For the 23rd time in his career, Novak Djokovic is the king of men’s tennis. And — for the time being — he is atop the all-time leaderboard for career Grand Slams among men’s players.
Djokovic, 36, defeated Casper Ruud on Sunday in straight sets 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 to win the French Open championship at Court Philippe-Chatrier in the outskirts of Paris. The title surpasses the mark that he had shared with Rafael Nadal, who skipped the French Open due to a hip injury. Djokovic’s 23 Grand Slams puts him in a tie with women’s tennis icon Serena Williams for career slams and Margaret Court is the record holder with 24.
The victory follows Djokovic’s title at the Australian Open in January, which means that he is now two Grand Slams away from winning the Calendar Slam for the 2023 season; Wimbledon starts next month and the U.S. Open begins in late August. This is Djokovic’s third French Open title.
Djokovic, who wore a custom red jacket with the number 23 on the right breast after he won, sat on the bench after briefly celebrating with his family and draped a towel over his head where he became emotional.
“I am beyond fortunate in my life to win 23 times Grand Slams,” Djokovic said during the trophy presentation. “It’s an incredible feeling.”
The match started with a grueling opening set that took more than an hour and 20 minutes to complete. Ruud was in position to take the set, which would’ve been his first ever against Djokovic, after he raced out to an early 3-0 lead. Djokovic, however, chipped away and eventually brought the set to a tiebreak, where he took control with an assertive serve and precise ball placement on his shots, winning the tiebreak, 7-1.
After the first set, Ruud continued his slide in large part due to unforced errors and apparent sluggishness. Djokovic, meanwhile, course corrected from his early-match struggles and ramped up his focus, peppering shots past Ruud to win the first three games of the set. Djokovic also alternated the speeds of his shots far more efficiently than he had early in the match.
Ruud, who has only once in his career come back from a two-set deficit to win a match, took the first game of the third set but Djokovic responded by not allowing Ruud to score a single point in the second game. Ruud battled back to take the third game of the set, but Djokovic again answered to take the fourth. Both players continued to alternate games until they were tied at 5-5 before Djokovic broke serve to put himself in position to claim the title. He would go on to easily win the final game of the tournament.
