A YEAR ON from his dramatic deportation, Novak Djokovic will pass through immigration control this time having to declare a record-extending tenth Australian Open title in his possession.
The guy who was unceremoniously booted out of Melbourne by customs officers without even hitting a ball – following a brief, undignified spell in a detention centre – will exit the country on this occasion hailed as a hero not an outcast.
A clinical 6-3 7-6 7-6 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas has now banished those painful memories of January 2022 when he created global headlines after being caught up in a major Covid vaccination row.
Having re-established his status as the King of Oz, Djokovic has, more pertinently, drawn level with his great rival Rafa Nadal in the singles Slam stakes and broke down in tears at the end of the game.
The pair – whose rivalry is one of the most spectacular in professional sport– now share 22 tennis majors apiece and they will head to Paris in the springtime with the number 23 on their minds.
It is crazy to think that it is only TWO months ago that Djokovic’s three-year visa ban from entering the county was overturned by government officials.
But as he so often does, Djokovic cruised through this men’s draw, dropping only one set in the process, to be reunited with his lucky charm – the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
Though both men came into this final with unbeaten records for 2023, Greece star Tsitsipas had to think back to Shanghai almost four years ago for the last time he had taken Djokovic’s scalp.
The Serbian had won the previous NINE meetings, including that French Open final in 2021 when he came from two sets down to prevail in five.
Nobody had seriously pushed Djokovic over this past fortnight or even tested the strength and durability of the left hamstring that had been damaged in a tune-up tournament in Adelaide.
For once, the full strapping was absent from Djokovic’s leg, which implied it was not an issue anymore.
Support-wise, it was arguably 50-50 inside the Rod Laver Arena – there were just as many Greek national flags as there were Serbian ones.
It was a cracking atmosphere, more like a football derby than a tennis clash, as far removed as possible from the librarian nature of Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
However, far too frequently the umpire had to remind the crowd to show respect as passionate individuals called out before the start of every serve.
One key person missing was Djokovic’s dad who had decided to stay away for fear of causing a distraction to the proceedings.
After last Wednesday quarter-finals, Srdjan Djokovic was embarrassingly videoed posing with a group of Russian sympathisers, who displayed a flag that carried an image of despised president Vladimir Putin.
Srdjan was hiding away in the bowels of the stadium and he would have been punching the air in delight when his son unpicked the Tsitsipas serve in game four of the first set, albeit benefiting enormously from the Athens ace’s careless double fault on break point.
Tsitsipas, who possesses a sublime Federer-esque one-handed backhand, could not match the level or intensity that was coming his way over the net.
And the reigning Wimbledon champion wrapped up the first set with just 36 minutes on the clock.
Those of a Serbian persuasion – and there were thousands of them here at Melbourne Park – would have felt their hearts skip a beat when Djokovic stumbled, dropped his racquet and rolled across the floor in game seven of the second set.
Yet the Belgrade battler did not suffer any lasting physical damage and after he saved a set point with a blistering forehand in game ten, the 35-year-old dominated the tie-break.
That, you felt, was Tsitsipas’s small window of opportunity, especially as he had done so well to tie up at 4-4 after being 4-1 down in points.
Four of Djokovic’s previous nine triumphs on this blue hard court had been in straight sets and this one followed the same pattern.
Though Tsitsipas broke Djokovic in the opening game of the third set – overall the 24-year-old served tremendously well – the advantage did not last long.
Djokovic simply moved up through the gears, particularly in the second tie-break, and for the 28th time in a row in this competition, he emerged the winner.
It is a result that sends him back to world No.1 and sticks two fingers up to those government bigwigs that made an example of him 12 months ago.