As the French Open moves to its final weekend, for the first time in years, the eyes of the tennis world are not solely trained on the 12-time champion, Rafael Nadal. Novak Djokovic, the No. 1 seed, is searching for absolution to bookend a year in which he drew most of his attention for questioning vaccinations, contracting the coronavirus at a poorly organized event and losing his temper at the United States Open, prompting his disqualification.

Djokovic had been decimating his opponents with cruel efficiency before stiffness throughout his upper body slowed him down slightly in the quarterfinals on Wednesday against Pablo Carreño Busta. Djokovic won 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semifinals, where on Friday he will play Stefanos Tsitsipas. But forehands and backhands are not what have landed him in the spotlight lately.

The youngest and least predictable of the Big Three of men’s tennis — which includes Nadal and Roger Federer — Djokovic, 33, of Serbia, is an exhibitionist and tennis showman whose risks can turn into spectacles, both good and bad.

Those qualities appeared to help during the quarterfinal on Philippe Chatrier court, as he unleashed his verbal fusillades at his coach, and cut loose with several primal, lung-busting screams to shake himself from an early funk.

Source: New York Times

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