A belated farewell to Novak Djokovic: my new favorite tennis player

Largely lost in the hype surrounding Roger Federer's imperial march towards another Grand Slam title, Rafael Nadal's return to major action, and line judge abuse was the wild ride of Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic. The world's number 4 ranked player had a little bit of image rehab to perform entering the U.S. Open after some comments about American Andy Roddick which were less than endearing to the fans. So what did Djokovic do? He decided that he was going to make this year's tournament his penance.

In the defining moment of the tournament, after finishing up his match with Radek Stepanek, Djokovic launched into a perfect impersonation of former tennis pro/ESPN analyst/bane of tennis officials worldwide John McEnroe. What followed went a long way to repairing his image with the U.S. fans. The young Serb called out McEnroe to leave his cushy perch above the court and play a little rally with him. Sure, the old man beat the young gun in a couple points (it's not like McEnroe has completely stopped playing the game), but Djokovic made sure that everyone would remember his name for future tournaments

An encore you say? Why not. Against the Nike sponsored juggernaut Roger Federer? I'm in.

From the beginning, it just seemed like a matter of time before Federer disposed of Novak, but he made it entertaining until the very end. During a rally at the net (which he was clearly not going to sneak a shot by Federer) he simply relented, turned around with his racket between his legs and presented the world's number 1 with new target. Even when Federer pulled a winner between his legs from the same place that Djokovic gave him as a target, he took it in stride with a big smile on his face and "what can I do?" demenor. He lost in straight sets, but gained a new found respect from myself, and the fans in New York.

He's never going to be a household name in all likelyhood, but his performance at the U.S. Open these past few weeks should earn Djokovic a whole new stable of fans. It's always refreshing to see a player who plays to not only win, but to have fun while they're doing it.

A player who plays for more than just the win? You cannot be serious.