Nine-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, who wasn’t allowed to feature in Australian Open 2022 due to his stand on COVID-19 vaccine, defeated Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6, 7-6 in Australian Open 2023 men’s singles final to win a record-extending tenth title at the Rod Laver Arena. With Sunday’s win, Djokovic also extended his winning streak at Australian Open to 28. Djokovic will also replace Carlos Alcaraz as the world’s No. 1 player on Monday (January 30).
Going into the match, Djokovic had defeated Tsitsipas in their last nine meetings, including the 2021 French Open final, where Djokovic fought back to defeat him 6-7 (6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
In the opening set on Sunday at the Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic broke Tsitsipas’ second service game to take an early 3-1 lead and went on to clinch the set 6-3 in 36 minutes.
The second set gave crowd entertainment worth their money with Tsitsipas producing a much better show, increasing the intensity, changing the pace of his strokes which caught Djokovic by a surprise on a few occasions in the set. The Greek player was leading 5-4 in the set and had a set point with Djokovic serving at 30-40 but the Serb held on to his nerve to bring the set to 5-5. The set went into a tiebreaker where Djokovic took a 4-1 lead but then lost three points in a row. However, it was Djokovic – who once again brought his experience to the table and won the tie-breaker and the second set that lasted 70 minutes.
Djokovic took a washroom break at the end of the second set and was broken in his first service game of the third set by Tsitsipas. Djokovic immediately responded back by breaking Tsitsipas’ service game. Both players held on to their service games from there onwards as the scoreboard read 5-5 after ten service games. The third set also went into a tiebreak where Djokovic cruised to a 3-0 lead as Tsitsipas lost his both services.
Djokovic then won two more points to extend his lead to 5-0. Tsitsipas then made a comeback in the tiebreaker and won three points in a row as the scoreboard read 5-3. Djokovic won the next point and had three match points at 6-3. Tsitsipas saved two of them by winning two more points in a row off his own serve. Serving at 6-5, Djokovic sealed the tiebreaker and the match as Tsitsipas’ shot went long.
With his tenth Australian Open title, Djokovic has also equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 Grand Slams. Nadal, who was the defending champion this year after winning the last year’s edition, faced a shocking second-round defeat in 2023 – where he lost 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 against Mackenzie McDonald.
