It took exactly four hours, but Novak Djokovic remains the King of Australia.
After a punishing five-set epic with Austrian Dominic Thiem, Djokovic prevailed, 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, to win his eighth Australian Open crown and 17th career major championship. Djokovic is now a perfect 8-0 in the Melbourne final, but this marked the first time in his career that he had overcome a two-sets-to-one deficit in a major final.
With his latest victory, the 32-year-old Djokovic moved closer to his rivals Roger Federer, who has 20 career Slams, and Rafael Nadal, who owns 19. He will also overtake Nadal for the world No. 1 ranking on Monday. Djokovic also becomes the first man to win a major in three decades. Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams accomplished it on the women’s side.
“I would like to start by saying congratulations to Dominic for an amazing tournament,” Djokovic said on court after accepting the trophy, worth $2.85 million. “It wasn’t meant to be tonight. Tough luck and it was a tough match, but you were very close to win it. And you definitely have a lot more time in your career and I’m sure that you will get one of the Grand Slam trophies. More than one.”
The “Big Three” have now won 13 straight Grand Slam titles dating to Stan Wawrinka’s victory at the 2016 U.S. Open. It remains a fact that no man in his 20s owns a Grand Slam title. During that same span, 11 women have won 13 major titles, with 21-year-old American Sofia Kenin capturing her maiden major on Saturday over Spain’s Garbine Muguruza.
Djokovic had destroyed Nadal in straight sets in the 2019 Australian final, and some thought this final could go a similar way. But Thiem had other ideas after taking out Nadal in the quarters.
Playing in his third major final after losing the first two to Nadal at the French Open, Thiem pushed Djokovic, who battled fatigue and a conflict with chair umpire Damien Dumusois along the way.
After forcing a fifth set, Djokovic got an early break for 2-1 and finally closed out Thiem while serving for the match at 5-4 when the Austrian smacked a forehand wide on match point.
Djokovic honored his late friend Kobe Bryant by wearing a green jacket with the initials “KB” and the numbers 8 and 24 on it. Djokovic and Thiem both mentioned the victims of the Australian bushfires in their post-match speeches, while Djokovic singled out Bryant, too.
“One person that I considered close in my life and was a mentor to me, Kobe Bryant, passed away as well with his daughter,” he said. “I would just like to say that this is a reminder to all of us that we should stick together more than ever, now being with our families, stay close to the people that love you, that care about you. Of course, we are part of the professional sport, we compete and we try our best, but obviously there are more important things in life and it’s important to be conscious and humble about things that are happening around you.”
After fighting back from 1-4 down to 4-all in the first set, Thiem double-faulted on set point and it appeared he might be in for a short day.
But Thiem earned a break for 2-1 in the second and consolidated for a 3-1 lead. Serving at 4-all in the second, Djokovic was given two time violations on his serve, the second one coming at 15-40 on his first serve. He then stroked a forehand deep on the ensuing point and was broken as Thiem seized a 5-4 lead. Djokovic patted Dumusois’ foot as he headed to his seat.
“Great job there, especially on the second one,” Djokovic told Dumusois during the crossover. “You made yourself famous. Well done.”
Thiem then took the second set when a shaky Djokovic stroked a two-handed backhand wide on the second set point. It was the first loss of a set in the final for Djokovic in Melbourne since 2015.
On the ESPN broadcast, Chris Fowler asked John McEnroe if he ever touched a chair umpire.
“I made some comments, but I never touched one,” McEnroe said.
Thiem won six straight games bridging the second and third sets and seized a 4-0 lead in the third after securing a double-break. Djokovic’s first serve percentage plummeted as he appeared distracted and unnerved at the end of the second and beginning of the third.
“His energy level has just dropped off the map,” Patrick McEnroe said on air.
Down 1-4 in the third, Djokovic was visited by the trainer who appeared to give him some energy capsules of some kind.
Serving at 5-2 in the third, Thiem seized a two-sets-to-one lead when Djokovic slapped a forehand into the net on the fourth set point. Djokovic had never come back from such a deficit to win a major title.
Until now.
“I would like to start with a huge congrats to Novak,” Thiem said. “Amazing achievement and to all your team. Unreal what you are doing throughout all these years. You and also two other guys [Federer and Nadal], I think you brought men’s tennis to a complete new level and I’m really proud and happy that I can compete in this times and this period of tennis. Well, I fell a little bit short today but I hope that I can get soon the revenge.”
