Tokyo

Tennis is hard. 

That’s what I thought, watching Novak Djokovic crumble in Tokyo: He’s made a difficult sport look unfairly effortless for too long of a time. 

Djokovic, of course, has won every major tournament he’s played in this year, and the 34-year-old from Serbia will be the favorite next month when the U.S. Open begins in New York City, one title away from being the first man since Rod Laver to win all four majors in a calendar year. 

He’s a player without a pronounced weakness, his endurance is unmatched, and he’s an absolute nightmare when he gets in a jam. Djokovic pulls himself out of trouble so routinely, it’s gotten to the point it’s a shock when he doesn’t—but that’s exactly what happened here Friday, versus Alexander Zverev in the Olympic men’s singles semifinal. 

6-1…3-6, 1-6. Wait, what? 

Please know: Djokovic was cruising in this match. Cruising! It was the sort of humid night in which the air felt like a heavy coat, and any sort of physical activity seemed unwise, outside of being Novak Djokovic, because Djokovic seems to thrive most when mortals are trudging through. 

He’d come to Tokyo with the ambition of adding a gold medal to make his Grand Slam a “Golden” one, and until a couple of hours ago, it looked like a fait accompli. Even more, he appeared to be loving the experience. He was showing up on Instagram doing splits with Belgian gymnasts, taking selfies with strangers and parading around like an Olympic ambassador. He was playing mixed doubles! He was all in.  

He pounced on Zverev, dismissing him in the first set. The start of the second was more of the same. Djokovic hopped to a 3-2 lead as a cluster of friendlies from the Serbian delegation rowdily cheered every one of his winners. 

Zverev looked exactly like you’d think. Like the prey. The 24-year-old from Germany was dejected. He was annoyed. He cracked his racket on the hard court after an ugly point, and at a second set changeover, he smacked a ball deep into the grandstand. The kid was doing what pretty much everyone expected, which was to go straight down the tubes. 

What happened next was baffling. If I could travel back in time and visit myself at approximately 6 p.m. Japan standard time and tell myself that Djokovic was going to lose this match, my 6 p.m. Japan standard time self would not have believed a single word of it.

Djokovic lose? Get out of here, Jason from the Future, I would have said. This thing is in the bag. But can you tell me how Max Scherzer winds up doing as a Dodger? 

Alexander Zverev rallied to beat Novak Djokovic in three sets.

Alexander Zverev rallied to beat Novak Djokovic in three sets.

Photo: mike segar/Reuters

Zverev found something. Foot out the door, he made the move that grouchy tennis fans are always complaining that the next-gen wunderkinds don’t do enough of when they’re facing the Big 3 giants, which is: to go for it, let it rip, don’t let Djokovic set the terms, because Djokovic’s terms are sending you home. 

“I was playing nice tennis, but against him, it’s never really going to work,” Zverev said later. “He’s going to out rally you every single time.”

This is true. So Zverev went for it, belatedly but appropriately. He added pace and sharper angles. First serves became thunderbolts. The kid played as if there was nothing left to lose, because there wasn’t, and suddenly Djokovic was the one going downhill.

Zverev wound up reeling off 10 of the last 11 games. Djokovic was weary, sweaty and lost. Now he was the one wearing the heavy jacket of humidity. There would be no comeback, no crawl out of the tennis crypt. This upset was going into the books. 

Alexander Zverev serves to Novak Djokovic.

Alexander Zverev serves to Novak Djokovic.

Photo: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

It’s a career win for Zverev, who’s yet to win a major, but gets some confidence that he’s close. It’s more evidence of the devilishness of Olympic tennis, where matches are best-of-three sets, and giants are prone to fall. A reminder here that Djokovic (20 majors), Roger Federer (20) and Rafael Nadal (20) have collected sixty major titles between them, and Olympic singles gold medals? One. (It’s Rafa’s…from 2008.)

Djokovic still has work left here — he’ll play a singles bronze medal match against Pablo Carreno Busta and another bronze match in mixed doubles with countrywoman Nina Stojanovic—and after the Games are done, it’s onto New York City and a tournament where he mindlessly self-destructed last year when, in irritation, he accidentally struck an official with a ball. The hype of the Golden Slam (still the sole property of Steffi Graf) yields to the prospect of a Grand Slam, as if that’s some easy feat. We’ll see. Novak Djokovic is the best in the world, but tennis is hard.

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His “Golden Slam” chance spoiled, do you think Novak Djokovic will seal the “Grand Slam?”

Write to Jason Gay at jason.gay@wsj.com