Only briefly challenged in the final on Sunday night, Novak Djokovic was simply better at the most crucial moments and beat Stefanos Tsitsipas for a record-extending 10th Australian Open championship and record-tying 22nd Grand Slam title overall. As a bonus, Djokovic will vault from No. 5 to No. 1 in the ATP rankings, a spot he already has held for more weeks than any other man.
Novak Djokovic found this trip to Australia far less complicated, and far more successful, than that of a year ago.
Margaret Court, with 24, Serena Williams, with 23, and Steffi Graf, with 22, have the most among women. He was superior throughout against Tsitsipas, but especially so in the two tiebreakers. He took a 4-1 lead in the first and after it was 4-all, pulled off three points in a row. He led 5-0 in the closing tiebreaker and, when it finished, he pointed to his temple then climbed into the stands, pumped his fist and jumped with his coach, Goran Ivanisevic, and other members of the entourage, and collapsed, crying.
Then again, on those rare occasions that Tsitsipas did charge the net, he likely regretted the choice, because Djokovic often conjured up a passing shot that was too tough to handle. It's that Djokovic was, put simply, too good. Too accurate with his strokes -- making merely 22 unforced errors, 20 fewer than his foe -- and anticipation. Too speedy and flexible chasing shots . Too dangerous with his returns and damaging enough with his serves.
There was the sore left hamstring that has been heavily bandaged for every match -- until the final, that is, when only a single piece of beige athletic tape was visible -- and had worried him at the beginning of Week 1, prompting him to turn to what he said was "a lot" of pain-killing pills and other treatments he didn't detail.
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