Winning the four majors — Wimbledon, U.S. Open, Australian Open and the French Open — in a row is a feat that is so hard that it had not been achieved by a man since Rod Laver won the second of his calendar Grand Slams in 1969.
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This became quite clear during Andy Murray’s fine run to the men’s final, wherein the World No. 2 and Most Improved (on clay) player of the year nearly pulled off a repeat win against the No. 1 seed and World Best Novak Djokovic, whom he beat at the Rome Masters in May.
Laver, now 77, did it twice and both times inside a calendar year for the Grand Slam, an achievement Djokovic can match with titles at Wimbledon and the US Open later this season. I had that kind of emotion.
But his 12 Grand Slams – six in Australia, three at Wimbledon, two at the US Open and now one in Paris – have taken him to within five of Federer’s record of 17 while he is just two off the 14 held by Nadal and Pete Sampras.
“In the last point I don’t even remember what happened”.
Djokovic is the player to beat and there is the real possibility of it happening unless something unextraordinary happens.
The last man to hold all four major titles simultaneously was Rod Laver in 1969, when he earned a calendar-year Grand Slam. “I’m trying to grasp, and I’m trying to cherish, obviously, these moments right now”, Djokovic said, eyes fixed on that once-elusive Le Coupe des Mousquetaires, resting a foot or so away on a table.
“I felt today something that I never felt before at Roland Garros, I felt the love of the crowd, I drew the heart on the court, like Guga which he gave me permission to do”.
The French duo of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic defeated the Russian pair of Makarova-Vesnina 6-3 2-6 6-4 at Roland Garros. It’s not for me to say, but at the same time he seemed to be playing the best clay-court tennis on his own. But on the subject of a potential tie-up with Murray, McEnroe -replied: “When you look at someone who’s that good, you’re always interested”.
Novak Djokovic claimed he had an “out-of-body” experience before he finally clinched French Open final victory Sunday.
PARIS-Having sealed his place as one of the greatest players of all time, Novak Djokovic was on Monday backed to keep breaking Grand Slam records with little seemingly standing in his way.
In the past year, King Novak reigns as supreme as the Lord of the Majors. “I still have a lot of accomplishments that I should be proud of”.
They were working. After marching to a first set lead, Murray had plenty of reason to believe that he could defeat his greatest nemesis. Djokovic fought back in the second set, winning it 6-1 covering 700m.
The treadmill rarely stops for the world’s best players and it will only be a day or two before Andy Murray digs out his grass-court shoes again.
Djokovic, two-time defending champion, was brushed aside by Murray in straight sets.
Djokovic, meanwhile, is 0-3 in title matches at the French Open, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014, then Wawrinka in 2015, each time in four sets.
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The top seed remained ruthlessly dialled-in, broke again for 5-1 and levelled the final when Murray dumped a service return into the net. Indeed, until Djokovic, only Mats Wilander, in 1988, and Jim Courier, in 1992, managed to make it halfway by winning the Australian Open and French Open in the same year.
