Novak Djokovic with Lionel Messi in 2023 (Source: Instagram / Leo Messi)

British philosopher Bertrand Russell, the pacifist who was arrested for opposing World War I and spent six months in jail, where he wrote Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, said: “Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves.”That perhaps explains why Novak Djokovic angers so many people all the time, particularly op-ed columnists. Of course, angering op-ed columnists isn’t a particularly difficult task, as they are wont to lose their nut over a host of things, from a lack of LGBT representation in Harry Potter to “architectural sexism about upward-thrusting buildings ejaculating into the sky”.But one column that lives in this author’s head rent-free was written after Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam that argued: “Suppose a tennis player comes along who is 10 feet tall. Every serve is an ace. He never loses a service game. He wins 30 grand slams. Is he the GOAT (greatest of all time)? No. The idea is ridiculous. Or suppose that in the next few years there is another world war, and the majority of young men are conscripted. But the grand slams are still played, and Dave wins 30 of them. Is Dave the greatest? Certainly not.”One doesn’t need to be a Cambridge Don – though they let anyone become one these days if they have fabulist backstories – to decipher why Djokovic has ruffled the feathers of conventional folks.Much like Muhammad Ali, who refused to be drafted during the Vietnam War (“I don’t got no quarrel with the Vietcong”), Djokovic refused to succumb to COVID-era bullying even if it meant passing up history to become the first man to win 20 Grand Slams. He has refused surgery, created a rival players’ organisation, written “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, organised a separate tour during the pandemic and challenged equal pay. His father has even been filmed with supporters carrying the Russian flag at the Australian Open, when the polite thing in WENA countries was to pretend that the Russia-Ukraine War was the only global conflict that mattered.

File Pic - Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the trophy after winning the World Cup in 2022. (AP/PTI Photo)

And let’s not forget the fact that, despite having the misfortune of being born in the same era as two of tennis’ greatest maestros, Djokovic not only outlasted them but even ensured that the next generation would come up empty when counting their Grand Slam wins. Until his first-round loss at the US Open to the Argentine Mariano Navone, he was the only one who looked capable of challenging the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly in tennis, despite the fact that those two were born after Djokovic made his professional debut.Such was the dominance of Djokovic, along with Messrs Federer and Nadal, in the noughties and 2010s that only three men born in the 1990s have ever won Majors. The 1990s generation was sadly sandwiched between those born in the 1980s and the Alcaraz-Sinner hegemony that followed in the 2020s, meaning winning became a distant dream unless either protagonist was injured or having a rather bad day.But a recent retirement, in this case that of Lionel Messi, compatriot of Djokovic’s slayer Navone, from international duty, has raised the question of whether Djokovic, too, should consider hanging up his racket.Now, Messi and Djokovic do have a lot in common.Both came from impoverished backgrounds and became the greatest ever to play their respective sports.Both were even born in the same year, just 33 days apart. Both chased dreams that seemed unattainable, with families who bet their futures on their children’s success.Both had similarly close paternal relationships and left home early to train.In their early days, both even faced similar physical limitations. Messi needed growth hormones; Djokovic switched his diet and conditioning to produce extraordinary endurance hitherto unseen in tennis.Both even had to wait until the twilight of their careers for national redemption, with Messi winning the 2021 Copa América and the 2022 World Cup, and Djokovic winning Olympic gold for Serbia in 2024.Even at 39, both remain elite athletes who almost reached greatness again. While Djokovic reached the 2026 Australian Open final after defeating Sinner and falling to Alcaraz, Messi dragged Argentina into the 2026 World Cup final before finally succumbing to a vastly superior Spanish side.In the sign-off note that he was ostensibly going to post on July 21, two days after the final loss, Messi wrote: “I have emptied myself. I have nothing more to give. Besides, there are some wonderful young players coming through who deserve to be here.”Anyone who has watched Messi knows that the boy from Rosario was long tormented by his inability to replicate his club success for the nation of his birth, even after giving it everything.But Novak Djokovic isn’t Lionel Messi, and tennis is not football. Djokovic isn’t taking up some young player’s space or blocking anyone in a team sport, unlike his once-great rival Ronaldo, who has been doing so in the Portuguese national side.There’s no perfect swansong for an ageing GOAT, and if a 22-year-old cannot beat a 39-year-old Djokovic, that’s on the rookie. Djokovic also remains an elite contender, having reached the Australian Open final and, before the US Open, at least the semi-finals in eight of the last 11 majors. It’s only Djokovic’s surreal record that makes it look like a bad innings.

X/@usopen | Novak Djokovic was defeated by Argentina's Mariano Navone.

Most don’t get perfect swansongs, with Sampras perhaps the only one who left at the top. Federer’s final professional match was a doubles defeat; Nadal’s was a loss in the Davis Cup. Serena Williams lost in the third round of her final US Open.One loss doesn’t tarnish anything Djokovic has achieved in his career, and winning number 25 remains tennis’s Holy Grail. Currently, Djokovic shares 24 Slams with Margaret Court, and the only question is what Djokovic meant by “pretty much despising every moment he spent on court”.He said after the match: “Then my whole body starts to collapse, basically cramping and pain. The back just gave up, in the end it was the shoulder, and I couldn't close it out.”The question here is really one that only Djokovic and his team can answer: Has time taken its toll, or was this a one-off that will see the old Djokovic back on court and joking again? Either way, that first-round loss makes one think of what Winston Churchill said after the British victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein in North Africa: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”One hopes that Djokovic’s first-round loss is not the end of the beginning because, as long as the Serb is around, he will continue to defy conventional wisdom and keep rousing his detractors to fury. And without that tennis will be a far poorer sport.