French Open final : Novak Djokovic defeated Casper Ruud to earn his 23rd Grand Slam championship

For years, Novak Djokovic made it abundantly clear that this was his goal. why he was driven. What inspired him. Djokovic’s primary goal was to win the most prestigious titles on the biggest stages of his sport. Now, he finally stands alone, ahead of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and everyone else who has ever played tennis.

If Djokovic could hold this record for this long, he could also wait for about half an hour to straighten his strokes in the French Open final. Thus, after somewhat of a precarious beginning in thick, moist air and under premonition charcoal mists Sunday, he forced himself. Casper Ruud, his opponent at Court Philippe Chatrier, never really had a chance after that.

With a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ruud that was really not in doubt for most of its 3 hours and 13 minutes, Djokovic won his record 23rd Grand Slam men’s singles title, breaking a tie with Nadal and moving three ahead of the retired Federer.

On Twitter, Nadal tweeted that Djokovic had accomplished an “amazing achievement.”

Djokovic, 36, from Serbia, puts this one close by the French Open titles he acquired in 2016 and 2021, making him the main man with no less than three from each significant occasion. He has won ten Australian Open titles, seven Wimbledon titles, and three US Open titles.

Additionally important: Djokovic is again most of the way to a schedule year Huge homerun – – winning every one of the four majors in a single season – – something no man has accomplished since Bar Laver in 1969. In 2021, Djokovic came close to accomplishing that feat when he won the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon, advanced to the US Open title match, and ultimately lost to Daniil Medvedev.

At Wimbledon, which begins on July 3 on the grass of the All England Club, Djokovic will resume that pursuit.

“He has this software in his head that he can switch [on] when a Grand Slam comes,” said his coach, Goran Ivanisevic. “The day we arrived here, he was better, he was more motivated, he was more hungry. Every day, he played better and better.”

He has now held the prize at 11 of the beyond 20 Hammers, a surprising run made much more so while thinking about that he didn’t partake in that frame of mind during that range since he didn’t receive an immunization shot against Coronavirus. Djokovic was deported from Australia in January 2022, just before the Australian Open, and a rule that prevented him from flying to the US for the US Open the year before has since been lifted.

Djokovic equals Serena Williams, who finished her career last year, for the most by anyone in the Open era, which began in 1968, by reaching 23. Djokovic also sets the record for men’s age. During the amateur era, Margaret Court won a few of her 24 Slam titles, which set a record.

At 20 days past his 36th birthday celebration, Djokovic is the most seasoned singles champion at Roland Garros, considered the most tiresome of the majors due to the extensive, crushing focuses expected by the red dirt, which is more slow than the grass or hard courts underneath somewhere else.

Nadal’s 22nd major showed up in Paris two days after he turned 36. His hip injury has kept him out of action since January, and on June 2, he had arthroscopic surgery.

With his victory on Sunday, Djokovic will also be back at No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday, succeeding Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz. Since the introduction of computerized tennis rankings 50 years ago, Djokovic has held the top spot for more weeks than any other player.

In the semifinals on Thursday, Alcaraz was defeated by Djokovic, who wore him down over two thrilling sets until the 20-year-old’s body cramped severely. Alcaraz continued to play, but the four-set match’s scores revealed the following: 6-1, 6-1.

This was Ruud, 24, from Norway’s third Slam final in his last five events, but he is now 0-3. He lost to Alcaraz at the US Open in September and to Nadal at the French Open last year.

In his 34th major final, Djokovic got off to a rocky start, perhaps because he was aware of everything that was at stake.

However, by the end of the first set, Djokovic was completely Djokovic-like, as evidenced by the fact that he won 12 of the final 13 points of the match, the majority of which were accompanied by thunderous chants of his two-syllable nickname, “No-le! No-le! No-le!”

Djokovic fell onto his back with his arms outstretched after one more error from Ruud.

“He kind of pressures you, in a way, to go for more risks, and that’s tough,” Ruud said. “He just stepped up, like he knows how to do.”

Ruud seemed to do everything he could to put Djokovic’s weaker forehand to the test at first. It paid off in the beginning when Djokovic kept missing that shot—into the net, wide, long—then made a different kind of mistake—shanking an overhead shot from close to the net far beyond the opposite baseline to break and lead 2-0.

Djokovic has always struggled with that shot, and later in the set, he missed another overhead.

Djokovic’s problems played a part in Ruud quickly taking a 4-1 lead. Djokovic had committed 13 unforced errors by that point, while Ruud had committed just four.

After that, everything altered.

Djokovic rebalanced himself after making 18 unforced errors in the first set and only 14 in the second and third sets.

Then it was Ruud’s chance to flub an above, shaking back and keeping his into the net to end a 29-stroke point. Djokovic shook his right fist after his first service break made it 4-3.

“A bit devastating,” Ruud called it.

They went to a tiebreaker, which was completely Djokovic’s game. He simply excels when the import and tension increase. Has seemed to last forever.

“He sort of just goes into this mode,” Ruud said, “where he just becomes like a wall.”

Djokovic won four games and committed zero unforced errors in the first seven sets.

As a result, he set a career record with 308-162 tiebreaker wins, or a winning percentage of.655. In 2023, he’s 15-4, remembering 6-0 for Paris – – there were 55 focuses played across that about six, and Djokovic’s entirety of natural mistakes was zero.

“He just steps up,” Ruud said. “Either he plays ridiculous defense, or he plays beautiful winners. Just doesn’t do any mistakes.”

That set alone lasted one hour and 21 minutes and was filled with lengthy exchanges about topics that could have been the subject of entire stories. Some of them required 20, 25, or 29 strokes. One was won by Ruud with the assistance of a back-to-the-net, between-the-legs shot. Djokovic fell behind the baseline on another occasion, smearing the rust-colored clay on his red shirt, blue shorts, and skin.

On defense, Djokovic’s stumbling, stretching, bending, and twisting definitely shows up on the scoreboard. However, all of the long points also weaken a foe’s will and energy.

“It’s just annoying for me,” Ruud said, “but it’s very, very impressive.”

It might also help that Djokovic is familiar with all the nitty-gritty details. He voiced his dissatisfaction with the amount of time allotted for changeovers to chair umpire Damien Dumusois; a little extra rest never hurts, right? Djokovic slowed down the 25-second serve clock until it ran out, occasionally going further, to the point where one of the spectators shouted, “Serve it!” In the third set, Dumusois also warned him about taking too long.

At the point when he broke Ruud to lead 3-0 in the subsequent set, his powers currently on full showcase, Djokovic hit his right forefinger against his right sanctuary again and again. His coach Goran Ivanisevic, his wife and two children, his agent, and even seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady were among the guests in his nearby box in the stands. He wheeled to face them.

There has been a debate in the tennis community regarding which of Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer deserves the title of “GOAT,” as the recently retired Brady is widely regarded as the greatest player ever to play in the NFL.

No one can argue against Djokovic’s current status if the metric is Grand Slam titles.