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This Day In Sports…June 5, 2016, 10 years ago today:
Novak Djokovic finally puts a French Open trophy in his case with his 11 other titles in tennis’s major tournaments. Djokovic beat Andy Murray in four sets on the red clay of Roland Garros to become the eighth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam. The Serbian star finally triumphed after having reached the French Open final in three of the previous four years. Djokovic also became only the third player to win four straight majors, joining old-time legends Rod Laver and Don Budge.
It didn’t hurt that Djokovic’s two biggest rivals weren’t around. Roger Federer withdrew before the tournament due to an ongoing back injury, breaking a streak of 65 consecutive Grand Slam appearances dating back to 1999. Rafael Nadal had to exit before his third-round match when a weeks-old wrist injury became too painful for him to continue. Nadal was a nine-time French Open champion, and it was intensely emotional decision. With Federer and Nadal out, Djokovic won all but one match in straight sets until meeting Murray in the final. Djokovic dropped the first set to Murray but dominated from there.
Djokovic aimed for a fifth straight major title a month later at Wimbledon, but his 30-match Grand Slam winning streak came to an end with a third-round loss to American Sam Querry. That stirred some memories in Boise, as three years earlier Djokovic had clinched Serbia’s 3-1 win over the U.S. in the 2013 Davis Cup quarterfinals with a singles victory over Querrey in Taco Bell Arena.
Djokovic has won the French Open two more times since and has doubled his major championships in the past decade. He now holds the men’s record with 24 Grand Slam titles—Nadal and Federer, both retired, finished with 22 and 20, respectively. Ten of Djokovic’s major trophies came in the Australian Open. At the age of 39, he is still ranked No. 4 in the world. Djokovic has spent a record 428 weeks ranked No. 1 during his career.
With defending champion Carlos Alcaraz missing this year’s French Open due to a wrist injury and current world No. 1 Jacob Sinner exiting Paris prematurely in the second round, there were thoughts that Djokovic might be able to sneak through and get Grand Slam victory No. 25. But he was upset in the third round by Joao Fonseca. Will 24 be the final number?
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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