On Sunday, he will have the chance to win a seventh Wimbledon singles title against an opponent, Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, who few, including Kyrgios himself, believed would ever find the mental fortitude required to reach the biggest stage of the sport. Djokovic booked his place in the final with a four-set win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie on Friday afternoon, overcoming some early-match inconsistency that has become a bit of a habit. He withstood both a strong start from Norrie and a raucous City crowd on Center Court to win the semifinal, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. It was the only men’s semifinal played on Friday. On Thursday, Rafael Nadal withdrew from the tournament with a torn abdominal muscle. Nadal’s decision not to play after aggravating the tear in his five-set quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz allowed Kyrgios to effortlessly progress to his first Grand Slam singles final. It also ended hope for a coveted showdown between Djokovic and Nadal, who have won a combined 42 Grand Slam titles but have played each other for the trophy at Wimbledon just once, in 2011. Djokovic won. What the match with Kyrgios in the final may lack in historical value — no one, not even Kyrgios, expects him to develop, at 27, into an all-time great — it may well make up for in drama. It’s a duel between two players that many in and around the sport see as villains. Djokovic’s impetuous and confrontational demeanor, especially compared to his main rivals, gentlemen Nadal and Roger Federer, has long made him more feared than loved, shattering the binary tennis rivalry that Federer and Nadal created for the first time more than 15 years ago. Kyrgios, an idiosyncratic and explosive talent who has spent his career battling the tennis establishment and his own demons, is an unstoppable and disruptive force who has put himself on Wimbledon fever since the early days of this tournament. He can lash out at any moment, and has repeatedly over the past two weeks, at chair umpires, opponents, fans or anyone he feels is being treated unfairly. Sometimes it’s genuine, other times it’s just to shake and distract his opponent. He’s racked up $14,000 in fines this tournament, but he’s played to packed stadiums, with fans craving his lively serve, or the occasional wrong serve, and his trick shots. On Tuesday, news broke that Kyrgios was due in court on August 2 to face charges of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Chiara Passari told police Kyrgios grabbed her during a domestic dispute in December. On the advice of his lawyers, Kyrgios declined to comment on the allegations. “There will be a lot of fireworks emotionally,” said Djokovic, a favorite in the match despite never having won or even won a set against Kyrgios. Djokovic and Kyrgios have not played since 2017 and have never played in a Grand Slam event. But the two clashed verbally at the 2021 Australian Open, a tournament that took place at the height of the pandemic. Djokovic criticized tournament organizers for the restrictions they placed on players arriving in Australia for the tournament. Most players were under a limited two-week quarantine, but many ended up confined to their rooms for 14 days after a handful of people on their special flights to the country tested positive for Covid-19. Kyrgios had remained in Australia for most of the first year of the pandemic, spending time delivering food and other supplies to people who were struggling to get them during the country’s strict lockdown. Djokovic, who refused to be vaccinated, was skeptical of the public health community’s handling of the pandemic. Long before officials began greenlighting public gatherings, he organized a tennis exhibition that turned into a superspreader event. Then, shortly after arriving in Australia, he criticized the rules. “Djokovic is a tool,” Kyrgios tweeted. Djokovic later told a press conference that he respected Kyrgios’ talents in tennis but did not respect him off the court. Kyrgios responded, saying he could not take Djokovic’s criticism seriously given Djokovic’s demeanor. “He’s a very strange cat, Novak is,” he said. “Amazing tennis player, but unfortunately someone who parties in his shirt during a global pandemic, I don’t know if I can relax from this man.” They have since gone into a kind of slump. It started earlier this year when Kyrgios spoke on Djokovic’s behalf after Djokovic was detained in Australia during the controversy over his vaccination status, which ultimately led to his deportation. Kyrgios even described it on Friday as a kind of “bromance”. Djokovic wouldn’t go that far. “I think everybody knows there was no love lost for a while there,” Kyrgios said. “I think it was healthy for the sport. I think every time we played each other, there was hype.” Djokovic said relations were much better than they were. “When it was very difficult for me in Australia, he was one of the few players who came out publicly and supported me and stood by me,” he said. “That’s something I really appreciate.” Djokovic remains unvaccinated and unless the United States and Australia change their rules, Sunday’s final could be his last Grand Slam match for almost 11 months and he does not expect it to be easy. “He shoots the lights out every time he steps on the court,” Djokovic said of Kyrgios. “Just a lot of power in his serve and his game. So I’m sure he will.” Djokovic struggled to do so at first on Friday, a sunny, 80-degree day that forecasters in London called a heat wave. Norrie, a steady, never-say-die lefty, was the better player early and in the first games of the second set, going toe-to-toe and trying to outlast the best rally in the world. Djokovic struggled with his serve and finding his trademark accuracy on his groundstrokes. He also doesn’t care much about playing in the heat. Midway through the first set, with Norrie pressing ahead, Djokovic sat in his chair and draped a towel over his head as the packed Center crowd rallied for a compatriot with a home just up the road. Norrie, who lives so close to the All England Club that he cycled to the courts earlier in the tournament, hit an ace to win the set, pumped his fist and made the sound. As well as the crowd inside the stadium, there were thousands more picnicking and downing beers and Pimm’s on Henman Hill as they watched the match on a big screen. But Djokovic is so good at getting the best of an opponent — and criticizing the crowd — and biding his time for an opening to appear. He did so when he dropped a set in the fourth round to red-hot Dutch unknown Tim van Rijthoven, and in the quarterfinals when he dropped the first two sets to Italy’s Jannik Sinner, one of the world’s great young players. Djokovic put on a baseball cap to protect himself from the heat of the sun and midway through the set he stopped giving Norrie free points. Suddenly, Norrie found himself fighting for break points every time he served. In the eighth game of the set, Norrie sent a forehand long to give Djokovic a 5-3 lead. Djokovic turned to his box and clenched his fist, as if to say, “Don’t worry, I got this.” There was never any doubt. Djokovic sprinted into the third set as Norrie’s game slipped and he hit an early break of serve in the fourth. Norrie fought to keep it close, but in the end it was all he could do. A small victory but not the one he wanted. On the final point, Djokovic, who has played 68 Grand Slam tournaments and reached the finals 32 times, smashed a serve down the middle and then turned to bait a fan who had shouted to try to break his last hit. He later claimed with a smile that he was blowing kisses to someone who had supported him. Now he faces Kyrgios, a player he said he and others have long viewed as among the most dangerous in the world, if he could ever control his emotions and commit to the sport, which he has, at least for now. “For the quality player he is,” Djokovic said of Kyrgios, “he should be there and he deserves it.”
