The most extraordinary sequence from Thursday’s Australian Open semi-final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer happened seven points from the end of the match. Federer, down two sets to one and 15-30 on his serve, uncorked a 120mph missile out wide that a fully extended Djokovic could barely get a racket on. What followed was a hyperkinetic eight-stroke rally that saw both men scamper about the court and cheat space-time until the Swiss great settled matters with a backhand that caught the sideline and brought the crowd of 15,000 to their feet.

It was the point of the tournament, and that it was the last Federer would win in the match was almost immaterial. The most popular tennis player in history, a 34-year-old father of four who preposterously soldiers on at No3 in the rankings, had once again conjured the brilliance and grace under fire that’s made him a favorite of both hardcore aesthetes and casual fans the world over. This is what they paid for. This is what they want. This is what they got.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Federer’s final winner of the match captured imaginations, but within minutes Djokovic had the result.

So it goes for Djokovic, who by now has become accustomed to partisan crowds aligned against him and assuming an apologetic stance after winning emotionally charged matches like these. When the two met in last year’s rain-delayed US Open final, the well-lubricated New York City gallery was so over the top in their support for Federer they cheered Djokovic’s service faults and errors and called out repeatedly between his first and second serves, a shameful scene the Serb handled with uncommon grace. The tenor of the audience was similar on Thursday at Melbourne Park, if better comported, as the world No1 platooned the baseline from end to end, repelling Federer’s best offerings with metronomic efficiency, probing ruthlessly for an opening and seldom missing when it came. He’d claimed the first two sets in under an hour while conceding only three games, staving off a brief fightback to win comfortably in 2hrs 19mins.

For the first time Djokovic holds a winning record against the rest of the Big Four: Federer (23 wins, 22 losses), Rafael Nadal (24-23) and Andy Murray (21-9), his potential foil in the final. Last year, he won 11 titles including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open, and was runner-up at Roland Garros. He has won 105 of the last 112 matches he’s played, and will be world No1 by more than 7,000 rankings points even if he loses on Sunday. He is better than ever.

Yet even today, on the doorstep of an 11th grand slam title at 28, he remains to many an outsider: the third man who disrupted the beloved Federer-Nadal duopoly, existing unapologetically outside the sport’s American/Western European establishment. Not since Ivan Lendl has an all-time great appeared to be so unloved beyond his core fanbase. Through ruthless dominance Djokovic has become his sport’s Floyd Mayweather sans the rap sheet: a champion leagues above his rivals who rules with a technical brilliance that critics degrade as mechanical and boring. That antipathy always seems to be amplified when he’s up against the dazzling artistry of Federer, and never more than now during the Swiss icon’s lion-in-winter phase.

“He’s loved, he’s appreciated, he’s respected around the world,” Djokovic said of Federer on Thursday. “For me it’s normal in a way. I’m trying obviously to enjoy my time, to do the best that I can with the tennis racquet, but also focus on the positive energy rather than negative, rather than getting frustrated for that. There’s no reason.”

Djokovic, unlike Mayweather, does care about being liked. Deeply even. Once regarded as petulant, tone-deaf and unrestrained, he’s become an exemplar of sportsmanship. Unlike the countless monied athletes who take a vow of silence on political matters, Djokovic has used his platform to promote social consciousness, like last year’s impassioned plea for humanity amid the Syrian migration crisis.

But the world No1 showed once again on Thursday he’s clearly willing to embrace the role of the cowboy in the black hat when it’s thrust upon him – and has demonstrated time and again the ability to feed off negative energy. The hostility may only heighten as Djokovic inches closer to Federer’s 17 major championships, a challenge it appears will grow ever more serious this season.

Who on the horizon stands in his way? His contemporary Murray, two grand slam titles in hand, is no doubt a worthy rival. But he has won only nine of their 30 meetings, including just one of 11 since the Scot’s epochal win in the 2013 Wimbledon final.

The Serb has performed just as well or better against the next wave: Grigor Dimitrov (5-1), Kei Nishikori (6-2), Milos Raonic (5-0), Bernard Tomic (5-0). Should he remain injury-free, there is no reason he cannot make a run at catching every name above him on the all-time leaderboard: starting on Sunday with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg (11 apiece) and later on with Roy Emerson (12), Pete Sampras (14), Nadal (14) and Federer (17).

Perhaps one day it will be Djokovic as the sentimental favorite, buoyed by nostalgia and exhorted on by the crowd against the champion of the day. But far better to appreciate him now at his peak, all stylistic predilections aside, for heights like these will not soon be revisited.