Australian Open 2021 Men's Final Review: Djokovic Easily Wins a Record 9th Australian Open Title, 18th Career Grand Slam Championship

    

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Well, it is official now.              

Novak Djokovic won his 9th career Australian Open title, by far more than anyone else in history, man or woman. Currently, exactly half of Djokovic’s career Grand Slam titles have come in Melbourne, with the Australian Open. It is obviously the best way to start a year off on the tennis circuit, and Djokovic has managed the feat now fully nine times. It appears that he will still be a top contender for years to come, so he may add to this already impressive record.             

Djokovic’s success in this particular tournament now moves him into all-time territory. Right now, only one man in history has enjoyed more success in any of the four Grand Slam events, that man being Rafael Nadal, who has managed to capture 13 French Open titles during his career, dating back to his first French Open championship as a teenager back in 2005. Otherwise, Martina Navratilova also managed to capture nine Wimbledon titles, which stood alone as second most by anyone, man or woman, until Djokovic managed to tie that with this record for Australian Open championships.              

Djokovic first won the Australian Open back in 2008, when he finally broke through for his first ever career Grand Slam title at the age of 20. He had qualified for the 2007 US Open, although he lost there to Roger Federer. Since then, he has added many other Grand Slam singles trophies to his collection, as have both Federer and Nadal, for that matter. But many of them have come right in Melbourne for Djokovic.  

The other records for the other Grand Slam championships on the men’s side would be eight Wimbledon titles for Roger Federer. Chris Evert managed to win seven French Open titles, and she and Serena Williams are tied for most US Open titles, each with six. Serena is tied with Margaret Court for the most Australian Open titles on the women’s side, although Serena holds that record alone for players in the Open era. On the men’s side, three men are tied for the most US Open titles, with Roger Federer once again among the leaders, along with Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors, each with 5 US Open wins in the Open era. It should be noted that Nadal has won four US Open titles, while Djokovic has won three. Both men remain active players, and may add to their totals.  

This time around, Djokovic quickly dispatched with fourth seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev, who enjoyed an impressive Australian Open run to get to the final, but simply could not contend with the near perfection that Djokovic brought to the court on this day. The first set was tight, but Djokovic essentially cruised the rest of the way, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.  

With this latest Grand Slam title, Djokovic strengthened his grip on the world number one ranking, which he should be able to hold well into 2021.  

Medvedev was making his second career Grand Slam finals appearance, having once qualified before in the 2019 US Open, when he lost to Nadal. He is inching closer to capturing his first career Grand Slam title, although Djokovic was simply too much for him in this final. This was just a case where Djokovic was not going to be denied.  

Djokovic was playing in his 28th Grand Slam men’s final overall, tying him with Rafael Nadal, although it should be noted that Nadal has the better overall record in this finals (20-8 for Nadal, to 18-10 for Djokovic). Currently, Federer still holds the record for most career Grand Slam men’s finals, having played in 31, with a record of 20-11. Federer, it should be noted, also is still an active player on the men’s circuit.  

For now, it appears that the “Big Three” of men’s tennis will still likely dominate the sport, at least for a good part of this coming year. That, of course, is especially true of Djokovic and Nadal, who both remain at the top of their game, even though both men are now well into their thirties. Djokovic’s dominance at the Australian may very well be followed up with Nadal’s traditional dominance at Roland Garros, where he will be seeking an astonishing 14th career French Open championship. Even Federer, who is 39 and will turn 40 in August, remains among the elites in the sport right now, although he has not quite been able to keep up with the dominance of the other two in the most recent couple of years or so, in part due to injuries.