For the first time in his career, Novak Djokovic is the solo leader in men’s singles Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic won a slam for the 23rd time, passing Rafael Nadal, when he defeated Casper Ruud 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5 in the French Open final on Sunday afternoon. It is the 36-year-old Serb’s third triumph at Roland Garros, preceded by successes in 2016 and 2021.
Ruud made the first set especially interesting and never really went away even after losing some early momentum, but for the most part it was one-way traffic and Djokovic cruised to victory in three hours and 13 minutes.
“Obviously a Grand Slam is a Grand Slam–the four biggest tournaments we have in the history of our sport,” Djokovic said. “Every single player dreams of being on this stage and winning the trophy at least once in their career. I am beyond fortunate in my life to win 23 times Grand Slams. It’s an incredible feeling.
“I worked really hard to get a shot at this historic Grand Slam title. I’m obviously overwhelmed with emotion.”
“Another day, another record for you,” Ruud told Djokovic during the trophy ceremony. “And another day you rewrite tennis history, once again. It’s tough to explain how incredible it is and how good you are…. I know this one probably tastes the best out of all.
“I think I started well, and then unfortunately stumbled on the break back there at 4-2 (in the first set). Novak is just not human sometimes; it’s scary how well he can play. I’m a bit disappointed that I let him get away in the second set, and then I just did my best from there. But what else can you do? He had all the answers; he was just too good.”
Wimbledon next up on Grand Slam schedule
Djokovic, Ruud, and the rest of the tour now take their talents to the grass-court swing–which culminates with Wimbledon starting on July 3. Halfway to the calendar-year Grand Slam, Djokovic is an especially big favorite at the All-England Club having lifted the trophy there four times in a row dating back to 2018.
In 2021, Djokovic captured the first three majors of the year and came within one win of the CYGS but lost to Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the U.S. Open final.
“Let me enjoy this success first, but definitely Wimbledon and U.S. Open are the big goals,” the world No. 3 concluded. “Those are the two big ones until the end of the season where I really want to do well…. I want to carry this into London, but I’ll enjoy [this one] first.”
Djokovic
GOAT
23
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It’s as I said, he’s on another level above everyone else, BO5 he has time to find his game, even if he plays poorly to start, close first set, but Rudd still had nothing to show for it, said it before he will most likely clean up this year,and all power to him….
too good
He wasn’t good in the first set until the tb. Massive Novak.fan Juan J. Vallejo tweeted he was atrocious and Delpo tweeted he played bad.
He made around 14 ues in the first 4 games. This was like USO 21 when he came out very tight but then he had Med who is good enough to take advantage. If he was playing a better player than Ruud ie Alcaraz ( and some others) he would have lost the first set and his nerves wouldn’t have settled so could easily have lost the match. I reckon He would definitely have lost the match if He started like that against Alcaraz.
He was lucky he got Ruud who simply isn’t good enough at this level.
Meanwhile I really really hope we now have Alcaraz and Djokovic as 1 and 2 on the opposite sides of the draw.That should have been the final.
Ruud beat Rune in 4 and Zverev in 3, so I reckon he simply lacks belief against the top players. An inferiority complex.
He could’ve won that match if he continued to play like he did at the beginning and how he plays against the rest of the tour.
Nonsense. Rune played around 30 ues and countless double faults to donate the first 2 sets and Zverev is an absolute shadow of the player he was post injury.
The win against Rune was actually Ruud ‘s first win against a top 10 player in a slam which tells you something about the ludicrously easy draws he has had to get to finals ie last year when Rafa, Novak, Carlos, Zverev and an in from FAA were in the same half and the only favoured player in his half Tsitsi went out early playing awful.
If he was playing so well he should have won the first set given how poor Novak was. If Novak had played like that against Rafa Rafa would have slaughtered him. So would Alcaraz.
Agree. Ruud has lead feet and slow anticipation against the top players which is due to his lack of belief. Most likely a deeply ingrained issue from starting tennis at a later age.
This was evident by the amount of shots he hit straight back at Djokovic rather than holding his shot a bit longer. He rarely does that against other players in tour that he is confident of beating. No one can argue with that.
Medvedev did a huge favour to Nole by winning Rome, the only way for Nole to return to #1 was to beat Alcaraz in SF (not final) and to win FO, which he promptly did.
Thank you Medvedev.
Nole is way ahead of the other two when it comes to big titles, according to ATP which recognises big titles category:
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/djokovic-roland-garros-2023-big-titles-kings
I think he has them in the back of his mind but when you are confident you can win, you are more focused on the execution of your game and less on who your opponent is This gives the top players a free pass against the rest of the tour.
You hit the nail on the head Raj!
Juan Jose Vallejo tweet:
” As for the match itself, it’s not worth overanalyzing:Novak Djokovic does every tennis thing WAY better than Casper Ruud. ”
JJ Vallejo set up a tennis website and wrote tennis articles for Rolling Stone.
He knows what he is talking about.
So you can beat Rune in 4 and Zverev 3 zip after all the opponents they destroyed but you can’t win 1 or 2 sets against a 36 year old Djokovic on his weakest surface?
IMO, Ruud rolls over and concedes defeat psychologically.
JJ Vallejo’s credentials notwithstanding, I agree that psychology played its sneaky little role. Ruud would have won the first set had he not made a series of unforced errors and baffling decisions. Which at least would have put some pressure on Novak and made things interesting for him and for us.
Ruud freezes up mentally when he’s nervous, as many people do, and that is what caused him to lose the set. Not Djokovic’s brilliance, even though it exists. And not Ruud’s lack of weaponry against Djokovic, even though it is a real problem. He still was going to win that first set until he got in his own way.
Then, after he put himself in the position of having to play the TB, and playing poorly in the TB (and Novak raising his game there to his A level), he was a cooked goose. He saw the mountain in front of him and retreated.
From there on out, the match was not particularly fascinating or enjoyable. Give me a tight 5-setter with wild ups and downs over a domination any day, no matter who is playing or who wins. That’s what make tennis so beautiful! Hopefully Wimbledon will have a few epic matches in the 2nd week.
Very classy message from Rafa congratulating Novak.
Nice to see.
We know it must be very hard for him having to watch out injured but we also know Rafa accepts the situation with dignity and grace and is sincere in his congratulations…
Going to be another message of congrats from Rafa in a few weeks time.
Not sure at all though about the USO. Novak has faltered there on many occasions.
Why are you giving the trophy to Novak before even a ball has been struck at wimby..he is the massive favorite that’s it, cannot pronounce anyone the winner at any slam…anything can happen
Everyone was sure before rg that Novak will not win RG due to his form, similarly now everyone is saying wimby is a done deal.
On that note: congratulations to Novak fans especially Elizabeth. I did post this straightaway on another thread but hard to see now.
23 is an amazing achievement. Pretty damn sure it will be 24 at the end of wimby.
As consolation for Rafa being absent I want to see Petra win wimby!
Can somebody please check if my friend, old lady native to NY living in Florida is ok?
I hope you are all right my dear old friend, haven’t heard from you for a while, stay safe, I am praying for your wellness 🙏
I doubt that she is a huge Rafa fan, and its fairly likely that watching Novak win all the time has had a detrimental effect on her mental health. I also wonder how Nadaline and a bunch of other Rafa fanatics are holding up? Must be a difficult period for them.
Well done to Novak and his fans! Incredible to think he’s at 23 slams when he’s missed three in the past few years where he would have been the favorite. Congrats to Ruud, but he clearly lacks belief against the top players. Hopefully he’ll win a slam one day soon.
Current goat race:
Djokovic: goat
Nadal: clay goat
Federer: goat from the neck down
Novak undisputed GOAT
Nadal clay GOAT
Federer weak era GOAT
Interesting article about former GOAT reaction on Nole winning #23, even Ricky’s tweet about former GOAT is mentioned in the article:
https://www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/federer-conspiracy-theory-impossible-to-miss-after-djokovics-french-open-triumph/news-story/bae5d506e8bc460c5ed92531478085df?amp
Not really a contest any more. GOAT is about accomplishments, and Djokovic is ahead in virtually every category, except on clay, where there’s even less of a contest.
I still say Federer is the best player I’ve ever seen. But he couldn’t translate it into results to the extent Novak has. Of the big three he was the least mentally tough, which is decisive at that level.
The debate over who is the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) is ultimately pointless – let’s not even go there. Some players have advantages over others due to circumstances or because they have discovered strategies or techniques that the rest of the tour may not be aware of or are unable to employ. I wouldn’t go so far as to label it as rigging – more like exploitation. It’s certainly not the pure meritocracy that you may be implying.
What do you mean? Like sitting in a hyperbaric chamber?
Nadal and Federer had access to those and used them as well.
As Raj said, “when you are confident, you can win.”…and Joker is confident….Congrats!
USO is the one that might prove tricky for Novak, it’s always been a pretty open slam, Rafa beat him twice there, Stan, Murray, Nishikori,Medvedev, so he hasn’t dominated there the way he has the AO, having said that he’s still won it 3 times, so let’s see….
Raonic just got his first match win in 2 years! Beat Kecmanovic and apparently looked great.
Said he spent an entire year without hitting a ball!
Am writing this because it gives hope for a Rafa comeback.
Raonic is younger than Rafa. Is 32, will be 33 this year but not by much..