Veteran tennis player Novak Djokovic beat Sebastian Korda on Sunday to win the Adelaide International. The event marked Djokovic’s first appearance in Australia in almost two years, and the former world number one has now extended his winning run in Australia to 34 matches, going all the way back to 2019.

Djokovic, who was not allowed to compete in Australia last year, has resumed the season with a bang as he is on his way to win a 10th Australian Open title. 

After losing the first set of the final game on Sunday, the Serbian fought hard in the remaining two sets to end the match 6-7 (8-10) 7-6 (7-3) 6-4. The win also marked his 92nd ATP title and puts him on par with Rafael Nadal. Both are now tied at fourth place on men’s list with the most ATP titles. 

Even though he suffered some problem with his left leg on Saturday, it was not enough to prevent him from winning the title on Sunday and boost his confidence ahead of the Grand Slam, which starts next Monday. 

Speaking after the game, Djokovic took the time to praise Korda, saying his opponent was on a clearer path to victory than he was: “Seb’s had an amazing tournament and put in an amazing effort today. I think he was closer to victory at times today than I was. It was only a couple of shots, a couple of points.”

He also took the time to thank the crowd for the support he received throughout the duration of the event, which was quite surpassing to him: “The support that I’ve been getting in the past 10 days is something that I don’t think I’ve experienced too many times in my life, so thank you so much to everyone for coming out every single match.”

Djokovic showed once again that he is still not ready to make way for the next generation, as he still has a lot of fight in him, and we can only look forward to what he has for us when the Grand Slam starts.

Leon Osamor