Djokovic, the world’s No.1 player, won his ninth Australian Open title on Sunday and reached the final by beating Daniel Medvedev 7-5 6-2 6-2 in a total of 4, which was surprisingly one-sided.
Djokovic is now one of 20 men’s singles championships in each of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s two Grand Slam titles, which makes the race the closest among the three all-time greats.
Medvedev came into the finals in a 20-match win and topped the entire Australian Open. But his relative inexperience was evident in the Grand Slam final. Medvedev, who lost in five sets to Nadal in the final of the 2019 US Open, struggled to maintain his composure as Djokovic and went to rallies several times and tested Medvedev’s forward movement and physicality.
This was a result of errors for Medvedev, 30 of which were unavailable. Djokovic made just 15 unexpected mistakes in the match.
It seemed for a moment, when Medvedev leveled the first set at 5-5, which Djokovic could be in for a tough test. But he rapped with the first break, and only a few moments after that, when Medvedev took a break in the first game of the second set. Djokovic immediately retaliated and beat Medvedev, who struggled as hard as he did until the first hour of the match.
Djokovic considered it one of his best achievements, noting that he was nearly eliminated from the tournament in the third round when he was hurtling through the match against Taylor Fritz in the middle of his oblique field.
Playing painfully, Djokovic went into the fifth set and looked as if he were struggling to finish the match. But he found a way to be against Fritz and was able to manage the injury, which he dealt with the hardest at the Grand Slam going into the tournament.