Novak Djokovic has had several of the best years in the history of ATP tennis and won more tournaments than anyone. Nole's game starts with having one of the best service returns and backhands in tennis history. Then he 'steals time" from his opponents a phrase for taking groundstrokes early and hitting them deep forcing opponents to react quickly. Early in his career, Djokovic's game was characterized by "V-tennis" that is after his deep return Novak would take control of the center of the court and run opponents from side to side, turning matches into battles of endurance.
That Djokovic's career continues at 39 years old as I write this during a period of increasingly physical tennis is a tribute to not only his fitness but his ability and willingness to evolve his game as he aged. Peak Djoko, say 2011 or 2015, based his game on his return of serve and his backhand. He was, per Andy Roddick, "The best in tennis at changing direction." As he aged and both of those tools statistically declined, Djokovic improved the rest of his baseline game and became more offensive. First came the forehand. According to analyst Jim Courier, his main coach through 2011, Marián Vajda, would stand on Djokovic's side of the court and hand-feed him balls, forcing Djokovic to generate his own pace. Later, working with with "serve whisperer" Goran Ivanišević, he significantly improved, in succession, his first serve, the his second service, becoming a more offensive player and ,when he wants to shortening points. So, I'd argue this photo is representative of later-career Novak.
But, for me, this image better reflects the core of Djokovic's game -- sheer grit and determination. Sliding aggressively even on hard courts to dig out a low backhand and hammer it back, cross-court or down the line. And that backhand! Like a rock wall.
Part of this is the Gumby-llike flexibility he learned under his early tennis mentor, Jelena Genčić whom he met at 6 years old. Jelena emphasized flexibility, rather than strength. It paid dividends.
How do you return a 134 mph serve straight at your face? Any way you can <g> Djokovic from Indian Wells final vs Milos Raonic.
It was over 100 degrees in the stands and people were literally falling down, collapsing from the heat. So, this represents what it looked and probably felt like on the main oven, er stadium, court in the blistering desert sun at Indian Wells, where they'd play on in an earthquake rather than spare the players -- or give ticket refunds.
For tennis fans, the image on your right is Djokovic taking a full rip on a swinging, back-hand volley from midcourt vs Roger Federer at Indian Wells. That's after he did the same on the forehand side, the shot before in the same rally. Do not try this at home. The left image is his imitation of Jimmy Connors' "Backfire".
Sometimes you have to ad lib. This is a return of serve, a kicker from, I believe Juan Martin del Potro, that was going well over Djokovic's head.
