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Journalism of Courage
Fifteen years on from Novak Djokovic’s first Grand Slam victory at the 2008 Australian Open, as challengers come and go, there remain no signs of him loosening his grip on the biggest stage. 36 never felt younger.
The seeds for the slugfest in the US Open final between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev were sown at the very start. The first point of the match was an endurance battle of its own, a 19-shot exchange from the baseline on Djokovic’s serve ending with a Medvedev forehand unforced error. Two points later, another gruelling 23-shot exchange ensued, ending with Djokovic hitting a mammoth backhand down-the-line winner.
As Medvedev looked to create battles of attrition, erecting a wall on his side of the court, elongating rallies and getting as many balls back into play as he can, 36-year-old Djokovic flexed his ability not only to physically contend with opponents from younger generations, but also totally tactically outmanoeuvre them, as he picked apart Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 to win a record-extending 24th men’s singles Major championship and a fourth US Open title.
Watching Djokovic compete in 2023 seemingly feels like bearing witness to history and Sunday’s final was no different. In what was an astonishingly underplayed achievement, Djokovic was playing his 36th Grand Slam final – meaning he had reached the summit clash of exactly half of his 72 Grand Slam singles tournament entries.
He became the oldest man in the Open Era to win the US Open singles title and the first man to win three of the four Majors in a calendar year on four separate occasions. On Monday, he will return to the World No. 1 spot of the rankings for a record-extending 390th week after he also won a record-extending 39th Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati the week prior to the US Open.
Medvedev, the World No. 3, had foiled Djokovic from making ultimate history at Flushing Medaows two years ago, destroying the weighed-down Serb who was one match win away from becoming the first player in the Open Era to win a year-in Grand Slam. He played the role of the disruptor this year too, defeating 20-year-old top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal with one of the best performances of his career, denying fans the opportunity to witness another instalment of the cross-generational rivalry between Djokovic and Alcaraz that has had a captivating feel ever since Alcaraz defeated Djokovic in a five-set epic in the Wimbledon final this year.
Unlike Alcaraz, Djokovic was able to deal with the defensive mastery of Medvedev by using his complete game to strike the right balance between defence and attack, choosing his moments carefully to go for first-strike aggression or engage in long slug fests from the baseline.
Djokovic showed more intent to apply more power to hit through Medvedev right from the get-go, and took advantage of a sloppy start from the big-serving 6’6’ Russian by converting his first break point on his opponent’s first service game, and seeing out the first set from there.
Despite the routine straight-sets scoreline, the match felt far from a one-sided clash, a lot of which had to do with the gruelling rallies and nervy games that ensued in the 104-minute-long second set. As Medvedev reset in the second, he began finding his first serve and winning cheap points off it, plugging away at Djokovic by putting him through long, testing baseline exchanges.
Net play and forehand
As Medvedev began to prevail in the longer rallies, Djokovic used all the variety in his playbook to shorten the points. He won 20 out of the 22 points in which he attempted to serve and volley to exploit Medvedev’s deep return positioning. Of the 44 points on which he approached the net, he won 37 of them; and added a mixed bag of low, effective slices and drop shots to keep Medvedev second guessing. Medvedev won 28 of the points that were more that 9 shots in rally length, compared to Djokovic’s 22.
But as Alcaraz was to find out in the semifinal, with Medvedev finding timing and angles through his anticipation, baseline strategy would be just as handy as shortening the points. And Djokovic executed a simple and effective plan, forcing Medvedev wide on his weaker forehand wing to either extract errors (of which Medvedev made 40 just on his forehand side) or to open the court for him to take command from the baseline.
Djokovic won 92 points that were less than 9 shots, compared to Medvedev’s 68: Djokovic could last and could finish snappily; Medvedev could only linger on, but couldn’t terminate quickly.
Medvedev’s big serve kept him upbeat, but Djokovic’s tactical adaptability kept him with Medvedev throughout the second set. The defining point of the match came late in the second with Medvedev 6-5 up and having set point on Djokovic’s serve. With Djokovic at the net, he had an open court to hit a backhand down-the-line, instead opting to go crosscourt to give the Serb an easy volley. Djokovic did what he does, playing a mostly error-free tiebreaker after that, fashioning a two-set lead by piling the pressure on his opponent.
After resurfacing from a bathroom break following the gruelling set, Djokovic came out flying. There was more zip in his groundstrokes, his serve was finding more power, and eventually outplayed the Russian to close out the win.
Emotions poured out as Djokovic celebrated with his family and team, and adorned a shirt with ‘Mamba Forever’ written on it as a tribute to his friend, Kobe Bryant, who died in 2020. His shirt and track top, in what has now become tradition, had ‘24’ emblazoned on them. Medvedev would later say, ‘Novak, what are you still doing here?’ Novak would just smile, the lip-curl of a history maker.
