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 ultimate on Sunday. Djokovic tied with record holder Rafael Nadal and set additional milestones in his spectacular profession.
With his tenth victory in his tenth ultimate 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 a lot of indicators of a lengthy new period. A day after Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka won her first Grand Slam underneath 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 underneath intense scrutiny for final yr’s occasions, accused of performing partly due to hip issues, and defended in opposition to the allegations. publicly defended his father over an incident involving an unauthorized rest room break and a pro-Russian crowd. “There are so many secondary theaters of conflict that disrupt his focus,” famous his former coach, Boris Becker.
Djokovic left every little thing. “In my case, I really feel like issues are coming collectively for a purpose,” he stated. It’s “not an excellent state of affairs” to take care of issues like that off the subject, “however it’s a part of my life.” Using this, he tries to develop into “stronger and stronger”.
He proved this in the thirty third ultimate of the “Grand Slam” event. As was the case in a tight second set with laborious serves, highly effective returns and unimaginable nerve, Djokovic pushed his Greek opponent to his limits time and time once more to take possibilities.
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 greatest distinction between two Australian Open finalists in the skilled period – was not observed. Djokovic regarded match, contemporary and extremely motivated.
Tsitsipas warms the temper
The 24-year-old Tsitsipas, who selected the Australian Open as his “house Slam”, discovered his recreation a lot better from the second set in his second Grand Slam ultimate and in doing so fired up the ambiance at Rod Laver Arena, house to round 15,000 spectators. Thousands of holiday makers additionally supported the many public viewing areas in Melbourne Park. In the finish, Tsitsipas needed to concede defeat to Djokovic, identical to in the 2021 French Open ultimate.
Sabalenka’s victory over Kazakhstan’s Wimbledon champion Yelena Rybakina on Saturday was accompanied by political debate as the Belarusian grew to become the first impartial participant to win a Grand Slam. His pleasure was not dampened by the proven fact that his identify was written on the trophy, not his nation of start, Belarus.
“I nonetheless really feel like I’m on one other planet,” Sabalenka stated Sunday in a picture shoot in a conspicuously embellished pink gown and sky-high blue footwear. This is my greatest morning ever. life”.
.