Novak Djokovic became the first player in the Open era to win each Grand Slam twice after mounting a comeback from two sets down to defeat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(6-8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 on Court Phillipe Chatrier.
It took Djokovic four hours and 12 minutes to complete the victory and win a first Grand Slam title having trailed by two sets in the final.
A second French Open title for the Serbian moves his Grand Slam total to 19 – just one behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Having also won the Australian Open earlier in the year, Djokovic remains on track to achieve a Golden Grand Slam and match Steffi Graf’s record of collecting all four majors and Olympic gold in a calendar year.
However, despite his dominance at the slams this year the world No 1 remained realistic about his chances of achieving those feats.
Novak Djokovic grounded over a possible Golden Grand Slam
Djokovic said: ‘Everything is possible, I have been terrific so far in my career and a lot of people did not believe that I would achieve what I have achieved.
‘I’ve never not believed that I could catch Roger and Rafa, I’m still not there, but I am one closer, I’ll keep on going and I’ll keep on chasing.
‘I’ve put myself in a good position to go for the Golden Slam but I was in this position in 2016 as well and it ended up a third-round loss at Wimbledon.
‘So first I am going to celebrate today’s victory because I’m thrilled and very proud of this achievement.
‘The past 48 hours probably rank in the top three best moments of my career, going through a four-and-a-half hour battle with Rafa on his favourite court and then bouncing back today in another four-and-a-half-hour battle against Tsitsipas.
‘I went out from the court at two sets down, like I did against [Lorenzo] Musetti in the fourth round, and again I just came out as a different player.
‘After getting the early break in the third set, I felt like I got into his head and the momentum was then on my side and there was no looking back.’
Super start for Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas was taking part in his first Grand Slam final and managed to save two break points in the opening game of the match to settle himself into the clash.
The Greek’s endeavour saw him earn a set point at 5-4 on Djokovic’s serve, however typical of the world No 1’s career he managed to stave off the set point before breaking in the very next game.
Though against the usual script, Tsitsipas remained spirited and broke straight back to force a tie-break.
It was then the Greek’s turn to save a set point at 6-5 in the breaker which was the start of three straight-points to deservedly take the first set.
The world No. 5 carried the momentum into the second set and earned a break of serve in the opening game.
Flustered by his opponents level of play, unforced errors crept into Djokovic’s game and the Serbian dropped another service game before conceding the second set 6-2.
Djokovic down but not out
The momentum seemed to be with Tsitsipas, however in an almighty fourth game of the third set swung it back in the world No 1’s favour.
Six deuces and five break points was what it took for Djokovic to begin the comeback by breaking the Greek to take a 3-1 lead.
The singular break was sufficient to halve the deficit for the Serbian and Djokovic rallied after Tsitsipas received a medical timeout to treat his left hip.
Sensing weakness in his opponent and an opportunity to level the scores, Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set.
The Serbian managed to cut out the unforced errors that plagued the first two sets and held comfortably for the rest of the set to force a deciding set.
Tsitsipas’ serve was under siege early in the fifth set but managed to save a break point before winning the opening game to steady the ship.
Contrastingly, Djokovic did not face a single break point after the second set which forced even further pressure on the Grand Slam final debutant.
That pressure told in the third game of the decider where the world No 1 earned the crucial break of serve to give him the lead for the first time in over three hours.
The Greek did well to force Djokovic to serve it out and test the Serbian’s character one final time.
However, at the second time of asking, Djokovic managed to convert a championship point to lift the Coupe Des Mousquetaires for the first time in five years.
