Novak Djokovic wrote a new page in men’s tennis history by winning the French Open tennis singles with a convincing 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5 win over Norway’s Casper Ruud on Sunday in Paris.
After three hours and thirteen minutes of action, Djokovic gently dropped onto his back behind the baseline — a position he held for several seconds — after a forehand from Ruud fell far out of bounds. short.
Djokovic had just collected a 23e Grand Slam singles title, one more than his great rival Rafael Nadal. Above all, it is a record in the history of men’s tennis.
“A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam — the four most important tournaments in the history of our sport, tennis. Every player dreams of being on this stage and winning the trophy at least once in their career. I am more than lucky in my life to have won Grand Slam tournaments 23 times,” Djokovic said.
For the 36-year-old Serbian, it is also a third Roland-Garros title after his triumphs in 2016 and 2021. He also became the first player in the history of men’s tennis to have won each of the four Grand Slam tournaments at least three times.
He has won the Australian Open 10 times, the Wimbledon Open 7 times and the US Open 3 times.
During the trophy ceremony, Djokovic, wearing a jacket on which the number 23 had been embroidered, first sang the Serbian national anthem.
Then, he was given a miniature replica of the Mousquetaires Cup with a very special cachet: on the base of each of the four sides of the trophy was engraved each of his Grand Slam conquests, including that of Sunday.
“Thank you for a special, wonderful atmosphere. I am obviously very happy to share this very special moment in my career with you, with this very special stage in my life, ”he first said in French to the spectators.
“It’s no coincidence that I won on the 23e Grand Slam here in Paris, because this tournament has really been, every day of my career, the hardest tournament for me to win. So, a lot of emotions, a lot of things on the courts and outside, ”he added, also in the language of Molière.
At 36 years and 20 days, Djokovic is also the oldest player to win at Roland-Garros in men’s singles. The old brand belonged to Nadal, who was 36 years and 2 days old when he was 14e triumphed on the clay courts of Paris last year.
Nadal was sidelined this year due to a hip injury that required arthroscopy.
Also, once again, Djokovic is halfway to the calendar Grand Slam, a feat he almost achieved in 2021. He was deprived of it by the Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final of the United States Open. He will have the chance to continue this quest at Wimbledon, starting July 3.
Finally, as if that were not enough, he will resume his place as number one in the world on Monday, when the ATP rankings are published.
A bad start
Djokovic secured the victory despite a sluggish start, which saw Ruud win the first three games of the clash, including the second serving his famous opponent, and four of the first five.
Djokovic recovered this break in the seventh game of the set before dominating the Norwegian in the tiebreaker thanks to three mini-breaks.
The start of the second set was the exact opposite of the first, with Djokovic giving himself a 3-0 lead thanks to a break in the second game. The Serb closed the door completely on Ruud the rest of the set, not giving him no chance of breaking.
Djokovic and Ruud put up a much more even fight over the first 10 games of set three, with the Serb the only one to give himself a break point, in game three, which Ruud erased.
But the 11e game was completely different. With Ruud serving, Djokovic won the first two points, then the third, thanks to a superb forehand cross. He completed the break at the next point, this time with another beautiful cross backhand.
After winning the first three points of the 12e game on his serve, Djokovic showed he was human when he sent a forehand over the baseline on his first of three match points.
The next attempt was going to be the right one.
