High Life

HIGH LIFE #11 Aug 2017 93 有 关史上最伟大网球运动员的争论，可谓跌宕起伏，情节 曲折。 十二个月前，屹立网球之巅的是塞尔维亚超级巨星诺瓦 克•德约科维奇。他于2016年在法网夺冠之后，凭借总数 十二个大满贯冠军，位列历史第四，并且成为有史以来第三位 连续夺得四大满贯的球员。 榜单上挡在他前面的，只有罗杰•费德勒（十七个）、 拉斐尔•纳达尔和皮特•桑普拉斯（各十四个）。有鉴于他 在当时参加的最后八场大满贯赛事中胜了六场，这个差距并不 算大。然后，不可思议的事情发生了。自去年美网决赛输给斯 坦•瓦林卡，德约科维奇开始处处碰壁——曾经将他推向顶峰 的坚不可摧的回球及内在信念，犹如变了心的爱人，瞬间弃他 而去。 L ike any great debate, discussion over the greatest tennis player of all time has taken more twists and turns than a rocky mountain railroad in recent times. Twelve months ago, the man on top of the tennis world was Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic, whose 2016 French Open triumph saw him not only move to fourth on the alltime list of grand slam winners with 12, but also become just the third man in history to hold all four grand slam titles at the same time. Ahead of him were only Roger Federer with 17 and Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras with 14 apiece – a seemingly small gap to bridge given he had won six of the last eight grand slam events played at the time. Then the unthinkable happened. After losing to Stan Wawrinka in the US Open final last year, Djokovic hit the wall – the rock solid return and unshakable inner belief that had propelled him to the top suddenly deserting him like a cheating spouse.