After 0-2 deficit: Djokovic wins French Open

Tennis musketeer Novak Djokovic has made a great comeback to his second French Open triumph and is chasing record winners Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal more than ever for his 19th Grand Slam title. Against final debutant Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece, the world number one turned a 0-2 set deficit on Sunday and won 6:7 (6:8), 2:6, 6:3, 6:2, 6:4. After 4:11 hours he converted his second match point.

For the second time since 2016, the 34-year-old Serb was able to receive the Coupe des Mousquetaires and is only the third player after the legendary Australians Roy Emerson and Rod Laver to have triumphed at least twice in all four Grand Slam tournaments. Djokovic could catch up with his long-time rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in just four weeks at the grass classic in Wimbledon. Both are record winners at the four most important tournaments in the world with a total of 20 successes. Djokovic denied the clay court king Nadal his 14th success at the Stade Roland Garros on Friday evening in a magnificent semi-final. Tsitsipas missed his greatest triumph to date after defeating Alexander Zverev. Tsitsipas starts furiously – Djokovic counters strongly Tsitsipas showed no nervousness in the eighth match against Djokovic, while the favorite initially did not seem tired after his magnificent semi-final success over record winner Nadal despite the epic four-hour match on Friday evening. Under a clear blue sky, there was no touching on Court Philippe Chatrier. The 5000 admitted spectators were immediately treated to a lot of speed and high-class rallies.

As in last year's semi-finals and most recently in Rome, the aggressive Tsitsipas turned out to be an extremely unpleasant opponent and a fearless opponent. After the hour-long first set with chances for both, he immediately took Djokovic's serve away again. The world number one now often sought a quicker decision in the rallies, but by no means always with success. Tsitsipas made a few good stops and put the ball past the dismayed Djokovic. The fifth in the world rankings, a good eleven years younger, also took the second set rather easily. Tsitsipas brought the world number one to the brink of defeat. © APA/afp / MARTIN BUREAU

But Djokovic then took advantage of a short period of weakness to take a break and, using all his remaining strength, reduced the deficit. Tsitsipas took off his white shirt, stained after a fall from the red sand, and had a massage before the fourth set. Nevertheless, the 22-year-old quickly found himself 0:4 behind and, like against Zverev, had to go into the fifth set, in which the shadow fell over the court. The break to make it 2-1 was ultimately the groundbreaking moment in favor of the more consistent Djokovic, who was still able to celebrate after four hours.

Two hours before the start of the men's final, Czech Barbora Krejcikova crowned her fantastic two weeks in Paris. The first Grand Slam singles title on Saturday with the 6:1, 2:6, 6:4 against the Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkowa the 25-year-old followed up with the double. With her compatriot Katerina Siniakova she became double champion for the second time at the Stade Roland Garros. The Frenchwoman Mary Pierce last won there in singles and doubles 21 years ago.

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After 0-2 deficit: Djokovic wins French Open

Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic won the French Open for the second time after 2016. The Serb prevailed in the final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was able to win the first two sets.

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