With French Open win, Djokovic 1st men's tennis player to post 23 Grand Slam titles

Novak Djokovic made clear for years that this was his goal. What drove him. What inspired him. The biggest titles from his sport's biggest stages were Djokovic's main aim and now he finally stands alone — ahead of Rafael Nadal, ahead of Roger Federer, ahead of every man who ever has swung a racket.

If Djokovic could wait this long to hold this record, he certainly could wait for the half-hour or so it took to straighten out his strokes in the French Open final. And so, after a bit of a shaky start in thick, humid air and under foreboding charcoal clouds Sunday, he imposed himself. The opponent at Court Philippe Chatrier, Casper Ruud, never really stood a serious chance after that.

Djokovic earned his men's-record 23rd Grand Slam singles championship, breaking a tie with Nadal and moving three in front of the retired Federer, with a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ruud that really was not in doubt for most of its three hours 13 minutes.

Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, puts this one alongside the French Open titles he earned in 2016 and 2021, making him the only man with at least three from each major event. He has won 10 trophies at the Australian Open, seven at Wimbledon and three at the U.S. Open.

"A Grand Slam is a Grand Slam — four biggest tournaments that we have in the history of our sport, tennis. Every single player dreams of being on this stage and winning the trophy at least once in their career. I am beyond fortunate in my life to win, 23 times, Grand Slams," Djokovic said, wearing a red jacket with that special number stitched on the chest. "It's an incredible, incredible feeling."

Also worth noting: Djokovic is again halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam, winning all four majors in one season, something no man has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969. Djokovic came close to pulling off that feat in 2021, when he won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and made it all the way to the title match at the U.S. Open before losing to Daniil Medvedev.

WATCH | Djokovic reduces unforced errors on way to 3rd French Open title:

Djokovic will resume that monumental pursuit at Wimbledon, which begins on the grass of the All England Club on July 3.

He has now clutched the trophy at 11 of the last 20 Slams, a remarkable run made even more so when considering that he did not participate in two majors during that span because he did not get vaccinated against COVID-19. Djokovic was deported from Australia in January 2021 before the Australian Open, and he was not allowed to fly to the United States ahead of last year's U.S. Open under a rule that since has been lifted.

Oldest singles champ at Roland Garros

Getting to 23 not only sets the mark for men, but it also lets Djokovic equal Serena Williams, who wrapped up her career last year, for the most by anyone in the Open era, which began in 1968. Margaret Court won some of her all-time record of 24 Slam trophies in the amateur era.

At 20 days past his 36th birthday, Djokovic is the oldest singles champion at Roland Garros, considered the most grueling of the majors because of the lengthy, grinding points required by the red clay, which is slower than the grass or hard courts underfoot elsewhere.

Nadal's 22nd major arrived in Paris a year ago, two days after he turned 36. He has been sidelined since January by a hip injury and had arthroscopic surgery on June 2.

At first, Ruud seemed to do whatever he could to test Djokovic's forehand, the weaker side. It paid off early, when Djokovic kept missing that stroke — into the net, wide, long — then made a different sort of mistake, shanking an overhead from near the net way beyond the opposite baseline to get broken and trail 2-0.

For whatever reason, that shot always has been Djokovic's "bete noire," and he missed another overhead later in the set.

Soon, Ruud led 4-1, thanks in part to Djokovic's troubles. By then, Djokovic accumulated 13 unforced errors, while Ruud made just four.

And then everything changed.

After finishing the first set with 18 unforced errors, Djokovic recalibrated himself, with merely 14 over the last two sets combined.

Unseeded duo rule women's doubles

In women's action Sunday, Canada's Leylah Fernandez fell just short in her quest to win her first Grand Slam title.

Fernandez and American partner Taylor Townsend were defeated 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 by the unseeded team of Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and and Wang Xinyu of China at Roland Garros stadium.

As with countrywoman Bianca Andreescu in the mixed doubles final, Fernandez, of Laval, Que., came within a set of the big prize, but couldn't quite get over the hump.

Fernandez and Townsend began the match on fire. It took just 30 minutes to finish off the first set in emphatic fashion.

But they knew the wily, unpredictable Hsieh, a 37-year-old former doubles No. 1 just returning from 18 months away from the game, would make adjustments.

WATCH | Fernandez, Townsend fall in French Open final:

The winning pair had even less experience together than Fernandez and Townsend. It was only their second tournament together and Wang, just 21, had a doubles ranking outside the top 100 coming into Paris.

"We were not thinking too much about winning or losing," Wang said. "We were just really enjoying each other's company on court."

The Can-American team had already fashioned more than one comeback during their brief history together.

Crunch time came in the fifth game of the third set when, down 1-3, Fernandez and Townsend had four break points to get the match back on serve.

If they could do that, anything was still possible.

A fortnight of brilliant play, growing confidence

But they couldn't convert. Notably, Fernandez had a couple of open-court looks on the cross-court backhand return, with Hsieh committing towards the middle of the court early. But she netted both.

That game alone took more than 10 minutes And once lost, it seemed all the wind was gone from Fernandez and Townsend's sails, after a fortnight of brilliant play and growing confidence.

Hsieh is now a two-time winner at Roland Garros and five-time Grand Slam doubles champion — with the other three titles coming at Wimbledon. Hsieh and Peng Shuai won the women's doubles final at the 2014 French Open. Fernandez took the defeat pretty hard.

For Fernandez, the now-concluded clay-court season was a struggle to find rhythm and momentum.

Her second-round loss in singles in Paris will drop her singles ranking from No. 49 to No. 94 on Monday. And that will make it more complicated to get into the bigger tournaments for the rest of 2023 unless she is able to start putting more wins together.

Fernandez missed the entire grass-court season in 2022 after suffering a stress fracture in her foot during her quarterfinal singles loss to Martina Trevisan in Paris.

She didn't return until the National Bank Open in Toronto last August.

In her professional grass debut in 2021, she went 1-2. That included a first-round loss at Wimbledon.

So the 20-year-old is still a neophyte on the slippery surface with all to gain, everything to learn and few expectations.

Fernandez plans to play in Berlin (the week of June 19) and then Bad Homburg, Germany in the lead up to Wimbledon, which begins July 3.