Novak Djokovic won Australian Open with hamstring tear

Novak Djokovic won his 10th career Australian Open in straight sets on Sunday, but it turns out it was one of the more difficult victories of his career.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the men’s singles final while dealing with a 3-centimeter — or a little more than an inch — tear in his left hamstring.

Novak Djokovic throws his hands up in victory, clinching his 10th Australian Open title.

Novak Djokovic celebrates with the trophy after winning the Australian Open in against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas.


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“He gets a bad rap, but at the end of the day, I don’t think anyone can question his athleticism,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley told SEN Sportsday on Wednesday. “This guy, I did see, he had a 3-centimeter tear in his hammy.”

Djokovic, 35, experienced the tear before the tournament at a tune-up event in Adelaide, which he won as well over American Sebastian Korda.

Djokovic has long dominated the Australian Open, where he was won 28 straight matches. He also won the tournament three straight years from 2019 through 2021 before missing last year’s tournament because of his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Despite the slight tear in his hamstring, Djokovic’s latest triumph Down Under tied him with Rafael Nadal for the most Grand Slam titles in men’s tennis history and moved him to No. 1 in the world.


Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after winning the men's singles title over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece at the 2023 Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup after winning the men’s singles title over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece at the 2023 Australian Open.
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Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates in his team’s box after winning the men’s singles final against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece at the 2023 Australian Open.
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“The doctors are … going to tell you the truth,” Tiley said. “I think there was a lot of speculation of whether it was true or not. It’s hard to believe that someone can do what they do with those types of injuries. But he’s remarkable.”

For cautionary reasons, Djokovic took painkiller pills and wore a bandage on his left thigh, which was monitored by trainers throughout the first week in Melbourne.


Novak Djokovic checks the strapping on his hamstring during a medical time out in his second-round singles match against Enzo Couacauo of France during the Australian Open.
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“Let me put it like this: I don’t say 100 percent, but 97 percent of the players, on Saturday when you get results of the MRI, you go straight to the referee’s office and pull out of the tournament,” Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, said after the final. “But not him. … His brain is working different.”

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Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open for 22nd major title

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic was simply too good at the most crucial moments and claimed his 10th Australian Open championship and 22nd Grand Slam title overall by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (5) in the final at Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night.

The victory allows Djokovic to return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings.

The 35-year-old from Serbia did not compete in the Australian Open a year ago after being deported from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.


Novak Djokovic reaches for a backhand during his straight-sets victory in the Australian Open final, his 22nd career major title.
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Stefanos Tsitsipas hits a backhand during his Australian Open loss.
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Government restrictions have eased since, and he was able to get a visa this time despite still not having gotten the shots against the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Now Djokovic has run his winning streak at the hard-court tournament to 28 matches.

His 10th trophy in Australia adds to the record he already held. His 22 major championships — which include seven from Wimbledon, three from the U.S. Open and two from the French Open — are tied with Rafael Nadal for the most by a man in the history of tennis.

Tsitsipas fell to 0-2 in major finals. He also lost to Djokovic at the 2021 French Open.

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Biden screws the frugal, America’s real polarization and other commentary

Libertarian: Biden Screws the Frugal

The problem with President Biden’s student-loan forgiveness “runs far beyond finances,” fumes Fiona Harrigan at Reason: Consider the “many college graduates who made strategic choices to avoid taking on debt in the first place.” Her parents “convinced me that starting my adult life that far in the hole wasn’t worth the tradeoff.” So she “quietly retired the list of schools I truly wanted to attend.” With “$35,000 annually in merit aid” and “some strategic choices, my college education never cost more than $2,000 per year.” “I never lived on campus. I took on heavy course loads and cashed in on AP credits to finish school a semester early. . . . At times, I worked three jobs to afford travel to internship and conference opportunities, as well as the nontuition costs of my education.” Now she’s “wondering which opportunities I unnecessarily gave up in the name of saving and scrimping.”

Populist: America’s Real Polarization

Obsessing about “partisan polarization” misses “the real division” now, argues Michael McKenna at The Washington Times: “the chasm between those for whom society and its institutions are working just fine and those for whom society and its institutions are either not working at all or are actively working against.” That holds not just for the Biden “student loan disaster,” which makes “the working class pay for the education of the well-off,” but also “Inflation Reduction Act” spending: “Just about all of the $380 billion . . . will wind up in the pockets of company executives, stockholders and those well-off enough to buy electric vehicles (average price now more than $66,000), cutting-edge heat pumps, solar panels.” Add the bipartisan CHIPS “legislation in which Congress gave $75 billion to semiconductor manufacturers that, combined, have made nearly $250 billion in profits in the last five years.”

Pandemic journal: No Djokovic at US Open

Novak Djokovic is “arguably the world’s greatest tennis player,” but “tennis fans won’t see him on one of its biggest stages at the U.S. Open” as the feds won’t let unvaccinated noncitizens into America, complains The Hill’s Joe Concha. “And it’s all for nothing”: Djokovic has natural immunity from 2020 and 2021 COVID bouts. And “we’re seeing triple-vaccinated people contracting coronavirus.” If it’s “about public health and safety,” “explain why Djokovic, nowhere near anyone on a court, cannot play while more than 23,000 fans fill Arthur Ashe Stadium” without “showing the same vaccination card Djokovic is required to present.”

Elex watch: DeSantis Foe Must Want To Lose

Ron DeSantis’ Democratic opponent, Rep. Charlie Crist, “seems determined to lose” Florida’s race for governor, smirks Corey DeAngelis at The Wall Street Journal: As his running mate, he chose Karla Hernández-Mats, president of Miami’s United Teachers of Dade and America Federation of Teachers veep. She and the UTD opposed school reopenings in 2020, and the AFT “successfully lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to tighten school-reopening guidelines, which kept schools elsewhere closed.” She has also “publicly disdained parents” and opposed school choice. “Crist might have learned something from Virginia, where Democrat Terry McAuliffe last year failed to regain the governorship” after saying he didn’t think parents should be telling schools what to teach.

Historian: Dems’ ‘Fascist’ Confusion

“For the Left, Donald Trump is synonymous with ‘fascism’ ” yet did Trump “illegally” nullify $300 billion” in student-loan debt to shore up his base before the midterms? asks Victor Davis Hanson at American Greatness. Or “weaponize the IRS” — sic it on Joe or Hunter Biden, amid evidence of possible corruption on the son’s laptop? “Weaponize the FBI”? Did agents’ texts discuss how to stop Biden’s election bid? Did the ex-prez order a raid on President Barack Obama or Biden’s homes? “In fact, of the last three presidents, Trump was either the most inept or indifferent, or the most obstructed” in using government agencies “for his own partisan political advantage.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board

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