With the victory, Djokovic becomes only the third man to hold all four major tennis titles at one time.
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The top two men’s players meeting in the French open title as Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were both seeking their first ever championship on the famed red-clay at Roland Garros.
With this victory, Djokovic joined the tennis greats by becoming the third player after Don Budge and Rod Laver to win all four major tournaments back to back.
Djokovic achieved the non-calendar Grand Slam with the win, but could complete the calendar Grand Slam with wins at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open later this year.
“I have been close-ish to winning all of the slams now and unfortunately all of them have done it instead”.
In 2015, he won all the three major slams, Australian Open, The Wimbledon and The US Open, however, a defeat in the finals of the French Open barred him from completing a Career Slam and a Calendar Slam.
Murray will switch his focus to acclimatising to grass next ahead of the pre-Wimbledon tournament at Queen’s Club, which starts on June 13. “Later on I realized that in life everything happens for a reason”, he said. His last loss in a Grand Slam was in last year’s French Open final to Stan Wawrinka. Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning. The 29-year-old Serbian triumphed in four sets, overpowering the Scot 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. The crowd has not always been in the favour of Djokovic in previous years but this year he has had to overcome the heavy conditions by playing three matches on four consecutive days and he garnered a lot of the support of spectators after his celebratory dance with the ball kids after winning the matches.
STAR IS BORN: French Open women’s champion Garbine Muguruza moves up to a career-best No. 2 in the rankings Monday and appears to be a real star-in-the-making. But after failing to convert a break point in the first game of the second set, Murray lost the initiative and Djokovic kicked into a higher gear.
It certainly is a possibility because nine-times French Open champion Nadal, having struggled with injuries, is no longer the force he was, while 34-year-old Federer is still recovering from a surgery. “I never experienced this kind of moment before, of holding the Roland Garros trophy”.
Djokovic pulls off these massive runs of games because the entire concept of the return of serve is that it is a reaction to the first shot of each point. But it’s hard for me to reflect on what has happened before and what’s gonna happen after. I felt the tension and excitement, all the emotions. “What he’s achieved the last 12 months is phenomenal, said Murray. It will give me a boost for sure”.
The match continued in a similar vein in the fourth as Murray continued to chastise himself and Djokovic continued to get better and better. After losing his opening service game, Murray won the next four games and went on to win the set.
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“Then 5-4 obviously, 40-15, [they were] two close points”.
