Novak Djokovic

The world’s finest tennis player is in a new mission. Owing to Novak Djokovic’s regular performances over the years at top level, many see him as the best possible diplomatic representative and Serbia’s ambassador, while the newly-crowned Australian Open champion will today have a chance to have an audience with David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, ahead of the Laureus Award ceremony to be presented to the Serbian as the Sportsman of the Year 2011.

Can a single point, or series of points, have a career-shaping influence on a player? Guillermo Coria might say so, for he'll forever wonder what might have been had he converted either of those two match points he held against Gaston Gaudio in the 2004 French Open final. You'll remember that the loss appeared to have a devastating effect on Coria, and played a role in driving him into a premature retirement.

A pattern has emerged in the later rounds of men’s Grand Slams over the last year. Novak Djokovic faces Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. Djokovic, usually, wins. The audience, just as often, comes away disappointed.

You're Rafael Nadal and you're in hell. Your hell is knowing that Novak Djokovic, the man in front of you, the man who took your No. 1 ranking from you, has now beaten you seven straight times, all of them in finals, the last three in Grand Slams. Your hell is knowing that the old conventions, which were good enough to beat back Roger Federer and Andy Murray, and won you 10 major titles, do not work against this one opponent. Your hell is knowing that today Novak Djokovic is a better tennis player than you.

When the year began common logic suggested Novak Djokovic would struggle to emulate his extraordinary 2011 but after retaining his Australian Open title in astonishing fashion on Sunday the question is can anyone stop him setting the bar even higher.

The Serbian world number one was the last man standing in Melbourne after two ferocious battles spanning more than 10 hours against Andy Murray in the semis and then Rafa Nadal in the final. He now towers like a chunk of granite at the top of the men's game.

One of the ranking theories of superiority, especially in head-to-head results, generates from a fundamental disbelief that player A can and should regularly beat player B.

Then, when player B whups up on player A in what some—mostly rabid fans of, and apologists for, player A—insist is an extra-athletic or meta-strategic way, player B is said to "be in player A's head."

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic said on Tuesday that his main focus this year would be on the Olympic Games and the French Open, a Grand Slam win that would see him hold all four major titles at once.

The French Open was the only Grand Slam that Djokovic failed to win last season as he went as far as the semifinals for the third time.

"The Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games are my priority this year," Djokovic told the Politika daily in an interview published on Tuesday.

Head of the Universe

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will not play for Serbia in the first round of this year's Davis Cup.

When Serbia announced their team ahead of Tuesday's deadline, the world number one, who also missed last year's first round, was not on their list.

The 2010 winners will instead by led against Sweden in Nis by world number nine Janko Tipsarevic. Viktor Troicki, Ilija Bozoljac and Nenad Zimonjic make up the side.

While half the planet was commenting one of the most riveting tennis matches ever, Rafael Nadal was sound asleep in his hotel room in hot and humid Melbourne.

Well after midday, the world's No 2 in tennis was finally able to rest after experiencing a paradoxical defeat, which smacked of victory at the same time.