5 milestones Novak Djokovic achieved by winning French Open 2023
Novak Djokovic created tennis history on Sunday by beating fourth seed Casper Ruud in straight sets in the French Open 2023 men's singles final.
Playing a record 34th Grand Slam final, the third-seeded Djokovic made an uncharacteristically slow start. This was perhaps due to the physical exertion from his four-set semifinal win over top seed Carlos Alcaraz.
Ruud, featuring in consecutive Roland Garros finals, surged to a 4-1 lead before Djokovic launched his comeback, and there would be no looking back from there. The Norwegian did well to take the set to a tiebreak, where Djokovic hit another gear.
Producing a near-perfect tiebreak, the Serb dropped just one point as he improved to 6-0 in tiebreakers at the tournament in 2023, winning 42 points and having a stunning zero unforced errors. Reinforcing his pedigree as the tiebreak king, Djokovic now has the best Open Era tiebreak-winning percentage. Not quite a surprise, is it?
Riding his momentum after winning the 90-minute first set, the 36-year-old surged to a 3-0 lead in the second before taking it 6-3 to gain a commanding two-set lead. To his credit, though, Ruud was not ready to throw in the towel, holding serve till 5-5.
That was the only opening Djokovic needed, breaking his opponent to love before serving out the victory, converting his second championship point to enter the history books. Not to forget, he returns to World No. 1 for a record-extending 379th week.
ROLAND-GARROS CHAMPIOOOOON 🏆🇷🇸
#RolandGarros @DjokerNole https://t.co/gDEgIdLRci
Without divulging any more details, here's a look at the top five milestones the super Serb achieved with his latest Roland Garros triumph:
#1 Novak Djokovic is the first male player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles
Starting the 2023 season, Novak Djokovic (21) trailed all-time Grand Slam men's title leader Rafael Nadal by one.
Fast forward two Grand Slams, and the Serb stands alone atop the leaderboard. Having tied Nadal with his 10th Australian Open title, Djokovic beat Ruud to become the first male player to win 23 Grand Slam titles.
HISTORY MADE 
🚨 HISTORY MADE 🚨
@DjokerNole is the first man to reach 23 Grand Slam titles 👏
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The Serb has now won 10 titles at the Australian Open, three at Roland Garros, seven at Wimbledon, and three at the US Open.
#2 Oldest male player to win the French Open
Two days after becoming the oldest French Open men's singles finalist in the Open Era, Djokovic became the tournament's oldest men's singles champion.
In the process, he bettered Nadal's record set in 2022, when he won his 14th title at the Major, lowering the mark by 18 days.
If one includes all four Grand Slams, only Ken Rosewall (1971 Australian Open, 1972 Australian Open) and Roger Federer (2018 Australian Open) were older than Djokovic when they won a Major.
#3 Most Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era
Novak Djokovic is the first male player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the Open Era.
In the all-time Major leaderboard for both men and women, the Serb is now level with the retired Serena Williams. If one includes both the amateur and Open Eras, only Margaret Court (24) stands above the legendary duo.
Having won the last 21 Grand Slam singles matches and the last three titles at the next Major - Wimbledon - it would be no surprise if Djokovic goes level with Court in five weeks' time. Or, he could do that possibly at the end of the year at the US Open.
#4 First male player to win the triple career Grand Slam
Coming into this year's French Open, only two men - Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - had won the double-career Grand Slam. That's the feat of winning all four Grand Slam titles at least twice.
Fast forward a fortnight, Serbia's greatest athlete is now the first male player to win all four Major titles at least thrice, a feat called the triple career Grand Slam.
The surface has no effect on @DjokerNole! 😎
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To put that achievement in contrast, only eight men in the history of the sport have won the career Grand Slam - winning each Major at least once. Among the octet - only five of them - including Djokovic - have done so in the Open Era.
#5 Third-best winning percentage of Grand Slam tournaments entered
On a day of records and milestones galore for Novak Djokovic, here's another one.
By winning his 23rd Grand Slam title in his 70th appearance, Djokovic now has an impressive 32.9 percent success rate of winning one of the sport's four biggest titles. In other words, the Super Serb roughly wins one Slam in every three tournaments entered.
In the Open Era, that's the best mark after Rod Laver (5/15, 33.3 percent) and Bjorn Borg (11/27, 40.7 percent).
His latest triumph at Roland Garros marked the 94th time Novak Djokovic won on the ATP Tour - a mark bettered by only two other players - Ivan Lendl (109) and Roger Federer (103).