The 35-year-old Serb beat Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5) in the final. The latter will once more become 3rd in the world on Monday, behind the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz who was absent in Melbourne due to an injury.
Once the victory was assured on a final fault of his opponent, Djokovic went up to his box to kiss his team including his coach Goran Ivanisevic and his mother Dijana and collapsed there in tears.
He was dominant the whole game and didn’t seem bothered at all by his hamstring injury. He also played for the first time in the tournament without his huge bandage.
Like Nadal at Roland-Garros, Djokovic has never lost in the final in Melbourne where he now holds the record of ten titles.
Expelled from Australia last year before the start of the tournament, Djokovic might only observe, helpless, the strong comeback of Rafael Nadal who had taken a step ahead in the race for Grand Slam titles with a 21st major coronation (20 for Djokovic and Federer). A few months later, the Spaniard pushed his advantage at Roland-Garros.
Djokovic came very close to disqualification in the Australian Open final: here’s why
Winner then at Wimbledon but banned from entering the United States for the US Open, the Serb therefore had to wait for the Australian Major to return to Nadal on Sunday.
These impossibilities to play and the absence of points distributed at Wimbledon made him lose his place of N.1 last year.
He recovered it on Sunday and will begin his 374th week on Monday at the top of the world hierarchy, a new record. Since 2021, he has also held the record for the number of seasons finished in N.1.
For his part, Tsitsipas was playing his second Grand Slam final following Roland-Garros in 2021 where he had already been beaten by Djokovic, but in five rounds and following winning the first two.
