The 36-year-old surpassed his long-time rival on the courtroom, Rafael Nadal to turn out to be probably the most profitable male tennis participant in historical past.
Because it occurred: Novak Djokovic vs Casper Ruud
The third title in Paris additionally made Djokovic the one male participant to win all of the 4 Grand Slams titles no less than thrice, reinforcing his case to be topped the best of all time.
He now has three French Open titles so as to add to his 10 Australian Open titles, seven at Wimbledon and three on the US Open.
The success left Djokovic as soon as once more midway to the primary calendar Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969.
Solely Margaret Court docket and Serena Williams in ladies’s tennis have managed to rack up 23 Grand Slam titles. Court docket’s all-time mark of 24 will now be in his sights at Wimbledon subsequent month.
There may be little signal of Djokovic slowing down. He’s now the oldest French Open champion however 11 of his Slam trophies have now been received after he turned 30.
On Monday, he’ll reclaim the world quantity rating and begin his 388th week in high spot.
The sense of Sunday’s event definitely attracted sports activities A-listers.
NFL legend Tom Brady watched from the Djokovic field, soccer stars Kylian Mbappe and Zlatan Ibrahimovic sat aspect by aspect within the VIP space which additionally accommodated former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, an everyday this weekend.
Djokovic was taking part in in his seventh French Open last and boasted a 4-Zero profession document over Ruud, not having misplaced a single set.
Nonetheless, the fourth-ranked Norwegian was the extra composed of the 2 at first, sprinting out of the blocks for a 2-Zero lead when Djokovic shanked an overhead.
Ruud, the 2022 runner-up to Nadal, stretched to 3-Zero and 4-1 earlier than Djokovic retrieved the break within the seventh sport when his opponent buried a straightforward smash into the web with an open courtroom begging.
It got here on the finish of a lung-busting 28-shot rally.
Djokovic missed a breakpoint within the ninth sport, tumbling to the pink clay as he chased down a Ruud drive.
His frustration boiled over when he angrily accused umpire Damien Dumusois of speeding the gamers between changeovers on a heavy, humid afternoon within the French capital.
Fired up, he then raced by the tiebreak, sealing the opener with a operating forehand.
Tellingly, that was Djokovic’s sixth tiebreak at this French Open and in none of them had he dedicated a single unforced error within the 55 factors contested.
Regardless of being Djokovic’s junior by 12 years, Ruud, who additionally misplaced the 2022 US Open last to Carlos Alcaraz, abruptly appeared spent.
Djokovic broke for 2-Zero within the second set and regardless of Ruud saving two set factors within the eighth sport, the Serb moved nearer to his dream.
Ruud saved a break level within the third sport of the third set earlier than Djokovic was hit with a warning for taking too lengthy between factors.
However he wasn’t thrown out of his stride.
Djokovic broke for love at 6-5 and sealed his place in historical past when Ruud went extensive.
(With inputs from AFP)
