Nick Kyrgios ‘devastated’ after quarterfinal defeat to Karen Khachanov as he destroys two rackets on court during match The Australian is the first player to knock a racket over in a match since Rod Laver won Wimbledon in 1969.
— This one was a quarterfinal. A semifinal. Another two-setter. Another win.
It’s been a roller coaster for 19-time Grand Slam singles finalist Novak Djokovic, with his team, his former team, his country, his fans — even his coach.
Since winning the U.S. Open in 2015, Djokovic has taken down many great players in grand slam finals.
But there he was again — with a chance to even the best team in tennis history over the past decade had he won the Australian Open.
Two sets down to world No. 4 Kevin Anderson, Djokovic looked rattled and out of sorts.
He was also looking at the scoreboard for the first time in his career, watching the first two points of the fourth set through a glass door, where he could see the clock tick down and know that Anderson had another point.
As the score clock rolled closer to five-all, Djokovic looked at his wife, Kim, with a smile. She was sitting next to him, as were the couple’s younger children, and he was thinking of how great he had been in Paris.
He took another deep breath and then fired a shot past Anderson, who had not touched a match point down the stretch.
“All of a sudden I started getting excited for the first set,” Djokovic told reporters. “And I thought about how good I was, and how I was playing again and how good that really felt. Then I just didn’t want to lose and wanted to have that feeling again. It’s going to be very tough but I’m getting better.”
Djokovic had taken down the best players in the world and made it to the final for the first time since November 2013, an amazing run that also involved dropping a record 17 services games against Roger Federer.
“It’s very hard to describe the feeling,” Djokovic said. “You go through it every time you play and you feel good, and you wish to be able to do