
Welcome to Winner’s Circle, a segment where we review each winner of every ATP and WTA tournament during the truncated 2020 season.
This week's edition features the first Grand Slam event of the season, in which a determined Novak Djokovic battled past all opposition to claim his eighth Australian Open title.
Australian Open
Winner: Novak Djokovic
Having just triumphed at the inaugural ATP Cup with Team Serbia, Djokovic was on a hot streak. The Serbian had gone undefeated at the event, and looked set to defend his 2019 Australian Open title. He was seeded second in Melbourne, and kicked off his campaign with a 7-6(5) 6-2 2-6 6-1 victory over German Jan-Lennard Struff.
Djokovic faced Japan's Tatsuma Ito in the second round, breezing through 6-1 6-4 6-2 in just an hour and a half. He eased past Ito's compatriot, Yoshihito Nishioka in the third round to set-up a fourth round meeting with Argentine Diego Schwartzman.
The Serbian had won all three career meetings versus Schwartzman, and prevailed 6-3 6-4 6-4 in their fourth round encounter. Looking nearly unstoppable, Djokovic was a definite favorite to take home the title. He next faced Milos Raonic, who was making a comeback from surgery. Djokovic defeated Raonic 6-4 6-3 7-6(1) in a nearly three hour quarterfinal encounter to book his spot in the semifinals.
Federer vs Djokovic: Part 50
A very familiar foe awaited the Serbian in the semifinal, as Roger Federer had just pulled off a miraculous escape against Tennys Sandgren in his quarterfinal match. The two clashed in their 50th career meeting, with Djokovic emerging victorious. After a tightly-contested first set, the outcome was never in doubt as Djokovic prevailed 7-6(1) 6-4 6-3 in 2 hours and 18 minutes.
The final saw Djokovic battle Austrian Dominic Thiem, who had recently defeated the Serbian at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals. Additionally, Thiem had toppled Alexander Zverev and top-seeded Rafael Nadal en route to his third Grand Slam final.
The Australian Open tends to deliver classic finals, and this one was no exception. The duo battled in a four-hour encounter that saw Thiem obtain a 2 sets to 1 lead. However, Djokovic's experience saw him fight back, outlasting Thiem 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-3 6-4 to win his 17th Grand Slam title.
With another Major title in his pocket, the 32-year old was improving his case for him regarded as the greatest of all time. Furthermore, this victory saw him succesfully defend his title and rise one spot to once again being No.1 in the world.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQucR_Z3wtw[/embed]
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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