Novak Djokovic has won so many Grand Slam singles titles in so many different ways that it becomes extremely difficult to keep track of them.
Serbia’s Djokovic further cemented his reputation as the greatest player of the modern era on Sunday with a clinical straight-sets victory over Russia’s Daniil Medvedev. Walking the court and swinging his racket with an ease and grace that top players a decade younger and even younger can mostly only dream of, Djokovic took advantage of Medvedev’s start and then outlasted his friend in an epic second set. and finally dismantled his neighbor in Monte Carlo, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3.
He did it on an Arthur Ashe Stadium court where he spent most of his career playing the villain in matches against underdogs or perennial favorites like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Sunday was no such thing. The nearly 24,000 crowd greeted him with a huge roar and then showered him with the biggest one when Medvedev hit a shot into the net to give Djokovic the title that had been surprisingly difficult for the best hard-court player in the history of the sport to win.
“This means the world to me,” he told the crowd shortly before lifting the trophy for the fourth time in his career.
His transformation from foil to star began two years ago, near the end of a very different final against the same opposition. That day, Djokovic entered the court trying to become the first man in more than 50 years to win all four Grand Slam tournament titles in a calendar year.
Medvedev’s upset was all but sealed on the day when Djokovic was uncharacteristically flat, yet a court packed with witnesses to history showered Djokovic with a kind of love he had never felt in New York. He was sobbing in his chair as she washed him before the last game.
Djokovic missed the US Open last year because of the federal government’s rule barring foreign visitors who had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering the country. He set foot on American soil for the first time in nearly two years in mid-August to play in the Western & Southern Open near Cincinnati. He quickly realized that the love he felt in the 2021 US Open final had not faded.
Djokovic needed every bit of that support on Sunday when, while appearing on cruise control midway through the second set, Medvedev returned to form. After an error-filled set and a half, the Russian with hands like an octopus and legs like a gazelle cleaned up the mistakes in his game, raised his serve and produced that very effective imitation of a board that had brought him before. the pinnacle of the sport.
Points lasting more than 20 shots became routine in a match with its share of 30-shot rallies, and suddenly Djokovic’s legs began to give way, like a boxer being pushed by a shot to the jaw. He leaned on his racket between points, gasping for breath. He would rub his head with an ice pack between games.
“I lost my breath on so many occasions,” he said. “I don’t remember ever being so exhausted after a rally.”
Serving to stay in the second set at 5-6, he stretched his legs before throwing balls into the air. She rose as she raced for a shot, saving set point with two soft volleys.
“He was tired,” Medvedev said. “I was all over him.”
They went to a deciding tiebreaker, and even that, like so many points in this video game of a match, went back and forth. Medvedev came within two points of a draw, winning a scintillating exchange of drops. But then, as he had many times before, Djokovic played three straight points without making any mistakes.
When Medvedev fired a backhand into the net 104 minutes into the set, Djokovic had taken a two-set lead, an advantage he had coughed up just once in his career, 13 years ago, before turning himself into almost indomitable player he would become.
He slowly leaned into his chair, grabbed his bag and left the court for a bathroom break. Medvedev took off his shirt and summoned a trainer, who massaged his shoulders, although after what he had endured for the previous hour and a half, a brain massage was what he really needed.
When he returned to the court, Djokovic floated once more, the adrenaline of another championship and record putting a rediscovered spring in his step. He flew toward the net, taking advantage of an opponent who plays so deep down the court that he often looks like he’s ready to hit the back wall with his backswing. No one was going to take that sweet return to America away from Djokovic this time.
It seems like every time he plays a tournament these days he sets a record in men’s tennis and usually wins one of his own. Djokovic started the year in Melbourne, where he won his 10th Australian Open title. Sunday brought him his 24th Grand Slam singles title, surpassing the men’s record of 23 he set at the French Open in June.
On Friday he played in a record 47th Grand Slam semifinal, one more than Federer. Three weeks ago he won a record 39th Masters 1000 tournament title, the events just below the Grand Slam level. On Sunday, he played in his 36th Grand Slam final.
His performance at the US Open ensured even before he took the court for his final matches that he would wake up on Monday morning as the No. 1 player in the world, reclaiming the top spot from Carlos Alcaraz, the 20-year-old Spanish sensation. This will mark his 390th week at the top of the sport. He already held that record.
“What are you still doing here,” Medvedev, 27, said to Djokovic, 36, who has kept him from winning titles since entering tennis’s top level six years ago.
Sweeping to a corner of the court before serving for match point, taking one last breath, Djokovic looked out at the fans in the front rows and shook his head, his eyes wide. Moments later he was kneeling on the field, his shoulders shaking as the tears flowed once more. When he got up, he went to the stands and picked up his daughter, Tara, who is 6 years old and can barely sit up at a tennis match. She often colors books on the playground floors while her father plays.
“Tennis isn’t really her thing,” she said with a smile and a curious look earlier this year.
It is now. He watched from the side of the court on Sunday, and Djokovic said whenever he needed a lift, he looked up to see her smiling and pumping a fist, and believed everything was going to be okay.
Then came the hugs with the rest of his family in the stands. When he returned to the court, he changed his sweaty kit into a shirt with a photo of himself and Kobe Bryant, his sports hero, friend and sometimes mentor, whose jersey number was 24 when his NBA career ended. That number was on the back of Djokovic’s shirt.
“It’s a shame for Wimbledon, two points anyway,” his coach Goran Ivanisevic said, bemoaning Djokovic’s only loss in 28 Grand Slam matches this year, in five sets at Alcaraz in July. Ivanisevic said he and Djokovic never spoke about that loss after that day. “That’s what makes him great.”
Days before this tournament, Djokovic reflected on the heartbreaking but emotional day two years ago when Medvedev broke him a game short of perhaps tennis’ ultimate achievement. He was still feeling the warmth from the New York crowd that had finally taken him.
“They love sports and they also love when they experience something special,” he said. “They really supported me and wanted me to win and wanted me to make history.”
In hindsight, he said, he buckled under the weight of it, as he rarely has.
This time, Djokovic forbade his family from mentioning anything about the story, choosing to keep this match as simple and straightforward as possible.
New York fans had to wait two years to see it, but on Sunday they finally did. Chances are they might see it again.
