All that was irrelevant. From the moment the coin was tossed, Djokovic threw everything at Federer, the forehand, the backhand, the serve, the volley. Sometimes it didn't work, like in the opening game, where he found himself facing the first of 10 break points. But most of the time, it did.
It is well known that Federer likes to be a front-runner. To take the momentum away from his opponents, and crush them into submission until they've run completely out of will or wisdom. He has never come back from two-sets-to-love down against a top 20 opponent.
And so Djokovic's strategy was simple. Do a Federer on Federer, and hope that it succeeded before he ran out of puff, or hope that all the training would mean he wouldn't run out of puff.
The pair played cat and mouse tennis in the first set, not just in the way they conducted their points, but the way they conducted their service games. Djokovic held to love, Federer held to love. And so on. And so to the inevitable tiebreak. As Andy Murray would tell you, a tiebreak against Federer is an agonising thing. You have to seize your chances when they come gift-wrapped to you, because otherwise you'll spend the next few points kicking yourself in the shin, and the set will be gone.
Not so Djokovic. The gift came on the third point, Federer stretching for a forehand that hit the net and bounced backwards. Just the one mini-break. But it proved decisive. Holding both his service points, the crowd were treated to the first of his hand-on-heart fist pumps as he extended that lead to 5-2. Three points later, the set was his.
15-odd minutes later, he was also a break up. Dangerous ground when you have Roger Federer on your tail. And so it proved, the Swiss finally gaining some oopmh, breaking back, and flurrying through the next series of games to lead 5-2.
But then he got loose. Maybe felt like he was right back in it before he was. You could forgive him that, it's happened so many times before. And Djokovic was ready to take advantage. Pushing and peppering the Federer backhand in the way that has been so successful for Rafael Nadal, he yielded a frame or two, and then, on break point, Federer played a drop shot. That was when we saw just how much Novak Djokovic wanted this win. He tore after the ball, clunking it down the line.
With new oomph in his adidas shoes, the Serb held serve to level the set, winning the game after charging down another drop shot, tipping an angled backhand away from Federer's flailing racket. Flying by the seat of his Tacchini's Djokovic kept on going, surviving a 20-shot rally on the Federer serve, yielding another shank, and converting the last of four break points. As the Swiss hit the 30-unforced error mark, Djokovic served his way to a two-sets-to-love lead, tipped his head back, and roared.
Many people in such a position against a man who has broken practically every record in the tennis annuals might stop and give themselves a brief pinch. Never a good idea, as anyone who has been on the end of a Federer comeback would attest. Not Djokovic.
Saving three break points in his first service game of the set, the Serb spun the bottle, and came out and broke. The Federer comeback came again, the Swiss breaking back for 4-4, but that was as far as it went. Whether it was belief on the Serb's part, or dis-belief on the Swiss's part, Federer hit his 43rd error, and Djokovic broke back.
It was over moments later. Novak Djokovic's seventh win against Federer, his second in straight sets at a major, and safe passage to a fourth Grand Slam final.
"It's hard to say really, you don't know if you're feeling excited because you're one game away from a Grand Slam title, and wining against Roger, he puts a lot of pressure on you," said Djokovic. "I had to take my chances, the second set I was a break up and in 20 minutes I was 5-2 down, if I would lose that second set, God knows which direction the mach would go."
"I'm just happy to play my best tennis. Australian Open is a special tournament because there are a a lot of nations, it's nice, sometimes you feel like you're in a football match, and for us players it's unusual but it's great, to get that support."
"I'm looking forward to watch that match tomorrow from my bed, they're both great players, David played a fantastic match against Rafa yesterday, Andy has been playing really well. It's a Grand Slam final, anything can happen."
Novak Djokovic did many things extraordinarily well tonight. But there was one thing in particular - he just did not stop running.
