Djokovic takes the throne

Novak Djokovic achieved a major victory against Daniil Medvedev to prevent him from entering history for the second time, as he defeated his Russian opponent 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in the US Open final, equaling the record of Margaret Court, who holds 24 Grand Slam titles.
The Serbian player’s fourth victory in ten final matches at Flushing Meadows crowned another wonderful season for him in the Grand Slam tournaments after his victories in the Australian Open and French Open, and he also regained the top spot in the rankings.
Djokovic (36 years old) also became the oldest player to win the US Open men’s singles title in the professional era, and the first to win three Grand Slam titles in one season four times.
“This means everything to me for sure, I’m really living my childhood dream,” Djokovic said of his 24th major title.
He added, “Entering the history of this sport is truly special, and it is difficult to describe it in words.”
“As a child, when I was seven or eight years old, I dreamed of becoming the best player in the world.”
The dream became a reality, as Djokovic collected more titles than any other player already in the four major tournaments and equaled Court’s record at the men’s and women’s levels together.
After clinching his historic title, he threw his racket in the air and knelt down amid massive cheering.
He went up to the stands to hug his daughter, then came down to wear the “Mamba Forever” shirt bearing the number 24
With this shirt, he wanted to highlight his historic number, in addition to honoring his late friend, Kobe Breat, the American basketball star and Los Angeles Lakers legend, who wore the same number during his illustrious career before his death in a helicopter crash.
“I thought about wearing this shirt if I had a chance to win the tournament,” Djokovic said. “Kobe was a close friend and we talked a lot about the winning mentality.”
“When I was suffering from an injury he was one of the people I leaned on a lot, he was always there for support and advice.
“I thought about the number 24 he wore when he was a legend for the Lakers and world basketball.”
Although they are among the attractive figures in the sport, neither Djokovic nor Medvedev enjoyed the full support of the New York fans.
The atmosphere in Arthur Ashe Stadium was not as enthusiastic as last night in the women’s singles final, when American Coco Gauff won the title, and the crowd’s bias did not appear clear to any of the players.
Djokovic entered the field with a desire to take revenge on his Russian opponent, who deprived him of making history two years ago.
In their last confrontation at the US Open in the 2021 final, Medvedev achieved his only major title and prevented Djokovic from dominating all four major titles in one calendar year.
Djokovic did not talk about revenge on his way to the final, but the Serbian is known for harnessing his anger and turning defeats into lessons learned.
As was expected in a confrontation between the two best players on hard courts, almost every point witnessed a long exchange of balls from the baseline.
Djokovic began to put pressure on the third seed and broke serve on his first opportunity en route to a 3-0 lead.
This was the only break that Djokovic needed against Medvedev, who suddenly looked weak and did not get any break points in the first set.
During a marathon of one hour and 44 minutes in the second set, Medvedev fought off a tired Djokovic in long, arduous points.
But the Russian player’s abundant effort did not bear fruit, as he was unable to take advantage of the few opportunities to break serve, including when he was leading 6-5 to squander the decisive second set.
Medvedev led 3-1 in the tie-break, but did not deal a knockout blow to Djokovic, who recovered to prevail 7-5.
The Serbian player wasted no time in the final set to lead 3-1, and Medvedev resisted by breaking his first and only serve in the match, but this was not enough against Djokovic, who broke the serve again and won the title.