Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open for the tenth time on Sunday. The Serbian tennis player was too strong for the Greek Stéfanos Tsitsipás in the final of the grand slam tournament in Melbourne in three sets: 6-3, 7-6(4) and 7-6(5). It marked the 22nd Grand Slam title for 35-year-old Djokovic, who is now tied with Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is also number one in the world rankings again due to his victory.
The duel between Djokovic and Tsitsipás started at half past seven in the evening in Melbourne (half past nine in the morning Dutch time) and lasted more than three hours. Djokovic won the first set quite easily, but Tsitsipás put up a lot of resistance in the second and third sets. Both times Djokovic decided the set after a tiebreak.
Thanks to his final win, Djokovic replaces Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz as number one in the world ranking. The latter was the youngest ever leader of that ranking. Djokovic had previously been number one in the world for 373 weeks, longer than any other tennis player. The Serbian won the Australian open ten times, Wimbledon (7 times), the US Open (3 times) and Roland Garros (2 times).
On Saturday, Aryna Sabalenka already won the women’s final. The Belarusian tennis star defeated Kazakhstani Elena Rybakina in the final in three sets: 4-6, 6-3 and 6-4. Sabalenka used her fourth match point after almost two and a half hours of tennis. For Sabalenka, who competed under the neutral flag because of Belarus’ involvement in the war in Ukraine, the final win meant her first grand slam title.