Novac Djokovich's Comment after Getting the Gold, "... God is Good, God is Good. Thank God!"

Again, He Makes the Sign of the Cross.

For The Win!

… And then Thanking God

From FoxSports Australia

Sunday night's thriller against Stanislas Wawrinka, such a prolonged masterpiece of musical tennis that Federer versus Tomic the night before was feeling like a couple of drunks playing ping pong, and Djokovic again disrobed.

In full view, once more, was his symbol of empowerment. His cross.

The God in tennis?

Djokovic wins a lot of matches he should lose. Nadal's foot was on his throat in Melbourne. He trailed Andreas Seppi by two sets  to love at the French Open. He survived four match points against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at Roland Garros. He saved two match points to beat Federer at the 2010 and 2011 US Opens, one of them retrieved by the most outrageous forehand ever hit.

Federer was so offended by that one shot that he took about nine months to recover.

His ability to claw his way back from impossible situations has become the stuff of lore.

Asked how he gets through these nerve-shredding matches without a shred of panic, how he keeps unloading his wheelhouse groundstrokes with great optimism when the scoreboard is telling him to pack up and go home, he routinely says this: "I believe."

It is a double-sided answer. Djokovic believes that in any match, from any predicament, he can win.

Put him in any situation, the most diabolical circumstance you can think of, and he just believes a path will be cleared. 

Wawrinka can be hitting his oil-painting backhands all night, all night, and Djokovic will keep plugging away because he believes it is his destiny to prevail.

He really does think he has been put on this Earth to win majors, and at the heart of his faith is the cross we saw on Sunday night.

Against Nadal last year, he stroked it, kissed it and prayed over it. It is less visible this year because he is sponsored by a different clothing company, Uniqlo instead of Sergia Tacchini, and tighter-fitting shirts keep the cross hidden. But it is always there. 

The God in tennis. Does it matter?

Famously, Andre Agassi took exception to Michael Chang thanking the Lord for a win. The Las Vegan delivered a straight-sets beating at their next meeting and claimed to savour "every blasphemous stroke."

Agassi is still appalled by the notion that with everything God would appear to have on his plate on any given day, like Australia's batting in an Ashes year and whatnot, he would take the time to cast his glare on a tennis match and decide the winner.

The oddity in his clash with Chang was that they used to attend bible study classes together. Nowadays, tennis is littered with Christians and Catholics and since Djokovic let his cross hang out in Melbourne last year, more players have begun to do the same.

The top two seeds in the women's draw, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, both of whom are in action on Monday, wear the cross.

When Serena Williams won the Brisbane International two weeks ago, her first vote of thanks went to Jehova.

When she claimed Wimbledon last year, the T-shirt worn by her father, Richard, declared: "Jehova, My God."

Djokovic?

Ten days before the start of last year's Australian Open, past the stroke of deepest, darkest midnight, he left his suite in the heart of the Melbourne CBD and took a 45-minute drive to an address he discovered on a Google search: 212 Diamond Creek Road, Greensborough.

Wearing a collared white shirt, trim beige jacket and black-rimmed spectacles, he strode to the front door of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava, saddened by the silence and inactivity inside.

He attempted to open the door, but it was locked. Frustrated, he gave the door a good and proper shove. A light turned off, and then it turned on again.

Father Vladislav Sipovac was completing preparations for a service to be held later in the day.

Djokovic started banging on the door. Checking his watch to make sure it had indeed moved past the witching hour, January 6 morphing into the early hours of January 7, Father Sipovac was frightened.

Why the visitor at this hour? He opened the door. Standing on his doorstep was the most famous Serb on Earth.

Djokovic apologised for the intrusion. He asked if a midnight service was being held to commemorate the Orthodox New Year. Clearly, the answer was no. Djokovic was crestfallen. He was ushered inside. Father Sipovac rushed to his car quicker than The Flying Nun, drove home, changed into his priestly robes and returned to pray over Djokovic.

He provided a photograph to a local newspaper, The Whittlesea Leader, and was quoted as saying: "The Serbian community are honoured that their champ came to their regular place of worship, and will be with Novak in spirit, and supporting him at Melbourne Park, as he takes out another Australian Open title." Such faith. 

Perhaps a higher force is fiddling with the Hawk-Eye replays to attain the desired results.

Maybe an even greater eye in the sky is making it sound like there was a let when there was no such thing.

Perhaps Djokovic's curve-ball forehands receive some additional swing when he is down a break point.

Maybe Serena would have broken her ankle without a supportive hand from the supernatural. Perhaps not.

The cross is an enormous part of Djokovic's life. Does it make a skerrick of difference to his tennis?

A conversation in New York last year with Stan Smith, the former Wimbledon and US Open champion, and devout Christian, seemed to provide a reasonable answer.

"It's hard to know how meaningful it really is to each individual person unless you know that person, and I've never spoken to Novak about it, but I would say faith gives you a better perspective on life." he said.

"In a sporting context, I don't think God is going to choose between one or the other. But the point of having faith is to know you are safe and it doesn't really matter if you win or lose. My feeling was always that God had given me a certain amount of talent and he expected me to get the most out of that talent. So in the end it was up to me, and that drove me to train as hard as I could, and compete as hard as I could, to do justice to the talent I was given."

Maybe that's it. God only knows, and maybe even Djokovic.

Source: https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/majors/open-insider-thank-god-faith-at-the-heart-of-novak-djokovics-stunning-success/news-story/f991691523b7708d85d2efbd11b72760

This is the best way to end the Olympics: with thanks to God.

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