The 35-year-old will return to the world number one spot after defeating his Greek opponent 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.
His victory made it clear that the ‘Big Three’ era is not quite yet over, despite Roger Federer’s retirement and Rafael Nadal’s injury issues.The trio have dominated men’s tennis for some time, winning 64 Grand Slam titles between them. Their supremacy was made clear through an astonishing statistic posted on Twitter.
Tennis social media freelancer Bastien Fachan revealed that only three male tennis players born after September 1988 had won a Grand Slam, compared to 16 female players.
Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, born in 1987, 1986 and 1981 respectively, have made it extremely difficult for any of their younger opponents to win a Grand Slam in recent years.
Only Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev and Carlos Alcaraz have managed to break the Big Three’s dominance.
It is the opposite in women’s tennis, which has seen a wide variation of Grand Slam winners since Serena Williams became less of a force.
Victoria Azarenka has won the Australian Open twice, while Simona Halep has triumphed at Wimbledon and the US Open.
Naomi Osaka has four Grand Slam titles to her name, while Iga Świątek and the now-retired Ashleigh Barty have three each.
Aryna Sabalenka joined the list this weekend after winning her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
Petra Kvitová, Garbiñe Muguruza, Jelena Ostapenko, Sloane Stephens, Caroline Wozniacki, Bianca Andreescu, Sofia Kenin, Barbora Krejčíková, Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina are the other players on the list.
Has there ever been a dominant force in women’s tennis?
There have been periods when several players have dominated women’s tennis – Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova are among those with numerous Grand Slam titles to their name.
More recently, Serena and Venus Williams have ruled the roost, but their supremacy came to an end around six years ago.
Since then, women’s tennis has become incredibly unpredictable, and a number of players have won just one Grand Slam before falling away again.
Of the current crop of stars, the 21-year-old Świątek likely has the best chance of establishing a new dominance in the women’s game.
