Novak Djokovic succeeded where even Steffi Graf and Serena Williams failed: the Serbian won his fourth US Open on Sunday at the age of 36 and thus equaled the absolute record for Grand Slam titles set in 1973 by Margaret Court. Graf stopped at 22, like Rafael Nadal, and Serena at 23.
“Winning Wimbledon was my only goal growing up. I never imagined I would be here and talking about my 24th Grand Slam title,” the champion said in the middle of the world’s largest tennis stadium, the Arthur-Ashe Court in Flushing Meadows.
“Over the last couple of years I started to believe in it and I thought why not try it? », he added, after his victory against the Russian Daniil Medvedev (3rd in the world) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Novak Djokovic became the most successful player in men’s Grand Slams when he won his 23rd title at Roland Garros in June, overtaking Nadal. At 36, he will once again become world No.1 on Monday and will begin a record 390th week in this place.
If he had everything planned, tracksuit jackets flocked with the number 24 for him and all the members of his box, t-shirt tribute to Kobe Bryant – the NBA champion who died in 2020 in a helicopter accident – with whom he was certain to make a splash with the American public, he still had to beat Medvedev.
“But what are you still doing here? »
The same one who had deprived Djokovic in 2021 of one of the greatest sporting exploits: he had beaten him in the final of the US Open where the Serb was only three sets away from achieving the calendar Grand Slam, after winning the first three Majors of the season.
And if the Djoker had been crushed by the weight of history two years ago, putting up only weak resistance to the Russian, on Sunday the two men engaged in a fight at the highest level and without mercy.
To the point that both found themselves more or less voluntarily on the ground during the match, lying on their backs trying to breathe.
Djokovic was also seen leaning on his knees several times to breathe a little. And at the change of ends after a terrible second set, Djokovic went out for his usual bathroom break and Medvedev took a medical timeout to have his left shoulder massaged on court.
At the start, the eldest seemed to want to try everything, to avoid getting caught up in additional sets.
So, with his characteristic humor, when receiving the finalist’s trophy, Medvedev turned to his winner of the day and asked him: “But what are you still doing here? », in reference to his age.
The tribute to Kobe Bryant
“I have twenty titles to my name and I believe I am having a good career. You have 24 Grand Slam titles… woahhh,” he added.
He can always blame himself – if he doesn’t, his coach Gilles Cervara will do it for him – for having been so stubborn in his return of serve position so far from the baseline. As a result, it allowed Djokovic to perform serves/volleys, which are not his specialty but which earned him twenty points with little effort, the equivalent of five games!
With this fourth US Open, Djokovic became the first player to win three of the four Majors in a season four times (2011, 2015, 2021 and 2023).
He kissed his daughter courtside then went up to the stands where he fell into the arms of actor Matthew McConaughey who was in his box, then his parents, his son and his wife. Then he returned to the court and put on a t-shirt with the slogan “Mamba for ever” around a photo showing him next to the former NBA player.
“I thought about making this t-shirt seven days ago, in case I won. Kobe was a close friend. He was there for me when I wasn’t well. 24 is the number he wore when he became an NBA and Lakers legend. So I told myself it would be good today,” Djokovic explained. He too is now a legend.
