Midway through lunch with Novak Djokovic he still hasn’t touched his food. It concerns me. I tell the world’s best tennis player that I will talk to him about my own game to give him some time to eat. It’s generally pretty wretched, I say, but it gets particularly ugly when I am 30-40 down and I have just missed my first serve, at which point I feel I am looking down into an existential black hole, sense my self-esteem ebb away, and invariably send the ball careering outside the lines. So what does it feel like for him in the “clutch” moments, which have rather more at stake?

我与诺瓦克德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)的午餐已过去了一半时间，然而他还没碰过面前的食物。我心里感到不安。于是我对这位世界排名第一的网球选手说，我要开始聊聊我自己打网球的经历，好给他些时间吃饭。总体来说，我的战绩相当惨烈，但当我刚错失自己首个发球局，跟着又以30比40的比分落后时，局面变得更加糟糕。那一刻，我觉得自己脚下出现了一个黑洞，我感到自尊在一丝丝流走，手上不由自主地挥拍将球急速送向界外。那么当他遇到“关键”时刻（比我的自然要危急得多），他是什么感觉呢？

“The first thing is to make sure you are in the moment,” he answers calmly. “That is much easier to say than to do. You have to exclude all distractions and focus only on what you are about to do. In order to get to that state of concentration, you need to have a lot of experience, and a lot of mental strength. You are not born with that. It is something you have to build by yourself.”

德约科维奇平静地答道：“首先，你要确保自己把注意力放在当下。这件事说起来容易做起来难。你必须排除所有杂念，只专注你要做的这件事。为了进入这种全神贯注的状态，你需要积攒大量经验，还要磨练出很强的意志力。这东西不是天生的，你得自己去培养。”

His conversation is fluent, intense and measured, not unlike his ground strokes. “I believe that half of any victory in a tennis match is in place before you step on to the court. If you don’t have that self-belief, then fear takes over. And then it will get too much for you to handle. It’s a fine line. The energy of those moments is so high: how are you going to use it? Are you going to let it consume you, or are you going to accept its presence and say, ‘OK, let’s work together.’”

他言语流利，说话认真、慎重，与他的击落地球别无二致。“我相信对任何一场网球比赛来说，胜负在你踏入球场前就已经决定了一半。如果你没有这种自信，恐惧感就会占上风，然后你的恐惧将越来越大，大到你无法承受。其间只有细微差别。恐惧的能量是非常大的，你打算怎么利用？你是想被恐惧吞噬，还是接受它的存在，然后对它说，‘好吧，让我们一起努力’。”

It is hard to believe that this supremely self-assured champion has his scary moments. Did he ever actually feel fear on the court these days? “Absolutely. Absolutely. Everyone feels fear. I don’t trust a man who says he has no fear. But fear is like a passing cloud in the sky. After it passes, there is a clear blue sky.” Not so easy to say if you are Andy Murray, brought up under the leaden clouds of Scotland, I say, and Djokovic laughs politely.

很难相信这位超自信的冠军也会有害怕的时刻。他在球场上有没有真正感到过恐惧？“有，当然有。每个人都会感到恐惧。我不相信有人会说自己毫不恐惧。但恐惧就像天上飘过的一朵云，飘走之后，又是一片晴朗的蓝天。”我回答道，假如你是安迪穆雷(Andy Murray)，从小在苏格兰经常乌云密布的天空下长大，你就很难这么说了。德约科维奇客气地笑了。

We are in the clear blue sky of southern Europe in one of the newest models in the fleet of NetJets, a private jet company, travelling from Belgrade to Monaco, where Djokovic lives with his wife Jelena and their 11-month old son, Stefan. I have been promised a knock with him, as part of an afternoon of tennis clinics he will give at the Monte Carlo Country Club with NetJets clients. Djokovic “owns” part of the plane in which we are travelling, under the company’s fractional ownership arrangement. He tells them when he needs it; they sort out the details. It’s as simple, inclement weather permitting, as getting a restring for his racquet.

我们正乘坐着私人飞机公司NetJets一款最新型的飞机，飞翔在南欧晴朗的蓝天中。飞机从贝尔格莱德飞往摩纳哥，德约科维奇与妻子伊莲娜(Jelena)还有他们11个月大的儿子斯特凡(Stefan)居住在摩纳哥。下午他将在蒙特卡洛乡村俱乐部(Monte Carlo Country Club)为NetJets的客户进行一次网球指导，他已经答应届时要跟我“切磋”一场。根据NetJets公司的“分式产权”安排，我们乘坐的这架飞机有部分为德约科维奇“拥有”。他需要使用时就告知NetJets，细节问题由该公司解决，这就跟给他的网球拍换个线一样简单——只要天气情况允许。

Given the demands and head-spinning rewards of the professional tennis tour, it is the only way to travel. Djokovic’s schedule is relentless: he is at the top of the game’s rankings, and holds three out of four of this year’s Grand Slam titles. He travels constantly, and needs to rest, because he doesn’t make a habit out of leaving tournaments in their early rounds.

鉴于参加职业网球巡回赛的需要以及高到让人晕眩的奖金，这是唯一适合的出行方式。德约科维奇的赛程排得满满当当的，他是现役男子网球选手单打第一，在今年四项大满贯赛事中三次夺冠。他出行频繁，还得留出时间休息，因为他还没养成在比赛前几轮就打道回府的“习惯”。

His 10 Grand Slam career wins put him equal seventh in the all-time list, but no one seriously believes that he will stop there. At the age of 28, he is at the peak of his powers: in form, in demand, and in relentless pursuit of the two contemporary players who hold more titles than him: Rafael Nadal (14) and record-holder Roger Federer (17).

到目前为止，德约科维奇已赢得10个大满贯冠军，这一成绩让他排到网球历史上最伟大男球员并列第七位，但没人认为他会止步于此。今年28岁的德约科维奇无论是从竞技状态还是求胜心来说，都处于巅峰，而且他还有一个不懈追求的目标：当代还有两名球员获得的冠军数量比他多，一位是获得过14次冠军的拉菲尔纳达尔(Rafael Nadal)，还有一位是纪录保持者，获得过17次冠军的罗杰费德勒(Roger Federer)。

Djokovic has suffered — even if it is problematic to use that word when dealing with a figure of such sporting distinction — from “third man” syndrome during that time. His ascent was widely viewed as a presumptuous intrusion, upsetting tennis’s perfectly calibrated duel of archetypes: Roger Federer, the unruffled, elegant Swiss versus Rafael Nadal, the taurine Spaniard. Their battles had captured the public imagination, and sent the game spinning into unimagined levels of excellence. However could Djokovic fit in?

在很长时期里，德约科维奇一直饱受“第三人”综合症困扰——虽然用这样一个词来形容一位如此杰出的运动员是有问题的。人们普遍将他的崛起视作一场冒失的闯入，认为他扰乱了完美搭配的网坛模范对决：沉稳优雅的瑞士人罗杰费德勒，对阵西班牙蛮牛拉菲尔纳达尔。公众对这二人的大战充满期待，同时将这一运动推上了超乎想象的高度。德约科维奇怎样才能适应呢？

Well, by beating them. The Serbian has triumphed over Federer in all three of their last Grand Slam finals, while his five-set victory over Nadal at the 2012 Australian Open is widely considered to be one of the most punishing matches of all time, the tennis equivalent of boxing’s Thrilla in Manila between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It marked a turning point: the third man was here to stay.

答案就是：打败他们。这个塞尔维亚人在与费德勒近期对阵的三场大满贯决赛中全都取得了胜利。2012年澳网公开赛中他五盘拿下纳达尔的那场比赛，被公认是网球史上最艰苦的比赛之一，这场比赛堪比网球界的“马尼拉的震颤”(Thrilla in Manila)——穆罕默德阿里(Muhammad Ali)和乔弗雷泽(Joe Frazier)之间那场著名拳击大战。这场比赛标志了一个转折点，这位“第三人”从此站住了脚。

We sit down face-to-face in our leather seats, surrounded by pristine wooden panelling, and shortly after take-off, two plates of assorted sushi and sashimi are brought to us. They come from Maya Bay, Djokovic’s favourite restaurant in Monaco. I congratulate him on his US Open win in September, and ask how long it took him to pick up a racquet again after receiving the trophy.

我们面对面地坐在真皮座椅里，四周的内饰都采用了质朴的木质镶板。飞机起飞不久后，空乘给我们送来两盘什锦寿司和生鱼片。这些海鲜来自“玛雅湾”(Maya Bay)，这是德约科维奇在摩纳哥最喜欢的一家餐馆。我对他在9月美网公开赛中取得胜利表示祝贺，并询问他拿到这座奖杯后，再过多久他才会再次拿起球拍。

“About 10 to 11 days,” he replies. “That is the maximum number of days that I don’t play tennis, and I needed that because I have had a very tough, competitive year behind me. I wanted to put my racquet aside, and hold my baby in my arms.” All tournaments, he says, are exhausting. “But it adds a little bit more flavour when you win,” he understates.

德约科维奇回答道：“大约10到11天吧。这是我不打网球的最长天数，而且我也需要休息这么多天，过去一年的比赛非常激烈，我打得也很艰苦。我想暂时放下球拍，抱一抱我的宝宝。”他说这些比赛让他精疲力尽，“但当你赢球时，付出的辛苦也有了趣味。”他轻描淡写地说道。

The last week in Belgrade has hardly been a holiday: Djokovic and his wife have been supervising the work of their charitable foundation, which is devoted to improving pre-school education in their native country. What inspired that particular mission? “Personal experience. I didn’t have that kind of schooling, because we come from a culture that believes it is better for children to stay at home with the extended family, which is not something we are against.” But education, he says, is a building block: “something that nobody can take away from you. It helps to build your character, and stimulates you to be independent.”

十月初，德约科维奇回到贝尔格莱德，但几乎完全没有休息，他和妻子一直在监督他们的慈善基金会的运作。俩人的基金会致力于改善塞尔维亚的学前教育。是什么激发他要进行这项特定的事业呢？“个人经历吧。我没接受过学前教育，因为在我们的文化里，人们认为孩子留在家里，在大家庭里成长更好，我们并不反对这样的成长方式。”他接着说，可是教育就像你的一个组成部分：“没人能从你手里拿走它。教育可以帮助你培养性格，激励你更加独立。”

Djokovic may not have had the benefits of a nursery schooling but something remarkable took its place: the unfettered attentions of a coach, Jelena Gencic, who first saw him aged five, pressing against the fence of her tennis camp in the mountain resort of Kopaonik, where Djokovic’s parents ran a pizza restaurant. She asked the wide-eyed boy if he wanted to have a hit. The rest is part of the Djokovic mythology: she was so astounded by the young boy’s precocity that she sought his parents immediately, and told them he could be a star in the making.

德约科维奇可能没享受过幼儿园教育的益处，但他接受过更出色的教育，那就是伊莲娜根契奇(Jelena Gencic)对他的无限关爱。根契奇第一次看到德约科维奇时，他才5岁。当时根契奇在Kopaonik山区度假胜地经营一家网球训练营，小德约趴在训练营的铁丝网外面，他的父母在附近开了一家披萨店。接下来的事构成了德约科维奇传奇的一部分，根契奇问这个大眼睛男孩想不想挥下拍子，不料小男孩的早熟让根契奇惊讶不已，她当即找到他的父母，告诉他们这个孩子会成长为一个明星。

Is it possible that Djokovic, who hadn’t picked up a racquet up to that point, could have slipped through the game’s grasp if it hadn’t been for that moment? He waves his hand dismissively. “I don’t like ‘what-ifs’,” he says firmly. “I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. If you ask yourself those questions, you can go on forever.”

德约科维奇见到根契奇之前从未拿起过网球拍。可不可以假设，如果那一刻网球没有吸引他的注意，他可能就会错过它？德约科维奇不以为然地摆了摆手，坚定地答道：“我不喜欢‘如果……可能’这样的假设。我坚信凡事不会无缘无故地发生。如果你对自己提出这类问题，就会没完没了地问下去。”

Gencic said she would personally oversee the young boy’s development. “She saw the sparkle in my eyes. My father believed her, and he believed in me.” The coach became a mentor, introducing her charge not just to tennis but also to poetry, science and classical music. Gencic’s death during the 2013 French Open was kept from Djokovic until after his third-round match, and came as a devastating blow. “She was like my second mother,” he said in a press conference later in the week.

根契奇说她会亲自监督这个小男孩的成长。“她在我眼中看到闪光。我父亲相信她，而且他也对我有信心。”根契奇教练成了他的导师，她不仅教他打网球，还教他诗歌、科学和古典音乐。2013年法网公开赛期间，根契奇教练逝世，德约科维奇的团队对他封锁了这一消息，直到第三轮比赛后才告诉他。这个消息让他大受打击。当周晚些时候他在一场新闻发布会上表示：“她就像我的第二个妈妈。”

The teenage Djokovic stormed through the rankings. He developed a reputation for his remarkably consistent high level of play, for his athletic prowess and physical fitness, and for the odd hot-headed moment. And this year — French Open aside — he has achieved everything he wanted. I ask him how he keeps himself motivated.

十几岁的德约科维奇像旋风一样冲进了世界排名。他建立起了个人声誉，包括惊人稳定的高水平发挥，超强的竞技实力和体能，以及偶尔会突然急躁。今年他已经实现了所有目标——除了法网公开赛以外。我问他怎样让自己充满动力。

“I can carry on playing at this level because I like hitting the tennis ball,” he says simply. Are there players who don’t, I ask? “Oh yes. There are people out there who don’t have the right motivation. You don’t need to talk to them. I can see it. But I don’t judge. I completely respect everybody’s freedom of choice. If it works for them...”

“我之所以能保持现在的竞技水平，是因为我喜欢打网球。”他简单地答道。我问，难道还有不喜欢打网球的球员？“有啊。有人打网球的动机并不正确。你不用听他们说就能看出来。但我不做评判，我完全尊重每个人的选择自由。只要他们的选择适合自己……”

Part of being the world’s number one is that he has become a role model, I say. He nods enthusiastically. “A lot of young people all over the world follow every move I make.” That sounds stressful. “You can look at it from both sides. Is it stressful, or is it a privilege? It gives me strength and energy. For me it is an incredible privilege.”

我说，他之所以有动力要保持世界第一，部分来自于他已成为一位榜样。他起劲地点点头：“在世界各地，有许多年轻人关注我的一举一动。”听上去压力不小。“你可以从两方面来看。这到底是一种压力，还是一种荣幸呢？人们的关注给了我力量和活力。对我来说，这是一种极大的荣幸。”

Djokovic is still only nibbling at his lunch. The sushi, as one might expect, is excellent. We drink water. No surprises: this is a man who thinks more than most about what he puts in his body, and when. Another piece of Djokovic mythology: when he was younger, he was often affected in the middle of matches by sudden medical emergencies, occasionally forcing him to pull out of games altogether. It sullied his reputation as he rose through the ranks: the usually polite Federer once called him a “joke”.

德约科维奇还在小口小口地吃着他的午餐。玛雅湾的寿司果然非常棒。我们的饮料是水，也在意料之中。关于要吃什么东西，什么时候吃，这个男人比绝大多数人都慎重。德约科维奇的另一个传奇故事是，他更年轻的时候，常在比赛中途突发医疗紧急情况，偶尔因此被迫彻底退出比赛。这让他在升级道路上名声受损，就连平时温文尔雅的费德勒都曾称他是一个“笑话”。

Then, in the middle of one match in Australia, he was seen on television by a doctor, Igor Cetojevic, who was no great tennis fan but who instantly managed to diagnose that Djokovic’s listlessness was a result of his diet. The men met a few months later, leading Djokovic to adopt a new diet, free from gluten, dairy products and processed sugar. The transformation in his health, and his game, was instant and radical.

后来在澳大利亚的一次比赛中，伊戈尔切托耶维奇(Igor Cetojevic)在电视上看见了他。这位医生不是狂热的网球迷，但立即诊断出德约科维奇之所以精力不济，是他的饮食所致。几个月以后两个人会了面，德约科维奇从此采用了新的饮食方案：不含麸质、奶制品和加工糖的食品。他的健康状况立即得到了彻底改善，他的成绩同样如此。

“I had thought that I was eating healthily,” he says, recalling the turning point in 2010. “I didn’t eat junk food, I wasn’t drinking Coca-Cola, no alcohol.” But he concluded that gluten was the culprit. “I thought about it and realised I had eaten it every single day. It is in our culture, that we eat bread with everything. So I had over-consumed it a lot.”

德约科维奇回顾2010年那次转折点时说道：“我原先以为自己吃得很健康。我不吃垃圾食品，不喝可口可乐，不沾酒。”结果发现麸质才是罪魁祸首。“我回想了自己的饮食习惯，发现每天都会吃到它，它包含在我们的文化里，我们吃所有东西都要搭配面包。因此我摄入了太多麸质。”

He lost four kilos in a very short time (“which is a lot for a professional athlete”) and was warned that he risked losing energy. Instead of which, he says, “I felt better than I had ever done before: more alert, more aware, more energetic.” This was bad news for the rest of the tennis circuit, who were suddenly confronted by a revivified opponent with superhuman levels of endurance. Since the turnround, Djokovic has contested 16 of the last 21 Grand Slam finals.

他在很短时间内就减掉了4公斤体重，“对于一个职业运动员而言非常多了”，他因而被警告体能会下降。但他说，恰恰相反，“我感觉自己的状态前所未有的好，我变得更加敏捷，头脑更加清楚，精力更加充沛。”这对网坛的其他人来说是坏消息，他们突然要面对一个重新振作的、有着超人般耐力的对手。自从这次彻底转变后，德约科维奇打进了过去21场大满贯决赛中的16场。

He says his new habits do not constitute a “diet”, rather a new approach to nutrition. “I try to respect everything I put on my plate,” he says. Two years ago, he wrote a book, Serve to Win, a combination of biography, recipe book and self-help manual. Food has become an important hobby for him and his wife. “Nowadays, about 50 per cent of what I eat is raw.” He picks up another piece of sashimi as if to emphasise the point.

德约科维奇说，他的新饮食习惯算不上“食谱”，更像一种新的营养方案。他说：“我尽量重视盘子里的所有食物。”两年前他出版了《一发制胜》(Serve to Win)，这本书结合了自传、食谱以及自助手册。食物已成了他和妻子的重要爱好。“现在，我吃的东西里大约有一半是生的。”他又拿起一片生鱼片，仿佛在强调这一点。

Now here is the problem for us tennis fans, I tell him. We have been spoilt by a golden era. The bar has been set so high by Djokovic and his immediate rivals that we fear a comedown. Where are the future stars of the game, and can they possibly live up to those standards?

我对德约科维奇说，以下的问题是为我们这些网球迷问的。网坛黄金时代已养大了我们的胃口，德约科维奇和他的对手们设立了如此高的标杆，我们担心此后出现衰落。网坛的未来之星在哪儿呢？他们能达到这么高的标准吗？

“Before the last two years, it was worrying for the tennis world,” he concedes. “The young players were showing potential, but they weren’t coming up. People love Roger, as they do Rafa, but their day will come, as will mine. But in the last two years I think we have seen a lot of future stars. [Borna] Coric, [Nick] Kyrgios...” Ah, wait a minute, I interrupt. He was a little bit of a naughty one, wasn’t he? (The Australian was roundly condemned and fined for making lewd, sledging remarks about Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend at the US Open.)

德约科维奇承认道：“两年以前网球界也担心这个问题。年轻球员展现了潜力，但是当时他们还没有赶上来。人们喜欢罗杰，喜欢拉法，但他们终有退役的一天，我也一样。可是过去两年里，我认为我们已经看到了许多未来之星。丘里奇（博纳丘里奇，Borna Coric）、基尔乔斯（尼克蘒尔乔斯Nick Kyrgios）……”呃，请等一下，我打断了他。基尔乔斯这个人有点出格吧，是不是？这个澳大利亚人在美网公开赛上用下流的言语侮辱了斯坦瓦林卡(Stan Wawrinka)的女友，以分散对方注意力，因而受到强烈谴责，还被处以罚款。

“Well, he is, but, actually, deep inside, I think he is a very good guy. He has a little bit of an identity crisis, I think. He is still trying to establish himself. I spoke to him in New York. I said, ‘Listen, I know everyone criticised you, and I was one of them,’ and I was happy to tell him that face-to-face. But I wanted to add that I suffered similar things, maybe not to that extent, and it is a very valuable experience. I said, ‘If you ever want to talk to me, I am here and I am willing to help you.’ I practise with him, and I talk to him, and he is a good guy, and really, really talented.”

“这个嘛，他是有点，但从内心深处而言，我认为他其实是个不错的小伙子。我觉得他有一点点身份危机。他还在努力立足。我在纽约跟他聊过，我说，‘听着，我知道每个人都批评你，我也是其中之一。’我很高兴能当面告诉他这一点。但我想说的是，我也遭遇过类似的事，或许程度没这么严重，但这是一段非常宝贵的经验。我说，‘如果你想跟我聊聊，我就在这儿听着，我愿意帮助你。’我跟他一起练习，还和他聊天，他是个好小伙，而且他真的、真的很有才华。”

We begin our descent. I say that last year I saw his picture on a fresco in the Serbian town of Andricgrad, a massive construction project conceived by the film director Emir Kusturica, with whom Djokovic is friendly. I ask him what it was like to be a rising sports star, with strong patriotic feelings, in the 1990s, in the middle of the wars in Yugoslavia, when those very feelings were being condemned in the wider world.

我们的飞机开始下降。我讲起去年我在塞尔维亚的“安德里奇城”(Andricgrad)一幅壁画上看到他的照片。安德里奇城是电影导演埃米尔錠斯图里卡(Emir Kusturica)发起的一个庞大的建设项目，德约科维奇与他是好友。我问德约科维奇，作为一名有着强烈爱国情怀的冉冉升起的体育明星，他在20世纪90年代的南斯拉夫战争期间有什么感受。当时塞尔维亚人的爱国情怀在全球都受到谴责。

“It was one of the toughest times in the history of the Serbian people,” he replies. “There were lines of people queueing for bread every day. In 1999 during the Nato bombings our lives were in danger every day. They killed many innocent people for no reason.”

德约科维奇回答道：“这是塞尔维亚人民史上最艰难的时刻之一。每天人们都要大排长队去买面包。1999年北约(Nato)轰炸期间，我们每天都生活在危险中。他们没缘由地杀死了许多无辜百姓。”

Those events “helped me to become the person I am today. They made me mentally stronger. They made me hungry for success. They stay inside your heart, always. You can’t forget them. The only way is to move on, forgive, use that experience as a positive reinforcement.” He returns to the subject of fear. “If you can channel it in the right way, fear will turn to strength.”

这些事件“让我成为现在的样子。它们让我意志更加坚强，让我渴求胜利。这些事永远存留在你心间，你不可能忘记。你唯一能做的就是继续前进，宽恕，利用这段经历作为一种正强化。”他又谈回恐惧的话题，“如果你能以正确方式加以引导，恐惧也能变成力量。”

The plane lands, and we part ways. Later in the afternoon, I watch Djokovic as he arrives at the club in Monaco. He is unfailingly polite, and charms his audience. Adults and children alike pose for selfies. He is in role-model mode, playing the part to perfection. The thought occurs to me that, rather than go down in history as the third man, he may actually transcend the archetypal qualities of both of his rivals: even more gracious than Federer, still steelier than Nadal.

飞机落地了，我们二人分道扬镳。当天下午稍晚时候，我看到德约科维奇抵达摩纳哥俱乐部。他依然是彬彬有礼，令他的观众着迷，大人小孩都与他合影自拍。他进入了“榜样”模式，完美地扮演着这一角色。我突然想到，德约科维奇不会作为“第三人”载入史册，实际上他的个人特色可能已经超越了两位对手的典型特质，他比费德勒更亲切，比纳达尔更坚定。

At one point he approaches the extravagantly laden refreshment table, picks up a 2 sq cm fragment of pizza, and pops it into his mouth. I turn to Greg Rusedski, a former British player, who is master of ceremonies for the event. “Don’t pizzas have gluten in them?” I ask mischievously. Rusedski replies with a broad smile. “Sometimes I think you’ve got to let go a bit,” he says. Such wild behaviour is not unprecedented: Djokovic celebrated his Australian Open win in 2012 with a single square of chocolate.

他一度走近摆满茶点的食品台，拿起一片2平方厘米的披萨丢进口中。我转身问旁边的前英国球员格雷格脠府德斯基(Greg Rusedski)，他是此次活动的主持。我戏谑的问：“比萨里不是有麸质吗？”鲁塞德斯基报之以大笑，他说：“我觉得人有时候要放开点。”德约科维奇此前也有过这种“疯狂行径”，2012年，德约科维奇为庆祝澳网公开赛夺冠，吃掉了一块巧克力。

The time comes for our knock. I am in a long line of NetJets clients. We will each get one to two minutes each. There is an audience of about 200 people, sipping champagne, and watching us more carefully than I was hoping. It comes to my turn, and I am trying to turn fear into strength. We have a gentle rally, which he allows me to “win” by not moving towards the ball at all. In a blatant piece of gamesmanship, he says he likes my “game face”. I regain my composure, ratchet up the intensity, and shorten the next rally with a rasping volley which goes exactly where I meant it to, somewhat to my surprise. There is a ripple of applause. It is one of the most dreamlike moments of my life.

我们约好的切磋时刻来到了。我站在NetJets客户长长的队伍里，我们每人分得了一两分钟时间。观众约有200人，他们边喝香槟边看着我们，认真程度超过我预期。轮到我上场了，我努力将恐惧转化成力量。我们先温和地对攻了一球，在德约科维奇完全不挪动脚步的前提下，我“赢”了。然后他公然发动干扰策略，说他喜欢我的“比赛脸”。我恢复镇静，渐渐加大击球力度，用一记截击球迅速拿下一分。球就落在我设想的位置上，我自己都有点意外。场外响起一阵掌声，这是我一生中最美妙的时刻之一。

He comes to the net to shake hands. “In the moment!” I say to him. “In the moment!” he replies, laughing, and turns briskly back to the baseline to face his next opponent.

德约科维奇来到网前跟我握手。“专注当下！”我对他说。他笑了，回应道：“专注当下！”然后转身轻快地走回底线，等待下一个对手。