The joker’s ace game trumps New York

THROUGHOUT the spring of 1999, 11-year-old Novak Djokovic had no way of knowing if his family’s Banjica apartment would feel the wrath of the US-backed NATO bombs raining down on Belgrade.

Twelve years later, he is the king of New York. The FDNY cap he wore during Monday night’s US Open presentation ceremony symbolised a deeper victory in a lifelong battle for acceptance in the hated west.

He had struggled through so much during his journey from precocious talent in post-war Serbia through to underachieving Tour joker and on into his injury-hampered period at the fringes of the Federer/Nadal axis.