Serbia's Novak Djokovic defeated Russia's Daniil Medvedev in the US Open and clinched his 24th Grand Slam title. Djokovic scored 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 over Medvedev at Flushing Meadows.
"It obviously means the world to me," Reuters quoted Djokovic as saying. "I'm really living my childhood dream. I had the childhood dream when I was 7, 8, I wanted to become the best player in the world."
Djokovic, 36, is now the oldest US Open male champion in the Open era and the first to taste victory in three Grand Slam events in a season for the fourth time. Nadal, who has been resting due to a hip injury in January, has 22 Grand Slam titles to his name while Roger Federer had 20 titles before he retired last year.
Djokovic has also moved one major singles title ahead of Serena Williams to claim the record of 24 victories in the Open era. Margaret Court, who also bagged 24 titles, clinched 13 of those titles before Slam events allowed to play professionals.
In the one-hour, 44-minute second set, there were instances when Djokovic faltered against Medvedev, who deafeated him in the 2021 Flushing Meadows final and denied him a rare calendar-year Grand Slam in more than 50 years.
Medvedev said he will leave Flushing Meadows full of regret after the defeat. Though Djokovic had an advantage in the lopsided first set, Medvedev failed to exploit his chances of making a comeback in the second set.
"Regrets, for sure," he told reporters. "Second set was the best set I played and I didn't win it. So that's why I kind of, I would say, it's normal that the match went that way, because first and third he was kind of better and not much to say. Second if I would win it maybe could have been a different game."
-- with inputs from agencies
