Sunday, June 11, the event was as much on the ground as in the stands. For the first time since the start of the fortnight, the public at the Central de Roland-Garros did not desert before the end of the match, as they had gotten into a bad habit since the start of the tournament – when they weren’t actually practicing. the policy of the empty chair, a disastrous scourge for the image of an appointment which prides itself on being sold out.
Despite a one-sided scenario, the 15,000 spectators of the final did not want to lose a crumb of the historic moment. See triumphant Novak Djokovic lift his third Musketeers Cup, at the expense of Norwegian Casper Ruud, outgoing finalist (7-6 [7-1], 6-3, 7-5). But, above all, winning his 23e Grand Slam title, which makes him the greatest – arithmetically. The Serb joins in the history of their sport the American Serena William and leaves on the side of the way his Spanish rival Rafael Nadal, defending champion (22).
“I don’t want to claim that I am the greatest, it would be disrespectful to champions who marked previous eras, I leave this debate to others, but this trophy is a new confirmation of the quality of tennis that I am still able to produce”, welcomed the winner, who will find on Monday the throne he had abandoned to Carlos Alcaraz on the eve of the start of the Parisian deadline.
This year, the absence of Nadal, convalescent, had opened the table to all the winds, we have heard since the formalization of the title holder’s package on May 18. The suitors jostled at the gates of the kingdom of the Porte d’Auteuil, symbol of the almost absolute monarchy of Mallorca for almost twenty years. We promised this 2023 vintage spiced up with a new suspense as to its outcome?
Kylian Mbappé and Tom Brady in the stands
It was to forget a little quickly the law of the “Djoker”: Novak Djokovic is never as transcended as in the best of five rounds. “As soon as I arrived here I felt better than the previous weeks, I knew most guys feel a lot of pressure to face me in this format, and that’s exactly what that I want them to feel, he insisted Sunday evening when, as a symbol, the storm fell on the Porte d’Auteuil at the end of an extremely rare fortnight without rain.
Casper Ruud (world No. 4) has however learned from his defeat against Nadal last year, returning with a bang in the final when his opponent (No. 3) was overtaken by the weight of history, under the eyes of his entire clan, and a five-star cast bringing together Tom Brady, Kylian Mbappé and even Mike Tyson. But faced with his younger brother who had never beaten him, the eldest was quick to make his rank speak.
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