NEW YORK – On Wednesday night he traveled around the world.
As Novak Djokovic sat courtside during the first set of his US Open second-round match against fellow countryman Laslo Djere, television cameras spotted a figure in the crowd. Wearing a white T-shirt with Djokovic’s figure emblazoned across the chest, he held the world in his hands. “Nole against the world,” it read.
While Djokovic stared into the distance at Arthur Ashe Stadium, wondering what to do about the heat, the humidity and the rhythm of his serve, the man behind him stood stoically.
At the end, when Djere had missed a double break in the second set before having to retire injured at 4:6, 4:6, 0:1 due to his own stomach ailment, he stood in the hall holding the “Nole against the world” shirt in his hand. “I made a beautiful T-shirt for him,” he said. The athlete, shows that Djokovic signed the jersey after the match.
“I made these T-shirts in Australia. I made this T-shirt because everyone was against him,” he said.
He is Zoran Pavlovic, a huge Djokovic fan and, for one night at Arthur Ashe, a character in another story about Djokovic battling the world and himself before finding a way out.
“He seems to come naturally and always has interesting designs on his shirts,” Djokovic said of Pavlovic.
Pavlovic, who said in a 2011 interview with the Santa Monica Daily Press that he emigrated to America from Belgrade in 1976 to undergo surgery to correct an oversized aorta, changed his jersey in the second set. The second jersey read “Djokovic, Jordan, Messi,” comparing the Serb to legends of basketball and soccer. By that point, Djokovic had already done what he has done in so many Grand Slam tournaments: He had parlayed a stumbling, sweaty, uncertain performance — made worse by the heat and humidity at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center — into a result that went in his favor.
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“Nole against the world” is a mantra that Djokovic himself lives by. A hostile crowd is his preferred source of energy. He broke Djere effortlessly in the 10th game and asked the crowd to applaud after winning points with masterful shots seconds after looking unsteady on his feet.
“I knew before the match that if I didn’t serve well, which was the case, I would have to really try hard and work hard for my points,” he said when the match was over.
“I have to be happy with the win and glad that I managed to get one more ball over the net than him in the decisive moments.”
Pavlovic, who appeared to be breaking out a cigar as a tense situation turned into a calmer one, said he had followed Djokovic around the world and on one of his recent trips he got into trouble.
Pavlovic was ejected from Rod Laver Arena at the Australian Open in January 2023 after wearing a T-shirt he designed with the “Z” symbol. The symbol was adopted by Putin supporters after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time, Pavlovic said it simply meant “Z” for Zoran. He then competed in the rest of the tournament, which Djokovic won by defeating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in three sets.
In New York, he said, “I spend a lot of time, a lot of money and a lot of love with him.” When Djere gave up the match and lost the second set after a double break, the world – or at least Djokovic’s body, his serve and the New York weather – seemed less against him. Pavlovic wore his opinion for all to see.
(Top photo: US Open)