Djokovic, always on the edge

In the midst of all the whirlwind, the French Patrick Mouratoglou, Serena Williams' coach and who likes to be in all the sauces, offered the perfect synthesis of what happened to

, disqualified in the eighth of the US Open for that Accidental pitch to a linesman who continues to go around the world and dent her prestige: "I think Novak had too much on his plate."

• Djokovic's historic blush

The technician was referring to that expansive capacity of the number one, so elastic and versatile on and off the courts.

Nole is not a figure who likes to be in the shadows, but rather an interventionist star who finds it difficult to be still, who makes donations in secret, who plays the piano or balls on the wings of an airplane or he chews Wimbledon grass, or turns his sport upside down with action as seemingly light as that out-of-timing ball.

In a couple of centimeters the difference can be.

Djokovic wants it all, affable and close guy in short distances, father of a family and with the harsh past of the Balkan war behind him.

He wants to be good, he wants to be the best, he wants to be the leader.

A

for his companions.

And he wants the love that, for one reason or another, is denied and granted to the other two companions in the historic dance for being the greatest of all time, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Before all the ups and downs, this 2020 was presented as a strategic course for the great pulse and that of Belgrade put the direct from January.

He triumphed in Australia, he walked through Dubai and after being locked up in Marbella during confinement, with his family, he headed for the New York bubble, where he won the Cincinnati tournament (played there due to circumstances) and everything was going to wonderfully, until that treacherous streak played another trick on him.

"The US Open was a great goal," Mouratoglou recalls on Twitter;

“She promoted the [PTPA] association and a campaign for players to be part of it.

And all of that means a full-time job and added stress.

No one can afford to lose focus during a Grand Slam. "

The Serbian (33 years old) was going like a shot, but he ended up going over the braking and closing a quarter in which because of his hyperactivity he has been continuously at the trigger.

Heterodox in terms of some ways of interpreting life, he first became muddled in one of the many live talks he had with all kinds of personalities during confinement.

In one of them, with other athletes from his country, he said: "Personally, I am opposed to vaccination and I don't want someone to force me to get vaccinated in order to travel."

Criticism rained down on him, reminding him of his power of influence as a world-class athlete.

Later he made the news for training when and where he shouldn't have, despite the permission of the Puente Romano Tennis Club, because like other tennis players he did not correctly interpret the regulations in Spain.

Innocently it was recorded, published on the networks and then apologized.

, compared to what was going to happen later.

In his attempt to help other modest players who were not earning income while the circuit was stopped, Nole put on a tour (Adria Tour) in the Balkans that ended up getting completely out of hand.

In contrast to other projects that were devised to try to relaunch tennis, Djokovic raised a tournament with several venues in which 4,000 people were seen concentrated on the court, without respecting the recommended social distance or masks;

according to the protocol of Serbia at that time, but surely untimely and risky, as demonstrated when the positives were jumping one after another, starting with that of Grigor Dimitrov and the basketball player Nikola Jokic, with whom he shared acts.

As if that were not enough, several videos emerged in which he and his tour companions danced shirtless in a Belgrade nightclub, hugging without qualms.

Logically, Djokovic and his family members (Jelena and her two children, Stefan and Tara) tested positive for covid-19.

"I'm very sorry, I did it from the bottom of my heart," he lamented.

"Our tournament meant a way to unite and share our message of solidarity across each country in our region," claimed number one, who does not dislike bordering the red lines.

Finally, the landing in New York arrived.

And there, from the start, a photo with fifty other tennis players that left the ATP officials astonished.

"It is not a union, nor are we proposing a boycott or a parallel path," she defended herself when she announced the creation of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA).

A group, she says, whose objective is to defend the rights of tennis players and gain power at the negotiating table, knowing that deep down it is still a full-blown pulse to the body that has governed the men's circuit for 30 years and to

A jump without a net.

As a culmination, the tension in the round of 16 duel with Pablo Carreño made him throw that ball and the rest is known: disqualification, a historical stain, more apologies ("I feel sad and empty"), 10,000 dollars of punishment for " unsportsmanlike conduct ”and again, again, Nole in the eye of the hurricane.