Djokovic the eighth man, the third man in history

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The victory made Djokovic the eighth man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam. More remarkably, he became the third man in history after Don Budge and Rod Laver to hold all four of the major singles titles at the same time.

Tennis

Novak Djokovic Beats Andy Murray to Claim Elusive French Open Title

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY

 
“It’s a very special day, perhaps the biggest moment of my career,” Novak Djokovic said after winning the French Open on Sunday. Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images

PARIS — When the French Open was over, the sun finally came out, which seemed a wholly inappropriate reflection of the cold and clammy tournament that had just ended.

Unless that is you were Novak Djokovic.

He has been waiting 12 years to put an end to his frustrations at Roland Garros, and after Sunday afternoon, it can no longer be argued that he is the best men’s clay-court player never to win the French Open.

Djokovic, the 29-year-old Serb who is the world’s dominant player, stared down the past and all the salt, vinegar and baseline brilliance that Andy Murray could muster to win the title, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

“It’s a very special day, perhaps the biggest moment of my career,” Djokovic said in French to the tough-to-conquer Parisian crowd that has gradually come to embrace him and his quest.

The victory made Djokovic the eighth man in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam. More remarkably, he became the third man in history after Don Budge and Rod Laver to hold all four of the major singles titles at the same time.

“This is his day today,” said Murray, the No. 2 seed from Britain, in a classy post-match speech. “What he’s achieved in the last 12 months is phenomenal. Winning all four of the Grand Slams in one year is an amazing achievement. It’s something that is so rare in tennis. You know it’s not happened for an extremely long time, and it’s going to take a long time for it to happen again. Everyone here who came to watch is extremely lucky to see it.”

Though Djokovic has won the four major tournaments in the last 12 months, he has not won them all in the same calendar year, which is what defines the true Grand Slam. But he is now in position to chase one of the ultimate prizes in international sports, just as Serena Williams did last year before faltering within sight of success in the semifinals of the United States Open.

Djokovic beat Murray to win the Australian Open and French Open this year and is now the first man to complete the first two legs of the Grand Slam since Jim Courier in 1992.

There are more numbers, plenty of them. This was Djokovic’s 12th Grand Slam singles title, tying him with Roy Emerson for fourth on the career list and putting him within increasingly close range of his long-running rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Federer has the career men’s record with 17 major singles titles; Nadal and Pete Sampras are next with 14. But Djokovic is still at the peak of his powers at age 29 and still paying close attention to the details — diet, recovery, flexibility — that might help him stay at the summit longer than usual.

He is quite a conundrum for the opposition with his elastic groundstrokes, big serve and world-class returns. He can make a tennis court look dauntingly cramped as you face him across the net.

 
Novak Djokovic during the men’s single final match at the French Open on Sunday. Yoan Valat/European Pressphoto Agency

He had his hiccups in this clay-court season, losing to Jiri Vesely in his opening match in Monte Carlo. He had his flashes of anger and frustration: pushing chair umpire Carlos Bernardes’s arm away while examining a ball mark in Rome and throwing his racket during his quarterfinal match in this tournament and narrowly missing a linesman.

He also had to deal with the fallout of a historically rainy Paris spring and was forced to play singles on four straight days before getting a break on Saturday to prepare for the final.

But even though Murray, who came out of the bottom half of the draw, did not have to adjust to the same sort of scheduling constraints, he actually had played quite a bit more tennis coming into Sunday.

Djokovic lost just one set in his first six matches, which required a total of 12 hours and 54 minutes to complete. Murray needed 17 hours and 50 minutes of tennis to reach the final. He was pushed to five sets in his first two rounds and later dropped sets (understandably) against Richard Gasquet and Wawrinka.

Beating Djokovic at this stage of his career requires all the resources and resolve a man can muster. Although Murray is a phenomenal tennis player, he remains undeniably in Djokovic’s shadow.

Both 29 years old, their rivalry dates back to European junior days. Murray has had his moments: beating Djokovic to win the United States Open and, above all, Wimbledon, where Murray put an end to a 77-year-drought for British men in singles. He also beat Djokovic on his way to Olympic gold at the All England Club in 2012.

But he could not find a way to end Britain’s 81-year men’s drought at Roland Garros even though he had beaten a weary Djokovic in straight sets on the same surface last month in the final in Rome.

Djokovic leads their head-to-head series 24-10 and holds an 8-2 edge in Grand Slam play. But amid all the statistical updates, there was clearly a number that mattered most to the remarkable Serbian champion on Sunday.

That number was one. Many a great player has slipped up and failed to win the title at Roland Garros. The list includes Sampras, Jimmy Connors, Bill Tilden, John McEnroe, Pancho Gonzales, John Newcombe, Stefan Edberg and Djokovic’s coach, Boris Becker.

But Djokovic – with one title in Paris to his name – is now on a different list with former French champions like Bjorn Borg, Nadal, Ivan Lendl and the effervescent Brazilian Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten who was in the front row of the stands on Sunday.

And when Djokovic served out the match and the championship on his second attempt in the fourth set, he fell to the clay and lay on his back spread eagled before rising and jogging forward to embrace Murray who had stepped over the net to greet him.

He then went back to the baseline not long after that and reprised Kuerten’s famous celebration at Roland Garros, drawing a heart in the clay with his racket and then lying down again.

He was a man complete, a tennis champion complete, and the sun soon joined him.

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