sport / sports
mitrova pao na teren „Rod Lejver arene“, srce mi je stalo, a uredni- ku sam otkucala poruku: „Neće va- ljda da preda!“. – Radim sve da budem dobro. Idem na tri-četiri terapije u toku dana. Ne izlazim iz kola, idem na različite terapije u Melburnu – re- kao nam je jednom prilikom Nole. Mislim da sam za te dve sedmi- ce u Australiji poslala više poruka Miljanu Amanoviću, Noletovom ku- mu i fizioterapeutu, nego za pret- hodnih deset godina poznanstva. Poruka je uvek bila ista i uvek jasna: „Samo još ovaj da izdrži!“ I tako do finala. Pred borbu za pehar bila sam baš mirna. Kad sam videla da ne- ma zavoja oko noge, kucnula sam poruku na dobro poznati broj: „Do- bijamo ovo. Stiže pehar!“. Svaka čast Cicipasu, ali to je bio šou samo jednog čoveka. Posle svega što je Nole preživeo pre 12 meseci, krug se zatvorio. Taj 29. januar bio je Đokovićeva savršena predstava u kojoj je Grk imao samo spored- nu ulogu. Suze koje je Novak pro-
lio posle meča zajedno sa članovi- ma svog tima bile su suze olakšanja. – On je sebi olakšao. A da zna kako je nama – nasmejao se brat Marko kada sam prišla da mu če- stitam. Godinu dana kasnije više ne razmišljamo o medicini i austra- lijskom pravu, već o smeru kreta- nja žute lopte koja može tako da nam uzburka strasti, ulepša ili po- kvari nedelju, učini da budemo ludi i da se zapitamo: „Šta je sa mnom? Ma ne smem to ovako emotivno da shvatam!“. Taj 29. januar bio je je- dan od onih dana koje zovem svo- jim – savršen od početka do kraja. Iako je realno potpuno bio Novakov. – Dođi, stani ovde – kaže mi No- le na slikanju sa novinarima na po- slednjoj konferenciji u Melburnu. Priznajem, nisam odolela, uze- la sam trofej sa jedne strane. Na- stala je slika za uspomenu. Da me seća na jedan od najlepših dana u karijeri. Ma i u životu, što da bu- dem skromna. Nole, izgleda da ti ipak nisam baksuz!
Ne zovu Australijan open bez razloga „happy slam“ (srećan slem). Sunce, dobra organizacija, sjajan tenis It’s not without reason that the Australian Open is dubbed The Happy Slam. Sunshine, good organisation, wonderful tennis…
On the spot in Melbourne I watched Nole writing history That 29 th January was one of those days that I call my own – perfect from start to finish. Although it was really totally Novak’s
Novak’s hoodoo. I went to the To- kyo Olympics and he lost in the semi-final, in a match he’d all but won against Alexander Zverev, and then also lost the match for third place against Carreño Busta. I was at Roland Garros for last year’s French Open in Paris, where he lost to Ra- fael Nadal in the quarter-final. Will Melbourne prove third time lucky or will I really give up on going to tour- naments? Hamlet’s moral dilemma was stirring ahead of my flight to Australia. The start wasn’t a good one, be- cause I boarded the plane for Istan- bul, and then the one bound for Kua- la Lumpur and, finally, the one for Melbourne, in the knowledge that Đoković had a ruptured muscle in his back. I’d better not mention everything that was going through my head then. And yet, on the oth- er hand, it would be an understate- ment to say that I was counting the hours until I would touch down on Australian soil. It was as though I
“Do you recall what you said to me in Octo- ber , when we did an interview at Gemax,” I ask Novak Đoković in the Melbourne press centre, following the victory that brought him his 10 th Australian Open trophy and the 22 nd Grand Slam title of his career. “No, what?” Three months earlier. On the court at TK Gemax. I converse with Novak. “What do you think of Carlos Al- caraz, the new world number one?” “He deserves to be in that spot. Perhaps the standings would have been different had the circumstanc- es been different, had I played more.
But… From 1st January we’re turn- ing over a new leaf, so we’ll see who’s the best in the world.” Australia, three months later. “You told me that we’re turn- ing over a new leaf as of 1st Janu- ary and that we’ll see who the best in the world is.” “You just keep listening to me,” laughs Đoković. How could I contradict some- one who’s the best in the world? And the way he’d started, some- time in mid-January, I hadn’t been convinced that I would see him hold- ing the trophy. Back in the news- room, everyone has long been jok- ing at my expense, saying that I’m
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