Novak Djokovic wins a tennis major for the 24th time

The US Open ended in New York with another, already 24th, triumph at Grand Slam tournaments for Novak Djokovic, who is now two victories ahead of Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Having confidently defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in the final, the evergreen 36-year-old Serb has significantly increased his chances of bringing his number of weeks at the top line of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings to 400 by the end of the year, and became the favorite in the dispute with another representative Spain Carlos Alcaraz for the title of first racket of the world based on the results of this season.

After defeating American Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals of the US Open, the future champion of this tournament was asked how the match would have ended in which the current Novak Djokovic would have met with his younger self. “I would beat myself ten years ago. And easily, in three sets,” said the 36-year-old Serb, smiling. In exactly the same way, without giving up a single set, this time he dealt with Daniil Medvedev, to whom he unusually ingloriously lost in the New York final two years ago.

A comparison of these two finals could not be more clear why the current Djokovic is stronger than the previous one. In 2021, facing enormous mental pressure as he neared his fourth Grand Slam victory in a single season, he not only lost to the superb Russian in his signature back-row game, but also failed in his attempts to break the pace with runs to the net. Medvedev then simply declassed the Serb, who ran forward over and over again, but, missing the next dribble, aroused pity with his helplessness. However, this time it turned out differently. Realizing how difficult it would be to constantly compete with the Russian in marathon rallies, Djokovic again relied on the game from the summer, but brought it to absolute perfection. His irresistible half-volley after an excellent Medvedev line move at one of the key moments of the match, on a break point in the eighth game of the second set, is the highest example of tennis skill. By that time, the Serb had confidently won the first set, but in the second game a struggle ensued with an unpredictable outcome; it was extremely dangerous for him to drag out the match. In terms of endurance, at 36 years old, Djokovic can give a head start to many younger opponents, but his strength is still not unlimited. It is no coincidence that the fate of the Wimbledon final two months ago against Carlos Alcaraz was largely decided by the unsuccessful second set for the Serb.

Daniil Medvedev, who would later very accurately compare the middle of the match with an arm wrestling match, worked to the maximum. To put the finishing touches on Novak Djokovic in the second game, he only needed a little bit. In the 12th game, the Russian had another break point, won back by the Serb at the net, after which Djokovic, losing 4:5 in the tiebreak, took three points in a row.

When you are nine years younger than your opponent, it is inconvenient to talk about fatigue, but in this case it would be wrong not to mention it. Unlike the Serb, whose path to the final was relatively easy, the Russian was forced to give his all in the semi-final against Alcaraz on Friday and did not retain a sufficient supply of psychological energy. Therefore, Djokovic, who does not have the same starting speed as ten years ago, but is technically perfect, and therefore more graceful and, moreover, wise with gigantic winning experience, simply could not give up this title. And after exchanging breaks with the still unbroken, but uninspired Medvedev, in the fourth and fifth games of the third set he again took someone else’s serve.

To win his fourth title at the US Open, the Serbian had to put in a lot of effort. Hitting the ball to the other half of the court ten to fifteen times in a row, he gulped for air and gesticulated emotionally towards his box, where his coach Goran Ivanisevic, other team members and the whole family were sitting. But the score – 6:3, 7:6 (7:5), 6:3 – leaves no doubt that everything ended absolutely fairly. Having played his fifth final at a major and setting a Russian record for this indicator, Medvedev has not yet been able to become a two-time Grand Slam champion, which his outstanding predecessors Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin once achieved. In turn, Djokovic took three Grand Slam championships in one season for the fourth time, and brought the total number of his major titles to 24. Rafael Nadal, who continues to recover from injury and seems to intend to retire next year, is now behind the Serbian already two wins away. Thus, the already illusory hopes of the famous Spaniard to succeed in the dispute with Djokovic for the most prestigious tennis record seem to be completely buried.

And Novak Djokovic has significantly increased his chances of achieving another significant achievement in his career this year – bringing the total number of weeks of his stay in first place in the ATP rankings to 400. The fact is that according to the results of the US Open, the situation is very the top of the world rankings has changed dramatically. If two weeks ago Alcaraz was 20 points ahead of Djokovic, now he is ahead by 3260 points. This happened because the Spaniard immediately lost 1,280 of his 2,000 championship points from last year, and the rating jackpot (as well as $3 million in prize money) went to Djokovic.

Meanwhile, this week at the top of the world classification has already become the 390th for the Serb, that is, he has two and a half months left until the anniversary mark. The ending of last season was very successful for Djokovic. He won three titles – in Tel Aviv, Astana and at the final tournament in Turin, and also reached the final of the Paris Masters, scoring 2850 points, while Alcaraz, who received an injury in late autumn, replenished his total during the same period the amount is only 360 points. Thus, in terms of points scored this year, the Serbian is ahead by 770 points. In an ideal scenario, Djokovic will be able to reach 400 weeks on November 20, the day after the completion of the Nitto ATP Finals. Moreover, in this case, he will become the first racket of the world at the end of the year for the eighth time.

Evgeniy Fedyakov