Novak Djokovic maintained his position as the king of Melbourne after what he described as the most emotionally challenging of his 18 Grand Slam titles.
Half of those trophies have come at the Australian Open, where Djokovic extended his perfect record in finals with a dominant 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Daniil Medvedev.
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The world No 1’s record seemed to be under considerable threat given the form of his Russian opponent, who went into his second grand slam final on a run of 20 successive victories, but Djokovic struck yet another blow against the younger generation.
The outcome may have been familiar but this was anything, but a straightforward trip for Djokovic, who was heavily criticised for seeking better conditions for players during the two-week quarantine period and then suffered what he confirmed on Sunday to have been an abdominal muscle tear during his third-round victory over Taylor Fritz.
The 33-year-old said: “It has been definitely emotionally the most challenging Gand Slam that I ever had, with everything that was happening, injury, off-the-court stuff, quarantines. It has been, least to say, a roller-coaster ride in the last four weeks.”
Djokovic will go down in history as arguably the best player of all time, but he has had to face persistent negative publicity over the last year, from his disastrous Adria Tour, which caused a coronavirus outbreak, to his disqualification from the US Open for hitting a line judge with a ball, and establishment of a new player association.
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It was a disappointing evening for Medvedev, who fought back from two sets down to push Nadal to five in his first slam final at the US Open in 2019 but never looked capable of staging a repeat.
Daniil Medvedev smashed his racket in frustration.
“I feel like it’s the kind of matches I won throughout this tournament that he won today,” said the 25-year-old, who had his serve broken seven times.
“I didn’t play bad but I didn’t play my best level. Probably he made his game that good today that I couldn’t stay at my best level.
“I think I got closer because I always say experience is the key for me. Next time if I play Novak ever here in the final, I’m for sure going to do some things on the court, maybe off the court also, differently. Doesn’t mean that I will succeed, but that’s life of a tennis player.”
© ControlTV 2021.
