Time is one opponent that Djokovic can never conquer

“First of many,” Jakub Mensik wrote on the camera lens after his victory at the Miami Open on Sunday. The Czech had never won a tournament at ATP level before this week. Now he is a Masters 1000 champion.

- FLO CLIFFORD

On the other side of the net on a swelteringly humid night was a man he had idolised since his childhood, who had inspired him to take up tennis, who won his first title on the tour when Mensik was only 10 months old. As the 19-year-old collapsed on court, overwhelmed with emotion, it was hard not to think that the story had come full circle: the student had outgrown the master.

A tiring, ailing Novak Djokovic was overpowered in two tight tie-breaks, visibly struggling in the suffocating Florida heat and the worse off after a five-and-a-half-hour rain delay. More than that, though, Djokovic was – and is – in a losing battle against the one opponent he has always been able to put off: time.

Djokovic had not played in Miami since 2019. Like Serena Williams before him, the Serb contests a pared-down calendar, eliminating those smaller tournaments he does not feel are worthwhile as he aims to peak for the right moments. He had made the decision to come here – as he decides ahead of every tournament – because he felt it was worth it; felt he could win.