Novak Djokovic Earns 18th Major Title At Australian Open, Closes Gap On Federer, Nadal

Novak Djokovic’s dominance at the Australian Open hasn’t quite reached the levels of Rafael Nadal’s supremacy at the French Open — but it’s getting there.

Despite facing several obstacles and a perceived level of vulnerability entering his latest final Down Under, the world No. 1 swept aside No. 4 seed Daniil Medvedev, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2, in just 1 hour, 53 minutes to capture his third straight Australian Open title, his ninth overall and his 18th Grand Slam crown. He improved to a perfect 9-0 in Australian Open finals, compared with Nadal’s 13-0 mark at Roland Garros.

Djokovic, 33, is now just two majors shy of his longtime rivals Nadal and Roger Federer on the all-time men’s list.

The Serb will take home $2.1 million U.S., with the Russian winning about $1.2 million.

Djokovic won his latest title despite dealing with an oblique injury in the third round against American Taylor Fritz. Djokovic also entered the final having lost the most sets (5) and most games and having spent the most time on court of any of his championship runs.

In his last two majors, Djokovic was defaulted in the fourth round of the U.S. Open after accidentally hitting a lineswoman in the throat with a ball, and then was crushed by Nadal in the French Open final.

For all the talk of the younger generation supplanting the “Big 3,” Djokovic and Nadal have now won 10 of the last 11 major titles. Europeans have captured 65 of the last 66 men’s major titles dating to 2004.

“Everyone talks about the new generation coming and taking over us, but realistically that isn’t happening still,” Djokovic told Eurosport before the final.

“We can talk about it all day but with all my respect to the other guys, they still have a lot of work to do. I’m not going to stand here and hand it over to them. I’m going to make them work their ass off for that.”

Medvedev, 25, said entering the final that the pressure was all on Djokovic because hew was seeking to defend his title and inch closer to Nadal and Federer, but it was the Russian who showed weakness. He saw his 20-match win streak snapped. He dropped to 0-2 in major finals and 0-10 when losing the first two sets in majors.

He appeared to have no clear game plan against Djokovic and became visibly frustrated after losing the first set, smashing his racquet to the ground at one point.

“Every point he’s losing, he’s saying something,” Patrick McEnroe said on ESPN.

Djokovic closed the match out with an overhead smash for his seventh break in 14 service games by Medvedev. The Serb won 14 of the last 18 games of the match.

Still, by reaching the final, Medvedev will rise to a new career-high ranking of No. 3 on Monday, behind Djokovic and Nadal.

“Congratulations to Novak,” Medvedev said on-court. “Nine Grand Slams in Australia, 18 total, it’s amazing. And probably it’s not your last one, so I have no words to say.”

Djokovic returned the compliment to his former hitting partner, saying, “It’s a matter of time when you’re going to hold a Grand Slam, that’s for sure. If you don’t mind waiting a few more years.”

Djokovic will remain at No. 1 when the new ATP rankings are published on Monday, and would have done so even with a loss. He will claim ownership of the record for most weeks as world No. 1 when he spends his 311th week as No. 1 on March 8 –surpassing Federer’s record of 310 weeks.

Djokovic will next turn his attention to the French Open where he will try to dethrone Nadal, who lost in five sets in the quarterfinals in Melbourne to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Nadal will look to earn major No. 21 at Roland Garros, which he has won 13 times.

Federer, meantime, is due back next month at Doha after not playing since last year’s Australian Open after two knee procedures. At 39, he has said he plans to focus on Wimbledon, the Tokyo Olympics and the U.S. Open.