Djokovic: Tennis-Dragon

A colored portrait of what makes a modern 'iron man' of world tennis a diplomat of civilization drivers.

A personal tennis fan-diorama dedicated to a modern sportsman, Novak Djokovic, who reminds us why/how competitive athletics can be a real civilization...dye! Enjoy (and stay safe!), 

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Tennis, such an elegant sport, involving two competitors (singles) or sometimes two teams of two competitors each (doubles), attempting to use a racquet (flat-round netted hand-bat) to hit a small 'tennis-ball' across the dividing 'tennis-net' in the center of the tennis field (or 'court') and prevent the opponent/competitor from reaching/returning the ball back to the player's side. Tennis requires great balance, self-awareness, elegance, swiftness, and sure-footedness. It's the 'gentleman's volleyball' as one sports-writer wrote!

In the older generations of tennis, we cheered on the prolific giants like Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors and later Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi. Now, in this new era, we had three major titans of world tennis --- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and of course, the cool-headed Novak Djokovic.

My name's Esmerelda. I'm writing a specials stats-folklore about Novak Djokovic for my journalism-group, and firstly, we're hosting a special tennis theme party for Djokovic and we're inviting other past tennis greats including John McEnroe and Monica Seles.

I've been a sports-statistician and sports-writer/journalist since graduating from Dartmouth in 2000. I've been tracking the career of Novak Djokovic. I consider him my favorite modern sportsman, since he reminds me of the cool-reliability of yesteryear's great 'iron men' of sports including Cal Ripken, Jr. He makes me feel...cool.

Unlike the other 2 titans of new-era world tennis (Federer/Nadal), Novak Djokovic is neither dominating nor exciting. His style-of-play is neither strongly invincible nor wildly experimental. Instead, Djokovic is the sort of 'iron man' of new-era tennis that makes him the perfect ambassador of 'median tennis' or consistency-style tennis that makes him sometimes simply too even-handed for wild or even dominating-style players (e.g., Federer/Nadal) to deal with on the court. Djokovic burst onto the tennis-stats scene when Federer/Nadal were the supreme two. Djokovic found his statistical 'stride' and started consistently winning Grand Slam titles and maintaining a consistent #1 or #2 world ranking. He reminds me why tennis-statistics is reminiscent of an IBM diagonal.

DJOKOVIC: I've been called an 'iron man' but I doubt I'm as cold as Ivan Lendl; in fact, I consider myself fresh!

In fact, I think that's why Novak Djokovic receives consistently exciting tennis endorsements from major companies, making him a new sort of sports-consumerism endorsement spokesman. He's not Michael Jordan or Andre Agassi. He's more like Steve Young or Evander Holyfield. Djokovic offers us profitable modern tennis-marketing jewelry, for those looking for a reliable champion to market.

I've discovered Djokovic likes using his wealth/luxuries to invest in varied modern consumer-companies like airlines which offer investors a terrific view of new-generation global capitalism diagonals.

After all, isn't the travel industry symbolic of a modern civilization magnification of raw social dreams?

"When we see Djokovic win, we feel like we're part of a basic and satisfying sports-dance refreshment."

Djokovic has won two whopping career Grand Slams and has achieved the laurel of winning years including both Grand Slam titles and ATP mastery. He's the great modern 'iron man' of tennis water.

DJOKOVIC: Playing and contending with Federer/Nadal, the two ace-entertainers, makes me feel...cool!

BLUE DRAGON: When I think of 'iron men' of civilization athletics, I'm reminded of the sheer complexity of dexterity.

So, that's my book-report, and I can't wait to write this up for my feature in an iconic sports magazine. I can't wait to see Djokovic canonized in sports fame. He's the ultimate new-gen sportsman of perfectly cool and consistent if 'dangerous' tennis demon, which makes him the 'real' tennis-dragon!

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)