Novak Djokovic once more proved iconic by winning the 2023 Roland Garros (French Open) trophy by beating
Casper Ruud in the final in straight sets.
It was a decent final, certainly not the best final we saw at Roland Garros but a worthy one. Ruud tried in the match but he simply didn't have a level high enough to seriously challenge Djokovic who was pretty spectacular. Did he ever have a chance is the question though as Djokovic and other players that were born in the 1980s proved to be quite brutal towards their younger colleagues.
Ruud was born in the 90s like many of the challenges players like Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal faced over the years. Most of those matches finished in the favour of the older guys with the lone exception being Daniil Medvedev who is the only player born in the 90s to have beaten a player born in the 80s in a grand slam final before.
There have been 14 finals like that in the past and 13 times did the older guys win. They are 13-1 now with Djokovic dropping that 2021 US Open final against Medvedev. Ruud's name was already on the list as he lost to Nadal last year but he will now be having two entries on that list overall. It's just incredible how much the older generation established themselves as more dominant in these matchups when you think that the reverse should be true.
It's said that many times experience matters a lot in the biggest of moments and this stat certainly proves that. All of these players are fabulous players but once the lights become really bright, all of them were unable to match the opponents who experienced those shining brights many times before. Check the stat out below.