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Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal joined in the accolades for the 2023 Australian open men's singles champion Novak Djokovic, with the Serbian equalling Nadal's record of 22 career Grand Slam victories, and also winning the Australian Open crown for the 10th time in his career.
Nadal took to Instagram to wish the World No. 1 for this big achievement in Melbourne.
Djokovic completed this feat when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday. It was yet another dominating win for Djokovic, who beat the 3rd seed in straight sets to become the first man to win 10 titles at the Australian Open.
"Congrats Nole, to you and your team for this great achievement. Enjoy the moment," he added.
Meeting this foe for a second time in a Grand Slam final, Djokovic's aim was to prevent Tsitsipas from winning his first Grand Slam title. In their last meeting at the Roland Garros in 2021, Djokovic rallied from two-sets-to-love down to defeat the Greek and claim victory on the clay courts of Paris.
Meanwhile, Nadal failed to defend his crown in Melbourne after losing 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 to world number 65 Mackenzie McDonald.
Nadal struggled to move around the court in the closing stages of the match and revealed afterwards he had aggravated an issue he had been suffering with for a couple of days. An MRI scan showed the Spaniard had a grade two iliopsoas tear in his hip flexor, which would usually mean between six and eight weeks out of action.
After returning home to undergo further checks on Thursday, Nadal confirmed he is on course to return in that initial timeframe. "Today I have been at the Tecknon Tennis Clinic in Barcelona where they have carried out some tests on me," he posted on his personal Twitter page.
"The Melbourne results are confirmed and the deadlines remain the same. I've established the treatments to follow and in three weeks they will perform new tests to see the evolution."
