By V.N. Prasad

The indisputable GOAT (Greatest of All Times) Novak Djokovic yesterday lifted the coveted 23rd Grand Slam Trophy at Roland Garrows, Paris, at French Open 2023.

Before going into the Championship details and historical facts, I am constrained to recall the beautiful words Novak Djokovic spoke during the post match presentation ceremony. While congratulating the young Runner-Up Casper Ruud, Novak lauded Casper for being an extremely nice human being, non-argumentative on the court and a highly appreciated soul by all across the board. In short, Casper’s upbringing was lauded — audible to the world. A grand gesture indeed. Later he addressed youngsters across the globe in sports and all walks of life to choose what one wants, dream where one wants to reach, work with single minded determination and dedication, build the dream with sustained efforts and reach the goals. In today’s world, these words would/should enthuse all the youngsters to concentrate on achieving class through sustained efforts and not through flamboyance — that sadly occurred at The Oval on the same day — with our cricketers at the World Test Championship; a different story though.

Undoubtedly, greats like Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud etc. are highly competent in world tennis. But none is equivalent to the class of Novak Djokovic who has been consistent. In the 34 Grand Slam Finals, he has won 23 Titles with 68% success rate. He holds the records for the most hard court titles (13), hard court finals (19) and finals (34). His 10 titles at Australian Open is an all-time record. Djokovic is the only man in the Open Era to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only one to hold all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously across three different surfaces. He is also the only player to reach at least 7 men’s Singles finals at each of the Grand Slam events. Only five players in history have won all four Grand Slams in the same year, and the last to do it was Steffi Graf in 1988. The only men to achieve the feat are Don Budge (in 1938) and Rod Laver (in 1962 and 1969).

Unfortunately, tennis great Rafael Nadal had to drop out after sustaining a hip injury that has taken months for recovery. Rafa’s absence and lack of players of equivalent competence enabled Novak to achieve the 23rd title easier; comparatively; not taking away anything from his grand standing.

I am sadly reminded of the Semi-Finals between the (No. 1) Carlos Alcaraz and Novak (No. 3). The 20 year young No. 1 was surely staring in the eyes of Novak to clinch the Semis when he developed cramps in the left thigh that shattered his dreams. Though the young Carlos braved completing the contest, writing was on the wall. Here too Novak was good enough to offer sympathies to the youngster while keeping his victory low key.

Simultaneously, I deem it my bounden duty to address the absolute class of women’s performances too at the tournament. Since the beginning of the Open Era (1968), 31 different women have won the Singles title at French Open. Iga Swiatek on Saturday became one of only eight women who have won it at least thrice. She joined Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Steffi Graff and Justine Henin to have won 3 titles and more at Roland Garrows. The Polish is generally a ‘Mercurial Character’, swift in movements on and off the field and looks highly focused. Congratulations to Iga. However, Karolina Muchova rose extremely well to give a tough competition in the 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 encounter. Surely, this girl has a long way to go.

It is imminent for me to recall the absolute class displayed by Haddad Maia; Lebanese by origin and settled in Brazil; and Sabalenka; the Belarusian. Both were equally competent but very thin lines separated them from being the finalists.

Heartiest congratulations to all the players on their appearances. We wish them the best in 2024 at the RG. Thanks to all the boys and girls for the excellent entertainment.