The making of Novak Djokovic: Why his US Open win was so important

When Novak Djokovic finally captured a career-elevating 10th slam title, the world number one barely managed a celebration. There was none of the infamous hulk-like ripping of his shirt, no manic Serbian swearing to the hostile crowd at large, much less of his dramatic roaring to the skies above, and he didn't even bother beat his chest like a crazed caveman.

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Instead, after downing the greatest player of all time in yet another major title match and reckoning with one of the worst and most combative crowds in a career built to the backdrop of hostile fans, Djokovic smiled and pointed to his heart. He soon climbed his player box and embraced his team around him. He was elated, content and those were the only thoughts that appeared to occupy his mind.

This seemed a significant moment. For years now, it has been well known and well circulated that Djokovic's fatal flaw is his seeming obsession with being loved. He wants so desperately to be cheered, embraced and revered. Whenever he comes across any of the many hostile crowds he is doomed to face in the era of Federer and Nadal kool-aid drinkers, he can usually be seen either desperately going out of his way to win the fans over or cursing their mothers - or executing both simultaneously.

Against Federer, he was put in a position to do the same as 23,000 fans roared for their ageing champion to triumph one last time. After all these years, the drunken New York crowd that assembled after a lengthy rain interlude conspired to produce one of the most anti-Djokovic crowd displays the Serbian has ever faced.

They cheered every last scrap, from errors to simple missed first serves. At times they yelled mid-point as the ball crossed over the net to his side of the court; at other times their hollering forced him to discard serves mid-motion and start all over again. They did their utmost to make life miserable for the only player in the world they know is visibly affected by their taunts no matter the occasion.

But for just about the first time in history, Djokovic largely didn't bite. Throughout the match, he wore his disgust towards the savages surrounding him for all to see. His disdain was etched across his face from start to finish, but the essential difference between the early hours of Monday and previous days is that was as far as he took it. Regardless of the score, his attention was reserved for the tennis and the winning. As the crowd continued their attempts to affect the match, he responded by navigating difficult games with a surgical focus.

This could well be the making of Novak Djokovic. After his match, when asked for the umpteenth time in recent years about the blatantly disrespectful crowds, he repeated his most recent stock line of response to the topic.

“I accept the fact. You know, everybody has a choice to support a player that they want to support, and [Federer] absolutely deserves to have the support he does because of all the years and success that he had and the way he carries himself on and off the court. No question about it,” he said. “Me, I'm there to earn the support, and hopefully in the future I can be in that position.”

But the reality is that it's beginning to look like Djokovic may never be in that position. Regardless of what he does and how he behaves, even when he isn't being branded arrogant and aloof for the minor transgressions he committed years ago as a youngster, to many Djokovic will always be the man who swooped in and hijacked the Federer and Nadal party.

Even today, four years since he roared into the 2011 season and snatched this era for nobody but himself, some previews before the match still laughably branded the nine-time slam champion and undisputed world number one as the “antagonist” in this rivalry. Meanwhile, one major publication compared the “majestic” Federer with the apparently “robotic” Djokovic in the same outrageous breath. Sometimes it's intentional and many times it isn't, but the language used to describe Djokovic by fans and the media alike so often manages to undermine his credentials and his place in the game at every turn.

The significance of Djokovic's US Open victory cannot be overstated. It doesn't merely place him alongside the elite of the elite with his slam tally reaching double figures, it doesn't simply wrap up what will go down as one of the greatest seasons of all time, and it doesn't merely punctuate the season that has indelibly etched his name in the history books as an all-time great with an exclamation mark.

More than anything, this year has made it clear beyond any doubt that Novak Djokovic is at the height of his glorious powers with only an ageing 34-year-old and Federer's omnipresent fans his greatest current rivals. The slams he could win and the history he could chase over the coming seasons are endless.

With that in mind, it could just be that his new-found ability to finally accept he cannot change the way the crowd responds to him may play a decisive role in how many more times he scales to his player box with nothing but a smile and a victory on his mind.