Yours grudgingly, Grand Slam No. 23: Novak Djokovic settles debate with French Open win

On Sunday, as he stormed past Norway’s Casper Ruud in straight sets to win the French Open title, Novak Djokovic left no more room for debate.Djokovic routinely dispatched Ruud 7-6(1), 6-3, 7-5 to win a record-breaking 23rd men’s singles Grand Slam championship. He has reached 34 finals.He categorically stamped his authority as the single most successful player men’s tennis has ever seen winning a third Roland Garros trophy, meaning he has won each of the four Major tennis tournaments at least three times, a gargantuan feat considering the varied tennis arsenal and physical prowess required to consently excel on three different surfaces.
Djokovic has now won 94 career titles, including at least two trophies at each of the nine Masters 1000 – one rung lower than Grand Slams – events. He has spent a record 374 weeks at World No. 1. every conceivable metric to measure a tennis player’s greatness, Djokovic’s statement-making win in Paris has ensured that he has surged ahead of his rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who have won 22 and 20 Majors respectively.
As both Nadal and Federer faded into the light due to mounting physical problems, Djokovic went about defeating players that are closer to his children’s age than his own, not just on pure technique and experience, but also through superior physical fitness. On Friday, he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal in what was billed as an inter-generational clash for the ages that the Serb bossed in four sets thanks to superior physical conditioning, as Alcaraz succumbed to cramp.
Federer, an elegant shotmaker, pushed this sport’s technical limits, while Nadal, through brute and stubborn power, pushed this sport’s physical limits. Djokovic, who did not enjoy nearly the kind of fanfare that either got, managed to do both while continuously evolving his game to battle opponents, surfaces and challenges over several different generations.
Seismic achievements of the kind that Djokovic notched on Sunday would ordinarily be celebrated around the world. Yet, outside of his small ardent fanbase and the Balkan region in Europe, most of the tennis world will not be keen to do more than begrudgingly acknowledge, and politely applaud.
That is, in essence, the tragedy of Novak Djokovic – that he is unable to receive the adoration he covets despite his generation-defining achievements because no matter how hard he tries, and no matter how rightly he deserves it, this era does not truly belong to him.
Djokovic’s tendencies for showmanship and playing up crowds that antagonise him can be quite hard to watch. Under that smugness, he is often seeming too desperate to be liked and too frustrated when he is not. His penchant for outward expressions of hunger and motivation unsettle fans of a sport that cling to its traditions of gentle and cordial conduct. The Serb’s f-pumping and chest-thumping seem more at home at rocking South Asian cricket grounds or European football stadiums, as opposed to the country club-like atmosphere at tennis tournaments.
His likeness for controversy, stemming from his insence that he does not want his opinions censored regardless of the consequences, make him a PR nightmare. And he does not care, happy to ex outside the binaries that modern sporting icons have been reduced to in today’s PR-controlled world.
All of that, at a time when most tennis fans have already picked a side in the seminal rivalry between Nadal and Federer, led to a perpetual public perception of villainy. A tag he struggles to shed even in his mid-thirties. In some ways, that is regrettable, since his life story and journey make for a fascinating character arc.
His legendary inward mental strength and toughness, that he has used to devastating effect to make comeback after comeback, arises from his upbringing in war-torn Serbia. What is a two-set deficit in a Grand Slam final to a man, who at the age of 11, spent 78 nights at his aunt’s bomb shelter with his family?
His incredible, ever-lasting athleticism comes from a meticulous obsession with what he consumes. In 2010, after a string of physical collapses, when successful results followed a Serbian physician’s diagnosis of an apparent gluten allergy, Djokovic developed a spiritual connection with his body. That explains why his team protects the recipes of his energy drinks and protein shakes under a shroud of secrecy, and why he refused to take the vaccine against COVID-19 – a permanent asterisk against his legacy of 16 years of sustained excellence.
These attributes all tell the story of a generational athlete who is not without his flaws. Stylic debates will rage on, and Federer’s grace and Nadal’s grit will likely always have more plaudits than Djokovic’s methodical effectiveness. But after his win in Paris, Djokovic has left no doubt that he stands alone as this era’s greatest.

This is a crowning moment, but no signalling of the end. At 36, Djokovic seems to have plenty of tennis left in his legs, and looks capable of becoming even better. With Federer and Nadal sidelined now, in acknowledging his genius, those of us watching can do better too.