– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — No striking a line judge with a tennis ball. Nor going down in defeat with a chance to make calendar Grand Slam history. Nor vaccine-related decisions preventing the opportunity to win a major.
This time, Novak Djokovic and New York City were a perfect match. And in terms of being amongst tennis royalty, he is all but unmatched in the sport.
Djokovic, the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the 2023 US Open Men’s Final, marking the 24th time that the Serb has won a major singles title, tying Margaret Court’s record of 24 Grand Slams. (It is to be noted that 11 of Court’s 24 Slams came at the Australian Open, with seven of those coming before the start of the Open Era in 1968.) Djokovic exacted some revenge on Medvedev, who defeated Novak in the 2021 US Open Final as the Serb was attempting to become the first player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to complete the calendar-year Grand Slam.
If there was one Grand Slam where Djokovic experienced the most volatility on his way to becoming the winningest tennis player in the sport, it was in Flushing Meadows, where he had lost more finals (six) than he had won (three) and experienced some heartbreaking and bizarre moments over the past few years at the USTA National Tennis Center — at least in the recent years where he was allowed into the country, with his vaccination status preventing him from participating in the 2022 tournament as sanctions against unvaccinated people flying into the United States were still in place.
Not this year, in his return to New York. There was a big scare thrown at him by fellow countryman Laslo Djere in the third round, when Djokovic dropped the first two sets before rallying to win in five. Outside of those first two sets against Djere, Novak did not drop a set against any other opponent during the tournament.
Though Medvedev did pull off the unthinkable in defeating Djokovic to claim the 2021 title, facing the Russian proved to be a break for Djokovic, who was expected to face the man who vanquished him at Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz. However, Medvedev defeated Alcaraz in four sets in the semifinals, preventing the dream matchup.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s championship match, with all photos taken by NYC-area photographer Margot Jordan. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are seven pictures in total.
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