For Novak Djokovic yesterday’s win at the Wimbledon Men’s Singles final was the sweetest of victories. But that wasn’t because he’d earned himself another £2.25m in prize money, nor because it marked a triumphant return from two years battling injury and self-doubt, nor because it clocked up his 13th Grand Slam title. Asked what it felt like to have won Djokovic put it in these words, ‘It feels amazing because for the first time in my life I have someone screaming daddy, daddy.’
Here is a man who has dedicated his life to becoming the best that he can be at his sport. Years of hard work and huge sacrifices of both time and energy have certainly paid off and the rewards have been plentiful. But after all that his greatest reward has been the sight of his son calling to him across the court ‘daddy, daddy’. If he had to make a choice, there is no doubt that relationship with his son would come before material prosperity and sporting success.
The Bible speaks also of a creator God with a father’s heart that longs to hear his children respond ‘daddy, daddy’, and whose love was so extravagant that He was willing to give up for a time the glory and majesty of heaven to make it possible.