Novak Djokovic wins the Australian Open and celebrates his 22nd triumph in a Grand Slam tournament. The Serb beats the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 4) and 7: 6 (7: 5). He equaled Rafael Nadal’s record. The tennis match to read in the ticker log.
The most important thing in brief: Tennis star Novak Djokovic celebrated his 22nd Grand Slam tournament victory, breaking Rafael Nadal’s record. The 35-year-old Serb won the final of the Australian Open on Sunday against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 3, 7: 6 (7: 4), 7: 6 (7: 5) and set further milestones in his impressive career.
With the tenth triumph in his tenth final of the hard court tournament in Melbourne, Djokovic drew level with his Spanish rival Nadal overall. For women, only Margaret Court (24) from Australia and Serena Williams (23) from America have more Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic, who was not allowed to start last year after the entry whirlwind due to a lack of corona vaccination, also replaced Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who was injured at the tournament, as number one in the world rankings. From Monday he starts his 374th week as the nominally best tennis player in the world, no other professional has been at the top for longer.
In his 33rd Grand Slam final, Djokovic once again proved his top class and deservedly secured the prize money of around 1.95 million euros. Tsitsipas, who missed a set ball in the second round, has to be content with promotion to third place in the world rankings and prize money of around 1.06 million euros.
When the dream final of the Australian Open was perfect, the mind games began. He was “one of the most interesting guys on the tour, with his off-court interests and his hairstyle and everything,” said tennis star Novak Djokovic, smiling about his Greek final opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas with the blond mane.
The Serb had previously expressed that he no longer remembered the 2021 French Open final, which he was able to win after falling 2-0 down against Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas’ counter immediately after reaching the final in Melbourne was: “I can’t remember either.”
The organizers of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year hope that not only the protagonists will remember the final on Sunday for a very long time. Mood in the Rod Laver Arena is guaranteed given the numerous and noisy Greek and Serbian fans.
History will be written in any case: Either the 24-year-old Tsitsipas becomes the first Greek Grand Slam tournament winner, or Djokovic sets the record of the Spaniard Rafael Nadal with his 22nd triumph in a major tournament. The fact that the winner replaces the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz as number one in the world rankings increases the appeal of the duel.
The clear favorite is Djokovic, who had to put up with a wide variety of difficulties in Melbourne. He was under surveillance from the start because of the immigration fuss a year ago, his behavior because of thigh problems raised suspicions, he publicly defended himself over a controversial toilet break, and he had to tell his father about an incident involving a pro-Russian spectator -Defend group.
“In my case, I feel like things are piling up for one reason or another,” the 35-year-old said with a sigh. It’s “not an ideal situation” to have to deal with things like this off the field, “but it’s part of my life”. He’s trying to take advantage of it and become “more resilient and stronger.”
In the course of the tournament so far, the nine-time Australian Open winner, who was not allowed to start in Melbourne last year due to a visa that was declared invalid, only lost one set. Here he has been unbeaten for 27 games. Tsitsipas also played extremely stable and indicated that he was the only one who could pose a threat to the dominator. For the “big game” on Sunday he “couldn’t be more ready,” said the fourth in the world rankings.
The original of this post “Djokovic beats Tsitsipas in the final and equals Nadal’s record” comes from tennisnet.com.
