Stefanos Tsitsipas seen here eith our Michael Yiakoumi succumbed on Sunday to a superior Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open final, going down in straight sets, though two of them were lost for the Greek in the tie break.

Djokovic’s 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) triumph was historic, in that it meant the Serb has matched Rafa Nadal’s record 22 Grand Slam titles (as far as men are concerned) and extended his record of Australian Open titles to 10. He is also leaping up from number 5 to the top of the ATP ranking as of Monday, for his 374th week at the top in his long and illustrious career.

Gracefully, Djokovic told Tsitsipas that the future is his and he will have plenty of chances to get his hands on Grand Slam trophies – the Serb being the man to deny his 11 years junior rival again two years ago in Tsitsipas’s only other Grand Slam final, at the 2021 French Open.

The 24-year-old Greek was a decent match for the experienced Serb, and although he lost the first set 6-3 he fought harder in the second and even missed a set point, only to go down in the tie break.

The final set started with a break by Tsitsipas, but Djokovic responded immediately with a break of his own. The two tennis stars held their serve up to the tie break that Djokovic won 7-5, after almost three hours of exquisite tennis between two off-court friends.