Tsitsipas saved a pair with big first serves to get it back to 6-5 before Djokovic claimed the match and title, courtesy of a forehand that forced Tsitsipas's final error. He got it back to 5-3 with some brilliant play before a Djokovic forehand winner gave him three championship points. Try as he might, Tsitsipas could not bridge that gap. That tie-break was simply brutal as Djokovic dominated Tsitsipas, pushing him all over the court with tremendous power to take a 5-0 lead. However, Djokovic broke right back before the pair traded comfortable service holds all the way to a tie-break. Tsitsipas though would not give up and after Djokovic took a long comfort break, he broke the Serbian in the opening game of the third as the Greek fans erupted. Seven of the 11 points in the breaker were decided with unforced errors.ĭjokovic missed backhands and double-faulted, while Tsitsipas's forehand deserted him with five errors from the wing, to hand the tie-break to the future Hall of Famer. While he mixed it up in terms of spins and velocity, when he decided to uncork on it he left Djokovic standing on multiple occasions.Īnd when the serve also picked up Novak's temper frayed.Īces and unreturnable serves, frustrated one of the greatest returners to ever play the sport and he went at his box, most notably coach and one-time Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević.
Tsitsipas, who had been a passive passenger in the opening set upped his level and his firepower, particularly off the forehand. However, in the second set the complexion of the match changed entirely. The large contingent of Greek fans had been rendered silent and the atmosphere inside Rod Laver Arena was more reminiscent of an international football match.ĭjokovic, too, was buoyed and he should have been, Tsitsipas won just five points against the Djokovic serve and looked overawed and timid in just his second grand slam final. When he raced out of the blocks - playing at the high level that saw him destroy both Alex De Minaur and Andrey Rublev - and a Tsitsipas double fault allowed Djokovic to break in the fourth game of the match, the arena erupted in chants of "Nole, Nole, Nole". The heavy strapping that had been on his hamstring for the entire fortnight was removed, as if to let Tsitsipas know, this was no longer a wounded opponent. Serbia's Novak Djokovic reacts during his final match against Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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