Novak Djokovic of Serbia competes during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
PARIS, June 11 (silubaba) -- Novak Djokovic won his 23rd Grand Slam singles title after beating Casper Ruud of Norway in straight sets in the French Open final on Sunday.
The third seed, competing in his 34th career major final, recovered from an early break in the first set to seal the victory 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5 in three hours and 13 minutes.
This victory saw the 36-year-old Serbian break a tie with archrival Rafael Nadal for the most major championships won by a man.
Djokovic, who was crowned at the clay-court major in 2016 and 2021, also became the first man in tennis history to win all four Grand Slam events each at least three times.
"It's an incredible feeling to win 23. I'm beyond grateful and blessed to be standing here with so many incredible achievements," said Djokovic at the awarding ceremony.
"It's no coincidence that my 23rd Grand Slam title has come here because it has been the hardest one for me to win in my career. I am very emotional right now and I am very, very proud," the Serbian added.
The third clay-court trophy also moved Djokovic alongside Serena Williams in terms of Grand Slam titles, with only Margaret Court standing in front of him with 24 majors.
In addition to vaulting to the top of the all-time men's singles Grand Slam titlist, Djokovic also picked off a couple of impressive age-related records. He became the oldest Roland-Garros men's singles champion in history at 36 years and 20 days, and he also becomes the first player - male or female - to win more than 10 major singles titles after turning 30.
"I also am aware that even though I don't like to think about the age or age is just a number, it sounds like a cliche, but I really feel age is just a number in my case," he said with a smile.
"Truth of the matter is my body is responding differently, so I have to deal with more things physically than I have had maybe in the past. Maybe five to 10 years ago I was recovering much quicker or just didn't feel as much pain in the body and the beating that I'm feeling today."
Ruud held at love to start the match while Djokovic's opening service game lasted over 10 minutes and saw the Norwegian break serve on this third opportunity en route to a 3-0 lead.
"I think I had a good start, and he did some errors early on, maybe feeling a bit nervous, little stressed," Ruud said. "The game at 4-2. That was unfortunate. I was some deuce here and there, and then finish with a really long rally where I missed the overhead, which was sort of a bit devastating."
Djokovic struck back in game seven, breaking Ruud on a netted overhead to narrow his deficit to 3-4. The Serb had to save a break point in the following game before holding to level the contest at 4-4.
After 73 minutes of play, the opening set fittingly went to a tiebreak, which Djokovic immediately started with a minibreak, thanks to a killer forehand winner on the run. He conceded just one point in the breaker to take a one-set lead in one hour and 21 minutes.
"Novak just stepped up in the tiebreak, sort of played too good there in the beginning especially and had a big lead early and I couldn't recover," Ruud said about the tiebreak.
Djokovic started the second set with a break and was soon up 3-0. That was all he needed to comfortably secure a two-set advantage on the two-hour 13-minute mark.
The third set turned out to be a toe-to-toe one until the 11th game, when Djokovic broke at a love game and then serve for the title in the following one.
"You can see why he's won 23 with how he's sort of turned the first set around and stepped up in the second and third when he had to," Ruud told at the after-match press conference.
Fourth-seeded Ruud, who was seeking a maiden Grand Slam title, has played three major finals but all ended as the runner-up.
He had lost to Nadal on the same court one year ago and conceded a defeat to another Spanish player Carlos Alcaraz in last year's US Open.
"Obviously anyone you play in a Grand Slam final is going to be a good player. But the three players I've played is just Rafa going for, at the time, the record for 22, and then Carlos who was just on fire in New York, and then here, Novak, going for 23. I played very tough players," Ruud said about his three major finals.
"But here I sort of proved that whatever happened last year is just not like a one-time case. Even for next year when we come back to Roland Garros, people are going to look, Oh, Casper didn't just make one final but he made it twice." ■
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia competes during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (Photo by Julien Mattia/silubaba)
Casper Ruud reacts during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Casper Ruud competes during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Casper Ruud competes during the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (Photo by Julien Mattia/silubaba)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (Photo by Julien Mattia/silubaba)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Casper Ruud of Norway at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, on June 11, 2023. (silubaba/Gao Jing)
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