Novak Djokovic claimed his second French Open title after coming from behind to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas at Roland Garros on Sunday.
He won the match 6-7 (6-8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to claim his 19th Grand Slam title.
In doing so, Djokovic also erased a two-set deficit to win in the fourth round, and has done it six times in his career.
The 22-year-old Tsitsipas looked like the fresher player early on, and Djokovic was coming off an epic semifinal victory over Rafael Nadal. But the 34-year-old Serb found his form and held every service game in the final three sets.
However, the final match was no cakewalk. Tsitsipas took a brilliant start with the first set 7-6 (8-6) in a tie-break, while Djokovic folded in the second set as Tsitsipas took the second set 6-2 in 31 minutes.
With Djokovik making an emphatic comeback in the third set, made it clear that the world’s numero uno player couldn’t be ruled out so soon. The cliffhanger match continued to keep the audience gripped.
Djokovic first struck back in the third set in emphatic fashion to halve the parity. After losing the first two sets 6-7 and 2-6 to Tsitipas, respectively, he swept the third set 6-3 in 53 minutes.
“It's not the first time that I play an epic semifinal in a Grand Slam and then I have to come back in less than 48 hours and play a final. My recovery abilities are pretty good, I must say, throughout my career,” Djokovic said.
“I know what I need to do. Obviously, Tsitsipas, first time in the finals of a Grand Slam, if I'm not mistaken for him, it's a great achievement, but I'm sure he doesn't want to stop there,” he had added.
Even before the final match he has made perfectly clear that all he really cares about at this stage of his career is winning them, and a victory over Tsitsipas would give the 34-year-old from Serbia a second French Open championship and, more importantly, a 19th major overall.
Speaking at around midnight as Friday turned to Saturday after his 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-2 triumph dropped Nadal's record at Roland Garros to 105-3 two of those defeats were against Djokovic the No. 1 seed in the men's draw said he would take some time to catch his breath before thinking about what to do against Tsitsipas.
“I'm not the freshest guy right now, obviously. But (the) good thing is that I have a day and a half to rejuvenate and try to regroup,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic has won five of their previous seven encounters, unlike to his five sets before losing in the semifinals of the 2020 French Open, the Serb re-wrote history by winning in a five-setter to win the title for the second time.