My suspicion is that he will set a mark that will last for decades – perhaps even centuries – until players are all cyborgs and travel to tournaments via jetpack.Īfter the presentation, Djokovic spoke about his tearful moment. Tsitsipas has already come to his own conclusion, telling the Rod Laver Arena crowd that “He is the greatest that has ever held a tennis racket for sure.” On today’s evidence, he is more than capable of sweeping the board this year, and thus opening up clear water between himself and the rest of the “Big Three”. (The acronym stands for “greatest of all time”.) This denotes his 22 grand-slam titles, now that he has drawn level with Rafael Nadal at the top of a table which has also been described as “the Goat race”.
“This is probably the biggest victory in my life considering the circumstances.”Ĭheekily, Djokovic had come prepared with a jacket emblazoned with the figure “22”, which he pulled on ahead of the ceremony. “Only my team and family know what we have been through these past four to five weeks,” said Djokovic during his presentation speech.
And then he returned to his chair and sobbed mightily into his towel, releasing the tensions of an angst-filled month. First he climbed up to his player box and windmilled the air with his fists. The emotions spilled out after his 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 victory over Greek pin-up Stefanos Tsitsipas.
