Novak Djokovic tears apart rival Carlos Alcaraz and his own T-shirt!

The Serbian great is still here to make history, keep rewriting it.

Novak Djokovic tears apart rival Carlos Alcaraz and his own T-shirt!

Novak Djokovic after Cincinnati win (Image Credits: Zuma Press/PA Images)

Scenes of agony and ecstasy, joy and tears, and emotions running wild dominated a crazy night in Cincinnati, United States of America. On the show were two of the greatest exponents in men’s tennis, Novak Djokovic, the owner of 23 Grand Slam titles, and rising star Carlos Alcaraz from Spain.

This was not a Grand Slam final, this was not a Major, where matches are the best of five sets. Yet, for sheer intensity, raising the bar multiple times, and coming back from dead, grand old man from Serbia, Novak Djokovic, showed he was not going down so easily. Indeed, the ATP Masters 1000 event final was rich. It produced sparks to start with, before the flames were ignited.

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One man had to come out smoking, one man had to show more energy, more mental strength. Who else could it be other than the man the USA had banned from entering for two years or so? Novak responded, like no one else, and tore apart Carlos Alcaraz to win the match. Wait, that was not the real drama.

For a man who conceals his emotions well, hides sadness and agony, Novak let it loose. Oops, no, not that he burst into expletives. But the show of joy, ripping his T-shirt, tearing it like a teen rock star, showed how much he wanted to win this match. This was a battle of generations, two different ones.

One is supposed to be blowing out, like the proverbial candle at the end of its wax length. That’s Novak. Carlos is King in Spain, already a big guy for winning Wimbledon against Novak. Fools took it for granted that Novak was history. Nah, he is still here to make history, keep rewriting it. For him to tear his blue tennis T-shirt was rare, almost like finding a man dressed in the most expensive formal three-piece suit loosening his tie knot.

That Novak did this act of ripping it, first on the court with his racket and then his upper body wear, is a dangerous sign. It shows the lion is waiting for his prey. This was no rumble in the jungle, yet it was the roar of a lion, the aggression of a player turning into beast mode. After all, good guys are not going to get past Alcaraz in a final.

Also Read: WATCH: Coco Gauff wins one of the most strange points this week in Cincinnati after nearly missing a sitter against Karolina Muchova in the finals

Novak is done with warming up for the US Open

Novak Djokovic tears apart rival Carlos Alcaraz and his own T shirt 1
Novak Djokovic with the Cincinnati Masters winner’s trophy (Image Credits: Alamy)

For a man who had been ostracized for not taking the vaccine jab, Novak may have been hesitant on entering the USA. After all, in a week’s time, the US Open begins in noisy New York. If tennis needed a teaser or a promo of sorts, the Cincy Masters showed who is the master.

Sample this, like a kid, or like a weakling or a teen girl, Carlos was crying. Hey, men don’t cry. Nor do their brothers also shed tears. It showed Carlos is still not ready to seal all matches from winning positions. He has superiority in many shades. Age, better fitness, strokes for the hard court and other surfaces plus swifter mobility on courts.

They say, when it goes down to the wire, the battle becomes mental, rather more psychological. You cannot fight fire with a weak heart. Novak was fighting fire, fired up, ready to deliver the final blow which you would probably expect in a heavyweight bout inside the ring.

Maybe, this was the warm-up on a steamy night that Novak needed before the season’s last Major. It was hot in Cincy, despite matches being played late evening. “Definitely one of the toughest matches I have played in my life,” said Novak later in the on-court interview.

For all those preparing preview scripts for the US Open next week, pause. The wounded tiger from London’s grass courts at Wimbledon has now got its prey. Pray, Novak vs Alcaraz again in a best-of-five in New York? As tennis’s most famous New Yorker, John McEnroe would say, “You cannot be serious!”

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