When a good man goes to war...

Photo: Tanjug/AP

There's no turning back. The first salvo did not pass, but there is no turning back. Novak knew he could expect all sorts of things, but he didn't expect this. He may not have counted on winning the title in Dubai, but he didn't count on this either. No one knew what was going to happen, but no one saw - this happening. A painting half-torn, a new canvas that craves color.

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(Djokovic lost his quarterfinal match in Dubai against Jiri Vesely 4-6, 6-7)

He was angry. There's no denying. Getting angry at yourself when something isn't right is only justified when you're sure you could have done something - but you didn't. Then anger makes sense.

Somehow everything was building up and everything was waiting. Australia has left an open wound, and the healing is ongoing. This first aid was definitely not good enough. At first, the drug worked, but eventually lost its effect.

In real life of a utopian continuity, Jiri Veseli found two holes in the program and both times pushed through a strange virus that was incomprehensible to the programmer. Everything he could hit on a warm night, he did. Not winners, not sensational points, but just enough to shake up the champion who has not yet recovered.

Nobody knows what happens next, but there is no turning back. A second salvo is expected. Where the new strike will start, nobody currently knows. Something is in sight, but a strategy cannot be made based on that.

It must be clear, and when it is clear, then the application is easy. A clear plan makes a deadly champion.

What matters is that incredible fire in Novak, he regrets it very much that he cannot articulate all the forces in one direction. Because that would be devastating. It is important that the picture be clearer.

I stood in the back row of the main stadium in Dubai, watching the last points of a tie-break and wondering - will it ever become normal for Djokovic to lose? Will it ever leave your stomach not upset?

He is here. No well-meaning person should worry. What the bad guys should care about is that he is additionally annoyed.

The Australian Golgotha forcibly sent him on a journey. A long journey without no way back.

He lost the top ATP spot, is now chasing a Grand Slam title more, and is cornered. No more, no turning back.

"The demons flee when a good man goes to war, the night will fall and he'll take the sun will him, when a good man goes to war..." - it will become clear to everyone. Soon.

(Telegraf reporter from Dubai, Milos Becagovic)