A yr after the storm, Novak Djokovic made a triumphant return to the Australian Open.
The Serbian tennis star celebrated his twenty second Grand Slam victory with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) win over Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the closing on Sunday. Djokovic tied with record holder Rafael Nadal and set additional milestones in his spectacular profession.
With his tenth victory in his tenth closing match of the hard-court event in Melbourne, Djokovic changed the injured Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at the high of the world rankings. The 35-year-old begins his 374th week as the world’s high ranked tennis participant on Monday – and there are lots of indicators of a lengthy new period. A day after Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam beneath the impartial flag, Djokovic made his mark on the males’s aspect.
One defeat, many obstacles
Although Djokovic dropped only one set all through the event, his path to the title has been hampered: he has been beneath intense scrutiny for final yr’s occasions, accused of appearing partly due to hip issues, and defended towards the allegations. publicly defended his father over an incident involving an unauthorized bathroom break and a pro-Russian crowd. “There are so many secondary theaters of struggle that disrupt his focus,” famous his former coach, Boris Becker.
Djokovic left all the pieces. “In my case, I really feel like issues are coming collectively for a cause,” he mentioned. It’s “not an excellent scenario” to cope with issues like that off the area, “but it surely’s a part of my life.” Using this, he tries to change into “stronger and stronger”.
He proved this in the thirty third closing of the “Grand Slam” event. As was the case in a tight second set with exhausting serves, highly effective returns and unimaginable nerve, Djokovic pushed his Greek opponent to his limits time and time once more to take probabilities.
Djokovic performed for the first time in the event with out a white bandage on his left thigh, which, not like in the first rounds, didn’t appear to hinder him in any respect. An age distinction of 11 years and 28 days – the largest distinction between two Australian Open finalists in the skilled period – was not seen. Djokovic regarded match, recent and extremely motivated.
Tsitsipas warms the temper
The 24-year-old Tsitsipas, who selected the Australian Open as his “house Slam”, discovered his sport a lot better from the second set in his second Grand Slam closing and in doing so fired up the environment at Rod Laver Arena, house to round 15,000 spectators. Thousands of tourists additionally supported the many public viewing areas in Melbourne Park. In the finish, Tsitsipas needed to concede defeat to Djokovic, similar to in the 2021 French Open closing.
Sabalenka’s victory over Kazakhstan’s Wimbledon champion Yelena Rybakina on Saturday was accompanied by political debate as the Belarusian turned the first impartial participant to win a Grand Slam. His pleasure was not dampened by the incontrovertible fact that his title was written on the trophy, not his nation of start, Belarus.
“I nonetheless really feel like I’m on one other planet,” Sabalenka mentioned Sunday in a photograph shoot in a conspicuously embellished pink costume and sky-high blue sneakers. This is my greatest morning ever. life”.
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