GOAT: Novak Djokovic closes Grand Slam gap on Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
Not only was Novak Djokovic playing for the Australian Open title on Sunday, he was jostling for position in the race to be crowned the ‘GOAT’ in men’s tennis.
Not only was Novak Djokovic playing for the Australian Open title on Sunday, he was jostling for position in the race to be crowned the ‘GOAT’ in men’s tennis.
Not even a muscle tear was able to stop Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
The World No. 1 confirmed for the first time after lifting his ninth trophy at Melbourne Park on Sunday that he tore an abdominal oblique muscle during his third-round victory against Taylor Fritz. The Serbian persevered to claim his 18th Grand Slam title.
“I was quite worried. [It] did not look realistic that I could actually play. I didn’t know until two hours before the fourth-round match. That’s when I stepped on the court and played for the first time since the third round,” Djokovic said. “The pain was at the level that was bearable for me. I just accepted the fact that I’m going to have to play with the pain.”
It’s difficult enough to win a major without an injury. But Djokovic defeated two former World No. 3s — Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev — halted Aslan Karatsev’s dream run and then defeated the hottest player on the planet, Daniil Medvedev, who was on a 20-match winning streak, in the final. Just nine days ago, after tearing the muscle during a five-set victory against Taylor Fritz, Djokovic wasn’t sure he would take the court in the Round of 16.
“Whether I was aware of the fact that I’m going to possibly make more damage and risk more damage to this injury? Yes, I was aware of that,” Djokovic said. “If there was any tournament, it’s going to be here and it’s going to be any major where I would risk worse injuries or damage in order to try to give myself a chance to go far in the tournament.
“Of course, I haven’t done it myself. [The] medical team, my physio, [they] have done tremendous work. With God’s grace, I managed to achieve what I achieved and I’m very thankful.”
Many marvel at Djokovic’s Gumby-like movement. The Serbian contorts his body in unthinkable ways on the court, making his body look like a human slinky toy. Moving like that is jaw-dropping under normal circumstances, forget doing so with an abdominal injury.
The serve heavily relies on a player’s core, yet Djokovic hit 23 aces in a four-set quarter-final victory against Zverev. Before striking 26 aces in the second round, Djokovic’s career-high was 23. Pushing through the pain is one thing, but maintaining a level fit for the World No. 1 is another.
Djokovic only lost two sets from the fourth round on against a slew of difficult opponents. That would have been impressive any year, but under the circumstances the 33-year-old’s effort was superhuman.
“I know there’s been a lot of speculations, people questioning whether I’m injured, how I can recover so quickly, it’s impossible to do that. I get it. Look, everyone is entitled [to] their own opinion,” Djokovic said. “What we have done in the past nine, 10 days, you’ll get a chance to see in details probably [at the] end of this year when the documentary [we are making] comes out. I’ve been filming a lot of things that I’ve been doing here, but also in the previous six months.”
The Serbian is the second male player in history to win nine titles at a single Grand Slam championship, joining Rafael Nadal, who has triumphed at Roland Garros 13 times. The World No. 1 is now within two major titles of Roger Federer and Nadal’s record 20.
“Roger and Rafa inspire me. That’s something that I’ve said before, I’ll say it again. I think as long as they go, I’ll go,” Djokovic said. “In a way it’s like a race [of] who plays tennis more, I guess, and who wins more. It’s a competition between us in all areas. But I think that’s the very reason why we are who we are, because we do drive each other, we motivate each other, we push each other to the limit.”
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As a kid, Djokovic dreamt of winning Wimbledon and reaching No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Although the Serbian has done both and much more, he does not take his success for granted.
“Of course I tried to remind myself, pinch myself, of how important this is. Even though I have been fortunate to win many majors and play in many major finals in my life, I do enjoy the success every single time even more because I know that the longer the time passes, the more difficult it’s going to become for me to get my hands on the major trophy,” Djokovic said. “You have, of course, new young players coming up that are as hungry as you, maybe even hungrier, and they’re coming up and they’re challenging me and Roger and Rafa.”
Djokovic has long spoken about how important is is to make tennis history. On 8 March, he will surpass Federer for most weeks as World No. 1 with 311. The Serbian will then turn his attention to chasing down his great rivals’ Grand Slam titles record.
“Whether I think about winning more Slams and breaking records, of course. Of course, I do,” Djokovic said. “Most of my attention and my energy from this day forward, until I retire from tennis, is going to be directed in majors, trying to win more major trophies.”
If Djokovic could win a Grand Slam with a muscle tear, will anyone be able to stop him?
Watch highlights of Novak Djokovic’s 7-5 6-2 6-2 win over Daniil Medvedev to claim a record-extending ninth men’s Australian Open title, his 18th Grand Slam.
Novak Djokovic says his journey to a ninth Australian Open title and 18th overall Grand Slam trophy was an “emotional rollercoaster”.
You never know when the pivotal moment in a match is going to happen, when one player seizes momentum and never relinquishes it. Novak Djokovic won 12 of the first 15 points of the Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev, holding for 3-0 in the first set with an ace followed by a serve/volley point that ended with a supremely confident Sampras-like jumping overhead winner at the net.
The start and finish of this match were happening at the same time.
Djokovic’s dominant start was underpinned by a massive difference in the players’ forehands: As the Serb raced to a 3-0 lead after eight minutes, he put all 11 forehands he cleanly struck into the court. On the other side of the net, Medvedev’s forehand was hemorrhaging errors as Djokovic went for the kill on that wing early on.
Djokovic would run away with the final 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, with this initial period of the match setting the tone and flow of baseline exchanges. After three games, Medvedev had hit 18 forehands and 11 backhands. Djokovic locked in on Medvedev’s forehand, extracting seven errors from it in the first three games. The first four times Medvedev hit a forehand groundstroke or return in the match, he yielded three errors. Medvedev did hit one forehand winner during this run, but it was inconsequential.
Medvedev made the first nine backhands he struck of the match in the opening three games, but the pressure from the overloaded forehand helped to contribute to two straight backhand errors, including one on break point in his opening service game.
Djokovic had a masterful game plan of ripping apart Medvedev’s forehand before the Russian could assert any strategy of his own, sowing the seeds of anger and disappointment that Medvedev could not shake off for the rest of the match.
Overall, Medvedev would finish with 11 forehand winners, but also contribute 33 forehand errors. Djokovic, by comparison, had much cleaner numbers off the forehand wing, with eight winners and only 16 errors. Medvedev may very well have gone into this match thinking it was going to be a battle royale of the two best backhands in the game. That narrative didn’t exist in the Djokovic playbook.
Everywhere you looked on the match stats sheet, Djokovic asserted his strategic superiority.
Baseline Points Won
• Djokovic = 53% (46/87)
• Medvedev = 38% (35/92)
Net Points Won
• Djokovic = 89% (16/18)
• Medvedev = 62% (8/13)
Serve & Volley Points Won
• Djokovic = 100% (2/2)
• Medvedev = 0% (0/0)
The average rally length for the final was 5.2 shots, which was the longest for either player for the tournament. It didn’t matter if the rallies were short or long, Djokovic had an answer.
Rally Length – Points Won
• 0-4 Shots = Djokovic 52 / Medvedev 43
• 5-8 Shots = Djokovic 20 / Medvedev 12
• 9+ Shots = Djokovic 15 / Medvedev 13
An ironic match metric is that Medvedev got dominated on the scoreboard, but actually finished the match with more winners, hitting 24 to Djokovic’s 20. But this match was never about winners. It’s the error count that made up most of the points, with Medvedev racking up 67 to Djokovic’s 44. This is where separation between the two players occurred.
The match started with an eight-minute mauling of Medvedev’s forehand. There would be no recovery.
Novak Djokovic continues his dominance of the Australian Open by overwhelming Daniil Medvedev to win a record-extending ninth men’s title.
Novak Djokovic has claimed the second set to take a 7-5, 6-2 lead against Daniil Medvedev on Sunday in the Australian Open final.
The World No. 1 won 80 per cent of second-serve return points (8/10) in the second set to move one set away from his ninth title at Melbourne Park. Djokovic is aiming to join 13-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal as only the second man to win nine or more titles at the same Grand Slam event.
The 33-year-old is also bidding to clinch his 18th Grand Slam title and narrow the gap on Big Three rivals Nadal and Roger Federer. Nadal and Federer both own a record 20 major crowns.
Djokovic made a fast start to his ninth championship match at Melbourne Park (8-0). The Serbian charged into a 3-0 lead in under 10 minutes, as he returned with depth and capitalised on three Medvedev forehand errors to break serve at 1-0. Despite an immediate response from his opponent, Djokovic rushed Medvedev at 6-5 with aggressive forehands and he landed a backhand passing shot winner up the line to earn three set points. The 17-time Grand Slam champion converted his third opportunity when Medvedev fired a forehand into the net.
After dropping serve in the opening game of the second set, Djokovic reeled off four straight games to take control of the championship match. The six-time year-end World No. 1 played with impeccable depth on his returns to extract errors and Medvedev began to misfire as he attempted to shorten rallies. Djokovic broke serve for the fifth time with a huge forehand return to clinch the second set.
Medvedev is attempting to capture his maiden Grand Slam crown. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion entered his second Grand Slam final on a 20-match winning streak, which dates back to the start of his title run at the Rolex Paris Masters last November. Medvedev has defeated 12 Top 10 players during his winning streak.
In Medvedev’s only previous Grand Slam final at the 2019 US Open, the Russian rallied from two sets down to force eventual champion Rafael Nadal to a fifth set. If he is to keep alive his title bid, he will need to repeat that feat in Melbourne.
Britain’s Joe Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram lose the Australian Open men’s doubles final to Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek.
Andy Murray will continue his comeback season at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam with a wild card, the tournament announced on Friday.
Former World No. 1 Murray is making his way back to ATP Tour action after a strong start to the season at the Biella Challenger Indoor 1, where he reached his first final at any level since 2019. Murray lifted one of his 46 career trophies in Rotterdam in 2009, defeating Rafael Nadal in the final.
“Andy is of course on his way back from a lingering injury. We would like to offer him the opportunity to take another step in his comeback,” said tournament director Richard Krajicek. “With his honours list and his unique performances at Wimbledon, among others, he is one of the audience’s favourites.”
Joining Murray in Rotterdam with a wild card is World No. 7 Alexander Zverev, who rounds out a strong field of six players inside the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Nadal, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini are all scheduled to take part in the season’s first ATP 500 event. Two-time defending champion Gael Monfils and 2015 winner Stan Wawrinka will also be in action.
“We already had a fantastic field, but this is a bonus of course,” Krajicek added. “With six players from the global Top 10… we have a stronger field than ever before.”
The 48th edition of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament will be held on indoor hard-courts from 1 to 7 March, 2021.
There were seven Argentinian players in the Cordoba Open main draw, and all but two have landed in Diego Schwartzman’s half as he learned his tough road to a fourth ATP Tour title on Monday.
Schwartzman, who reached the final here last year, is the top seed at his home tournament. Should he advance through the top quarter, he could face countrymen Guido Pella, the No. 4 seed, or No. 8 seed Federico Delbonis in the semi-finals. Pella, who knocked out Schwartzman in the 2019 quarter-finals here, and Delbonis anchor the second quarter, which also features local wild card Nicolas Kicker.
View Singles Draw
The World No. 9 is into the second round with a bye, and could face a rematch of last year’s Cordoba quarter-final with No. 5 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas landing in the Argentine’s quarter once again. Schwartzman defeated Ramos-Vinolas in a roller-coaster 6-0, 7-6(0) victory to extend his ATP Head2Head dominance over the Spaniard to 5-0.
But before Ramos-Vinolas can think about contesting a third quarter-final in Argentina (also 2019 Buenos Aires) against Schwartzman, he will have to handle another home favourite in the first round. He will begin his Cordoba campaign against Juan Ignacio Londero, who lifted his lone ATP Tour title at the inaugural 2019 edition.
Frenchman Benoit Paire is the No. 2 seed, leading the bottom quarter and eyeing a potential clash with No. 6 seed Dominik Koepfer in the quarter-finals. Two wild cards including former World No. 38 Nicolas Jarry, an ATP Tour titlist from Chile, have also landed in Paire’s quarter.
Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic leads a tricky third quarter as the No. 3 seed in Cordoba, looking for his second ATP Tour title. He could get #NextGenATP Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild in the second round. The 20-year-old is also looking to double his trophy count after winning the 2020 Chile Dove Men+Care Open in Santiago.
No. 7 seed Thiago Monteiro is also in Kecmanovic’s section. The Brazilian is among the players aiming to become Cordoba’s third consecutive South American champion, after Chilean Cristian Garin’s victory in 2020.
