Djokovic Completes Historic Two-Set Comeback In Roland Garros Final
Novak Djokovic made a historic comeback from two sets down in the Roland Garros final on Sunday against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic won 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to claim his 19th major title and become the first man in the Open Era to twice complete a career Grand Slam. (Roy Emerson and Rod Laver also completed the career Grand Slam twice.)
The World No. 1 is just the sixth player in the Open Era to rally from two sets down in a Grand Slam championship match. It is the fifth time it has happened at the clay-court major.
Two-Set Comebacks In Grand Slam Finals (Open Era)
Tournament | Player/Opponent |
2021 Roland Garros | Novak Djokovic d Stefanos Tsitsipas |
2020 US Open | Dominic Thiem d Alexander Zverev |
2004 Roland Garros | Gaston Gaudio d Guillermo Coria |
1999 Roland Garros | Andre Agassi d Andrei Medvedev |
1984 Roland Garros | Ivan Lendl d John McEnroe |
1974 Roland Garros | Bjorn Borg d Manuel Orantes |
Previously, Bjorn Borg (1974), Ivan Lendl (1984), Andre Agassi (1999) and Gaston Gaudio (2004) had achieved the feat at Roland Garros. The only player who has rallied from a two-set deficit in a major final outside Roland Garros was Dominic Thiem at last year’s US Open. It has never happened at the Australian Open or Wimbledon.
Djokovic had come back from two sets down five times in his career, including in the fourth round of this tournament against Lorenzo Musetti. But only once had he done so after the fourth round of a major, and that came in the 2011 US Open semi-finals against Roger Federer.
Djokovic's Two-Set Comebacks
Tournament | Opponent |
2021 Roland Garros R4 | Lorenzo Musetti |
2015 Wimbledon R4 | Kevin Anderson |
2012 Roland Garros R4 | Andreas Seppi |
2011 US Open SF | Roger Federer |
2005 Wimbledon R2 | Guillermo Garcia-Lopez |