Winning Wimbledon, the US Open, the Australian Open and the French Open in a row is a feat that had not been achieved by a man since Rod Laver won the second of his calendar Grand Slams in 1969.
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The Paris crowd, aware of just how desperate Djokovic was to lift their trophy, gave him a prolonged ovation.
Djokovic described his tennis from the start of the second set until 5-2 as “flawless”, and whatever Murray tried, the world number one had an answer.
ANDY Murray suffered his eighth grand slam final defeat as Novak Djokovic finally took the French Open title and with it his place in the highest pantheon of tennis.
Dominic Thiem, a 22-year-old from Austria who lost to Djokovic in his first Grand Slam semifinal, climbed to a career-best No. 7 from No. 15.
Then, when he finally was handed the La Coupe des Mousquetaires – the one trophy he truly yearned for, the one he needed to complete a career Grand Slam – Djokovic held it overhead, his eyes shut, before kissing it, exhaling and smiling broadly.
It’s nearly like the clouds would not part until Djokovic finally won that elusive Roland Garros title, to become the eighth man in history to complete the career Grand Slam, and the first man since Rod Laver in 1969, to win four majors in a row.
“His performances over the last 18 months to two years have been exceptional and he deserves to be number one”.
Keeping up the pressure, he broke Murray’s serve in the first game of the fourth set, and then broke to love for 5-2.
He found himself up against tough opponents and the crowd the majority of the time at Roland Garros.
“Against him, obviously if you’re letting the best players control points, that’s tough. Right now, I just try to enjoy this experience of winning the trophy that I never won before”. “The relationship and connection I had with fans and with people around… it was just different, you know”, said Djokovic.
Murray, who had spent almost five hours longer on court than Djokovic, was beginning to look very tired and, at 5-2 in the fourth, the match appeared to be over.
“This is something that is so rare in tennis”, said Murray, who is now 2-8 in Grand Slam finals. I’m very proud and very thrilled. I was struggling. I was a couple of points from going out of the tournament in the first round.
Djokovic broke again to begin the fourth set, and his long, arduous journey to history was soon complete.
Djokovic imitated former three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten by drawing a giant heart in the court before collapsing inside it. I wasn’t able to dictate enough points after the beginning of the match, and that made it tough.
The Serbian joined Laver, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as the only men to claim the career Grand Slam during the Open era. After being broken in the first game of the match without winning a point, he bounced back to rattle off four straight games en route to taking the first set, 6-3.
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“He is getting close to Federer and close to Nadal”, said one of his coaches, Marián Vajda.
