This is all really nice and stuff. And “glittering” is as good a word as any to describe the glitz of the Tennis Channel cameras that followed Novak Djokovic on Tuesday to Laver Cup’s Crowne Plaza-fronted venue across the city from Washington, D.C.
In truth, there wasn’t too much on or around the court for the cameras – a 3-hour first set in which Djokovic survived a six-minute (and pretty wild) lapse of concentration – but there was plenty out there for the 17,000 people who packed the 23,000-seater FedExField to watch this tournament as the curtain on the FedEx Cup portion of the Grand Slam calendar went up.
There were stories about Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, yet none quite as heartening as how Novak Djokovic is again playing like the no. 1. And playing like the no. 1 of no. 1s – as in the 4-1 drubbing of Juan Martin del Potro (who you may remember as the guy who lost a tiebreaker in the U.S. Open final to Murray) as the welcome spotlightshopper of the opening night’s many spectacles. Djokovic is the no. 1 – not yet, not completely – of no. 1s, and he was ready to join No. 1 all-time in a Slam final again. Novak, the great once again.