Novak Djokovic continues to cement his case as one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, and as the greatest Australian Open champion of all-time after collecting his ninth career title in Melbourne with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Daniil Medvedev in the 2021 final. The dominance in the year's first major has been on par with what we've seen Rafael Nadal at the French Open (12 titles) and Roger Federer at Wimbledon (eight titles) over the past two decades. This win is the second time Djokovic has won three consecutive championships at the Australian Open.
The 33-year-old Serbian entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed for the sixth time, and is now 42-0 in Melbourne as the top seed, and has won the title on all six occasions he's drawn the top spot.
Djokovic and Medvedev played what turned out to be a back-and-forth first set, after Djokovic jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, before Medvedev got a break back and wound up getting it to 3-3. They then traded holds until Djokovic got a break at 6-5 to take the first set. In the second set, Djokovic got a break to go up 3-1 and took complete control of the match from there.
Medvedev is now 0-2 in Grand Slam finals after losing this match and the 2019 US Open final to Rafael Nadal. Medvedev had also won three of the last four meetings with Djokovic before dropping this match. While he is yet to break through on the biggest stages in tennis, the No. 4 ranked player in the world had nine career ATP singles titles and is knocking on the door at the majors. The 25-year old Russian player looks like he may be one of the next stars of the sport as the big three continue to age.
Its the 18th major title and ninth Australian Open trophy for Novak Djokovic. 18 Grand Slam wins puts him two behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who both have 20, as the top three players in men's tennis continue their strangle hold on the Grand Slams. Since Federer won Wimbledon in 2003 that group has won 58 of the 70 Grand Slam tournament played, and only seven other players have won at least one. By contrast, 27 different women have won Grand Slams over that span.
Djokovic was called the "King of Melbourne Park" during the post-match ceremonies, and he'll be looking for Grand Slam number 19 -- and Daniil Medvedev will be looking for Grand Slam number one -- the thy both try to topple the 'King of Clay,' Rafael Nadal at the French Open at the next tennis major, in Paris, starting on May 17.
