NOVAK Djokovic busted a move with Serena Williams at the Wimbledon Champions' Ball then looked forward to leading the rest of men's tennis a merry dance for the next few years.
The World No 1 celebrated his ninth Grand Slam title by reheating the old tradition of a pre-arranged birl between the ladies and men's singles winners, with the Bee Gees' 70s disco classic Night Fever the chosen soundtrack.
"There was no practice," said Djokovic. "I suggested the idea to Philip Brook [the AELTC chairman] and to Serena and fortunately they accepted it. It was tradition which was forgotten - I think the last year they had a dance between the two champions was 1986 or something like that. Boris [Becker, his coach] told me that he had a dance with [Martina] Navratilova when he won in 1985.
"I was thinking more of a waltz, or something sophisticated, something that would blend into the environment of the beautiful hall where we had the dinner yesterday," he added. "But Serena wanted to move a little bit more, so we considered other options. But I was very pleased because Serena is a great dancer."
Djokovic, at one time considered likely to have a career comparable with that of Andy Murray, now has nine Grand Slams to the Scot's two, and finds himself gunning for the 17 and 14 slams won by those two modern greats, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, respectively. He is already inching into that stratosphere, having made 15 of the last 20 major finals and been the first man to defeat Nadal in Paris then Federer at Wimbledon in the same year.
"I don't want to say it's too early to talk about it, it's probably the right time to talk about it," said Djokovic. "But again I am still far, far away from that. I know what it takes to win one grand slam - a lot of things have to come together - so to reach these two guys would be something incredible. But 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 I can go I really don't want to predict anything. Roger as you mention is 33 and he doesn't also think about many years he can go."
The really bad news for the rest of men's tennis, though, is that we now return to the Serb's favoured hard courts, culminating in the US Open at the end of next month. In truth, the World No 1 is probably overdue a victory at Flushing Meadows, having claimed the title just once, in 2011, but having lost four times in the final, once each to Federer and Murray, and twice to Nadal.
"I am approaching the US Open this year with two Grand Slams and one final, so it's a slightly different situation than most years," said Djokovic. "The confidence level is obviously very, very high.
"Maybe some finals there I could have won," he added. "But if you look at the consistency of the results in US Open, it's probably my best Grand Slam. Of course I didn't manage to make that final step many times, only once, in 2011. But I'm going there with that thought in my mind. With all the achievements this year so far behind me, I think I'm in a very good position to go far."
While Boris Becker, whose record of three Wimbledon wins was equalled by the Serbian on Sunday, merits an honourable mention, another comparison being made last night was with Ivan Lendl, who came out of Eastern Europe exhibiting the same kind of robotic meticulousness and discipline which has propelled Djokovic to glory. The two legends of the sport that Lendl had in his crosshairs were Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, and he wasn't exactly adored by the galleries either.
Becker treasured his second Wimbledon singles title as coach, to add to his three as a player, made all the special as it arrived on the 30th anniversary of his epic first win here as a 17-year-old in 1985. The German said he felt the Swiss legend had peaked during his semi-final against Andy Murray, a performance that had caused everyone to get a little carried away.
"Wimbledons are not won in the semi-final," said Becker. "Roger peaked in the semi-final, where he couldn't have played better. So of course you get carried away with the legend. I watched that match from the Royal Box and thought that while Roger was playing great, I felt I'd seen Andy return better. I felt if Novak could get a hold of the return, get Roger involved with baseline rallies, eventually he would wear him down." That is exactly how things transpired. Right now Novak Djokovic has the rest of the tennis world dancing to his tune.
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