(MHN Sports Correspondent Kyu-Won Lee) Is 22 wins tied for the most wins in major tournaments, including 10 at the Australian Open?

A 25-year-old rising star armed with a powerful forehand wins his first major championship?

Novak Djokovic (5th place, Serbia) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th place, Greece) will compete for the Australian Open tennis championship.

Djokovic defeated Tommy Paul (35th, USA) in 2 hours and 20 minutes in the men’s singles semifinal of the Australian Open (total prize money: 76.5 million Australian dollars, about 66.26 billion won) held at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on the 27th. They won 0 (7-5 ​​6-1 6-2).

Djokovic defeated Karen Khachanov (20th, Russia) 안전놀이터and Tsitsipas won the championship trophy on the 29th. and clash over

Djokovic, who holds the most titles in the tournament, needs just one more win to complete his 10th title.

In addition, if he wins the Australian Open, he will tie the record for the most major championships with 22 wins along with Rafael Nadal (2nd place, Spain).

The 36-year-old Djokovic showed off his age-defying skills and reached the final.

Except for the second round, where he won 3-1 against Enzo Cuaco (ranked 191, France), he ended all five matches until the semifinals with no sets.

His left hamstring (muscle behind the thigh) is uncomfortable, so he wears a compression bandage on the court, but so far it doesn’t seem to have a big impact on his performance.

Tsitsipas, who faces Djokovic, advances to the Australian Open final for the first time in his life and challenges his first championship.

Tsitsipas had previously been eliminated in the semifinals in the 2019, 2021 and 2022 competitions.

In addition, following the runner-up at the 2021 French Open, he reached the final of a major tournament for the second time in his personal career.

Tsitsipas has reached the semifinals of six majors so far, four of them at the Australian Open.

Although Djokovic is called the ‘Man of the Australian Open’ in name and reality, among the younger generation, Tsitsipas is considered a strong player in this tournament.

In this tournament, Tsitsipas finished 4 games with no loss sets except for the 4th round and the semi-final match against Jannik Sinner (16th place, Italy), who won 3-2 after a 4-hour match.

His powerful forehand, his main weapon, is evaluated as having risen in the water in this tournament.

Djokovic and Tsitsipas have faced each other 12 times so far, and Djokovic has the advantage with 10 wins and 2 losses, including the recent 9 wins.

The most recent major tournament they faced off against was the 2021 French Open final, and after a bloody battle of 4 hours and 11 minutes, Djokovic won 3-2, lifting his 19th major championship trophy.

If both Djokovic and Tsitsipas win, they will rise to No. 1 in the world rankings.

On this day, the difference in performance between Djokovic and Paul was too great for Djokovic to show off his strong physical strength.

Paul wanted to make the atmosphere hot by raising points with several exquisite shots, such as a successful net play that even Djokovic applauded in the first set, but that was all.

Djokovic seized the victory by breaking the first and second subgames of the second set pole in succession, and the flow did not change after that.

Tsitsipas also turned Khachanov around in 3 hours and 21 minutes without much effort.