Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic exchange messages after Serb wins French Open

Serena Williams has congratulated Novak Djokovic after the Serbian joined her as the most successful grand slam players of all time following his French Open triumph. His third success at Roland-Garros was his 23rd major title overall, drawing him level with the retired American superstar.

Djokovic started the Paris event ranked No. 3 in the world, but after getting past top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals – who was forced to retire with injury – the 36-year-old defeated Casper Ruud in straight sets in the final, confirming a place at the game’s summit alongside Williams and a return to the No. 1 spot.

Resharing a post of Djokovic with the French Open trophy in Paris on Instagram, Williams wrote: “Congrats @djokernole.”

The prolific Serb had already paid tribute to Williams via his own Instagram story, writing: “Huge honor to be sharing the #23 with you, Serena,” with a photo of the pair together.

Djokovic needed to battle back from 4-1 to Ruud in the first set of the final, but was able to do so and eventually prevailed on a tie-break. He then went on to win the next two sets 6-3, 7-5, completing a comfortable victory.

The title win moved him ahead of great rival Rafael Nadal who sits on 22 major titles with Roger Federer now retired on 20.

The Belgrade-born star’s unmatched tally of slams includes 10 Australian Opens, three French Opens, seven Wimbledon titles and three US Opens. He is the only male tennis player ever to win each grand slam tournament three times or more.

Having already won the Australian and French Open titles in 2023, Djokovic has now set his sights on another significant target, winning a calendar Gram Slam.

Speaking on the Tennis channel, he said: “I’d like to get another chance in New York. Of course, I have to win Wimbledon, which is a whole different mountain to climb. The fact that I won the last four Wimbledons gives me a lot of confidence and I look forward to that. I really do. I love playing there, that’s the dream tournament, always has been for me.

Djokovic came close to completing a calendar Grand Slam in 2021, but fell at the final hurdle, losing the US Open final to Daniel Medvedev in New York, but he would dearly love another crack at it and is halfway there this year already.

Djokovic added: “If that happens, I’d love to get a chance to go for another chance at the history in New York. I missed the history couple [of] years ago in the last match, with [Daniil] Medvedev. But I felt the love from New Yorkers, from all the people who were there. I was actually blown away with emotions of what they brought to me on that day, on the court. So I can’t wait to go back and play in New York.”