Wimbledon 2015: Novak Djokovic feels he has the moves to stay a step ahead

Wimbledon champion improving all the time after finding right chemistry with coach Becker

(Wimbledon)

With his supreme athleticism, gluten-free diet and love of meditation Novak Djokovic is the epitome of the modern sportsman, but the Wimbledon champion was determined to revive one of the All England Club’s most famous traditions on Sunday evening.

The Champions’ Ball, where the newly-crowned men’s and women’s singles champions traditionally danced together, was replaced nearly four decades ago by the more sedate Champions’ Dinner. But in the imposing setting of the Guildhall, in the City of London, Djokovic and Serena Williams turned back the years.

In a very different scene to when Chris Evert and Bjorn Borg danced the last dance at the Grosvenor House Hotel in 1976, Djokovic and Williams disco-danced on stage to the Bee Gees’ “Night Fever”, to loud acclaim from the hundreds of suited-and-booted guests.

The morning after the night before, Djokovic explained – on his return to the All England Club – that he had suggested resurrecting “this tradition which was a bit forgotten” to Philip Brook, the Wimbledon chairman, and to Williams, the six-times women’s champion. “Fortunately they accepted it,” Djokovic said. “I was very pleased because Serena is a great dancer.”

He added: “I was thinking more of a waltz, or something I would say sophisticated, something that would blend into the environment of the beautiful hall where we had dinner. But Serena wanted to move a little bit more, so then we considered other options.”

The dance lasted no more than a minute or two, but at the rate Djokovic is going he should have plenty more chances to revive the tradition. This was the 28-year-old Serb’s third Wimbledon title in the last five years and his ninth Grand Slam triumph. He still has a long way to go before he can contemplate matching the exploits of the man he beat in Sunday’s final, Roger Federer, who has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name, but Djokovic is improving with every passing year.

“There is always room for improvement and I think that is something that is positive and keeps me going,” Djokovic said. “Specifically, I think I can improve in each shot a little bit, maybe certain shots a little bit more: my net play, coming to the net a little bit more often, using the opportunities I create from the baseline.

“My serve has improved and has served me very well during this tournament and the last year or so. Working with Boris [Becker], I think that part of my game has significantly improved and allowed me to get out of trouble many times, especially against Roger yesterday.”

He added: “Right now I feel like I’m at the peak of my abilities and career and I want to use that for as long as I can. How long can I go on? I really don’t want to predict anything.”

Djokovic always used to regard hard courts as his favourite surface but he now enjoys grass just as much, even though he has had to learn how to play on it.

“Grass requires a more aggressive style of the game,” he said. “More variety with the slice, which is not my comfort zone I would say because I am more of a baseline player who needs a little bit more time to construct the point. On the grass everything happens very fast. In the last five years I think I have improved a lot.”

Djokovic played in his first Grand Slam final at the 2007 US Open and it is perhaps surprising that he has won only one title there. When he heads for New York at the end of next month he is sure to be the firm favourite.

“I am approaching the US Open this year with two Grand Slams and one final,” he said. “The confidence level is obviously very, very high. I’m going to try to use that to prepare myself as best I can and have a very good US Open with a shot at the title.

“If you look at the consistency of the results at the US Open, I think it’s probably my best Grand Slam. Since 2006 I’ve been reaching at least the semi-finals of that Slam. That says something about my game and my results there. But of course I didn’t manage to make that final step many times – only once, in 2011.

“I’m going there with that thought in my mind. I like the surface, I like the conditions, I like playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium. It’s the biggest stadium in the sport. With all the achievements this year so far behind me, I think I’m in a very good position to go far.”

When Djokovic announced 18 months ago that Becker was to become his coach there were plenty of doubters. Their voices grew louder when the Serb lost in the quarter-finals of last year’s Australian Open. Since then, however, his results have been stunning. In six subsequent Grand Slam tournaments he has won the title three times, finished runner-up twice and was a losing semi-finalist once. Since last October he has lost only one match – to Stan Wawrinka in the French Open final – in the nine tournaments he has played at Masters Series level or higher.

“It was not always easy at the beginning,” Djokovic said of his relationship with Becker. “We weren’t always on the same side. That doesn’t mean we were arguing or had fights. It was just we didn’t yet understand each other at the beginning. It took five or six months to really create this chemistry, both on and off the court.

“At the beginning it was important for the two of us to understand each other as people, not just as tennis players – how we approach life and how we approach tennis in general – and it took time.”

A measure of Djokovic’s achievements is the fact that he is the only player who has beaten Rafael Nadal at the French Open and Federer at Wimbledon. “It’s probably an ultimate challenge to win against those two guys on their most preferred surfaces,” he said. “But that’s a result of persistence and self-belief over the years – of failing, failing and then managing to understand the failures and get the best out of them.”