By defeating Russian Daniil Medvedev in the championship match 6-3, 7-6, 6-3, the Serbian won the US Open.

Even Steffi Graf and Serena Williams were unable to duplicate Novak Djokovic’s success: the Serbian won the US Open on Sunday at the age of 36, tying Margaret Court’s all-time record of 36 Grand Slam victories.

That broke a tie with Serena Williams for the most major singles tennis titles won by a woman in the Open era, which began in 1968 and added to Djokovic’s record of the most such titles won by a man (Rafael Nadal is second with 22; Roger Federer, who announced his retirement last year, has 20).

Like Serena and Rafael Nadal, Graf stopped playing at the age of 22.

When I was a child, my main ambition was to win Wimbledon. The champion spoke in the midst of the Arthur Court-Ashe from Flushing Meadows, the largest tennis arena in the world, as she discussed her 24th Grand Slam victory. After defeating the third-ranked Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, he said, “Over the last couple of years, I started to believe in it and I thought, why not give it a try?” When Novak Djokovic won his 23rd championship at Roland Garros in June, he passed Rafael Nadal to become the most successful player in men’s Grand Slams.

He will reclaim the top spot on Monday at the age of 36 and start a record-setting 390th week in that position. He still needed to defeat Medvedev even with everything he had planned, including tracksuit jackets emblazoned with the number 24 for him and every member of his box and t-shirts paying homage to Kobe Bryant, the NBA champion who died in a helicopter accident in 2020.

A significant conflict

It was the same person who had denied Djokovic one of the greatest sporting feats in 2021: he had defeated him in the US Open final when the Serb was just three sets away from completing the calendar Grand Slam after winning the season’s first three Majors.

And on Sunday, the two men engaged in a fight at the highest level and without mercy, whereas two years before the Djoker was defeated by the weight of history and offered only feeble opposition to the Russian. So much so that both players more or less voluntarily fell to the ground throughout the contest while lying on their backs and struggling for air.

Djokovic was also observed taking multiple breaths while leaning on his knees. Djokovic left for his routine toilet break at the end of the second set, while Medvedev took a medical stoppage to have his left shoulder massaged on the court.

The eldest first seemed to want to try everything to prevent getting sucked into more sets. So, after accepting the finalist’s award, Medvedev turned to his day’s winner and asked him, with his trademark humor, “But what are you still doing here?” in reference to his age.

“Woahhh”

“I have twenty trophies under my belt, and I believe my career is going well. Wow, you’ve won 24 Grand Slam tournaments, he continued. With his fourth US Open victory, Djokovic made history by becoming the first person to ever win all four Majors in a single season (2011, 2015, 2021, and 2023). He embraced actor Matthew McConaughey in his box before his parents, son, and wife joined him in the stands after kissing his daughter courtside. He then went back out onto the court and put on a t-shirt with the words “Mamba forever” surrounding a picture of himself with the former NBA player.

“Seven days ago, I considered making this t-shirt just in case I won. Kobe was a good pal. When I wasn’t feeling well, he was there for me. He wore the number 24 when he became a Lakers and NBA superstar. I thus believed it would be beneficial today, Djokovic said. Now, he too is legendary.