It took a five-set thriller in Melbourne, Australia, but second-ranked Novak Djokovic comes back from down two sets to one to defeat fifth-ranked Dominic Thiem to claim his 17th career tennis Grand Slam title at the 2020 Australian Open.
Moving closer --#AO2020 | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/xXITx3npUk
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) February 2, 2020
With the win, Djokovic now inches a bit closer to the all-time mark for tennis major championships, which is currently held by Roger Federer with 20. Rafael Nadal is just one title behind Federer, currently sitting with 19 career major titles.
Djokovic ended up taking the first set of the match, 6-4, but then Thiem fought back to take the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-2, to come one game away from winning his first career Grand Slam title.
However, the 32-year-old Serbian responded well, downing Thiem 6-3 in the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set.
The tipping point of the match was when Djokovic was able to win a break point with Thiem serving and the set tied at 1-1. After a short volley down 30-40 to Djokovic, the Austrian ended up hitting long to give Djokovic the advantage.
From there, Djokovic was able to earn a win in each game he served, and closed out the championship with a 6-4 win in the final set.
With the win, Djokovic re-takes his position as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, while Thiem moves up to the No. 4 spot, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals. Nadal moves back one spot in the rankings to No. 2, while Federer remains as the third-ranked player in the world.
The next tennis major coming up is the 2020 French Open, starting May 24 and concluding on June 7 at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France.
