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French Open: Djokovic in the race for the GOAT

By winning the French Open for the third time on Sunday, Novak Djokovic became the only person to hold the record of 23 Grand Slam titles. Although he will probably never be as adored as Roger Federer or as admired as Nadal, the numbers make him the likely GOAT (greatest player of all time).

23: the record number of Grand Slam titles

In detail, he has won the Australian Open ten times (record), Wimbledon seven times (Federer has the record with 8 titles), the US Open three times (Federer, Sampras and Connors have the record with 5) and the French Open 3 times (Nadal holds the appalling record of 14 titles). But in 2022, his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid prevented him from playing in Melbourne and New York.

Djokovic thus equalled Serena Williams and now only Margaret Court is ahead with the absolute record (24) for men and women combined.

The 2019 and 2020 editions of the US Open, for which he was favourite, had already eluded him because of a withdrawal and then a disqualification. In 2021, overwhelmed by the challenge of winning the Grand Slam, he was beaten in the final at Flushing Meadows by Daniil Medvedev.

Since Djokovic won his first major in 2008 (Australia), Nadal has won 19 and Federer 8.

He is the only player in history to have won each of the four Grand Slam tournaments at least three times. Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Rafael Nadal have each won at least twice, while Roger Federer has only won the French Open once. On the women's side, Margaret Court, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have also won each Major at least three times.

He is also one of only three players in history to have won the Grand Slam in both years (2015-2016), along with Donald Budge and Rod Laver.

And with four Wimbledon titles in a row, he has equalled Pete Sampras' record, but remains one behind Björn Borg and Roger Federer (5). The same is true in terms of consecutive matches won on the London turf: Djokovic has reached the 28-match mark, but Sampras (31), Federer (40) and Borg (41) are ahead.

. 388 (record): the number of weeks spent as world No.1. Ranked third in the world at Roland Garros, he begins his 388th week at the top of the rankings on Monday.

. 34 (record): the number of Grand Slam finals played, ahead of Federer (31) and Nadal (30). Like Chris Evert in the women's game, but better than Serena Williams (33).

. 10 (record): the number of finals played - and all won - at the Australian Open. He also has 8 at Wimbledon, where only Federer has done better (12). Nadal has played 14 finals at Roland Garros and won them all.

. 89 (record): the number of matches won at the Australian Open. He also has 86 at Wimbledon, where the record is held by Federer (105). Nadal holds the record for most victories in a single Major with 112 at Roland Garros, where he is second with 92.

. 348: The number of Grand Slam matches won. Federer is ahead (369).

. 94: the number of tournaments won on the main circuit. 103 for Federer, 92 for Nadal, but the record is held by Jimmy Connors (109).

. 1058: the number of matches won on the circuit, still far behind Connors' record (1274). Three other players have surpassed the 1,000-win mark: Federer (1,251), Lendl (1,068) and Nadal (1,068).

. 7 (record): the number of years he has been world No.1, one better than his idol Pete Sampras. Federer and Rafael have 5.

. 27-23 and 30-29: The win-loss record against Federer and Nadal.

Djokovic has a positive win-loss record against his two main opponents Federer (27 wins to 23 losses) and Nadal (30 to 29).

. 38 (record): the number of Masters 1000 titles

Djokovic is also the only player to have won all nine tournaments in this category, just below the Majors, and on more than one occasion.

. 6 (record): the number of Masters at the end of the year.

He equalled Federer's record last November in Turin in this closing tournament, which each year brings together the eight best players of the season.

. 36 years and 20 days: he becomes the oldest player to win the French Open, ahead of Nadal who was 36 years and 2 days old last year. The oldest Grand Slam winner is Ken Rosewall, who was 37 years and two months old at the 1972 Australian Open.

Text by TV5 Monde AFP

23 MARCH STRIKE IN PARIS: THE FRIGHT OF THE RESIDENTS OF A BUILDING HIT BY A RUBBISH BIN FIRE

Some people set fire to rubbish that had accumulated in the streets. The flames quickly spread to the front of a building.

The situation degenerated in a matter of minutes. On Thursday, during a demonstration against pension reform, some people deliberately set fire to some rubbish littering the rue Saint-Marc, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. The fire quickly spread to the front of the neighbouring building.

"We went to the window and saw that people were starting to burn rubbish bins," a local resident told BFMTV. "And it started to catch fire everywhere.

140 fires in Paris

The flames hit the wooden storefront on the ground floor of the building and quickly spread. "Suddenly, the flames exploded and lots of people gathered around", recalls a resident of a neighbouring building. "I thought I was going to go out and put the fire out, but the flames got so big so quickly that I couldn't."

In the street with their simple fire extinguishers, the mobile firefighters were unable to bring the flames under control themselves. People in the street then tried to remove the rubbish to prevent the fire from growing.

"We saw that the building was on fire, and we started clearing away the debris", reported an off-duty policewoman on the street. "We're trying to clear it away, we were only thinking of one thing: people. Get the people out."

Some of the building's residents left, fearing that the flames would spread to the entire building.

When the CRS arrived on the scene, they secured the street to allow a fire truck to arrive. It took the fire brigade around twenty minutes to bring the fire under control. The door to the ground floor flat had to be forced open to make sure no-one was inside.

A total of 140 fires were reported to have started in Paris on Thursday, during demonstrations against pension reform.

Text by BFMTV Damien Gourlet, Pierre Barbin with Laurène Rocheteau

Liverpool - Real Madrid: Confidence, talent, luck... But why do Real always win in the end?

FOOTBALL Buoyed by Thibaut Courtois in the final and Karim Benzema in the previous rounds, Real Madrid have carried the success of the Champions League all season long.

Without an extraordinary Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid would never have beaten Liverpool 1-0 at the Stade de France on Saturday.
The term resilience seems to have been invented for these Merengues, so often tossed about this season in the Champions League, and finally victorious.
Real added a 14th Champions League title to their trophy cabinet, twice as many as second-placed AC Milan.

At the Stade de France

The Liverpool fans, some of whom had had such a hard time getting in, preferred to leave rather than see this after the Reds' 1-0 defeat. So it was to a Stade de France virtually devoid of its red component that Marcelo, Real Madrid's soul on the bench on Saturday evening, held up the Champions League trophy. It was the Spanish club's 14th victory in Europe's most prestigious competition, a record that has now been bettered.

But it is undoubtedly the most incredible, given that the Merengues have often looked fragile this season, and sometimes even inferior to their opponents in the final stages of the Champions League. And yet they have managed to pull off a series of turnarounds that not even the boldest of scriptwriters would have dared suggest to a producer. Behind a smile that seemed forced for once, Jürgen Klopp was clearly wondering how his Reds had failed to beat the Real side they had so badly beaten.

"We took 23 shots, nine of which were on target," explained "OptaJürgen" to the press, before turning his attention to his opponents, whom he was naturally keen to congratulate: "Real only had one shot on target. But it was the right one, from a missed Valverde shot that was tapped in at the far post by Vinicius just before the hour mark...

Courtois, the guardian angel

As is often the case this season, "Saint Thibaut" Courtois dominated the match. The Belgian goalkeeper made a monstrous nine saves to disgust Mohamed Salah, who is cursed to face Real in the final (even when Ramos is no longer there to injure him, as he did in 2018). Courtois, whose ego is as solid as it is assertive, also pulled off a Martian-like save in the 20th minute, deflecting a clever little gem from Sadio Mané onto the post. The 2018 FIFA World Cup semi-finalist finally has the victory he has so longed for, at least since he stumbled on the last step with Atlético in 2014 against... Real.

Speaking to BT Sport, the most agile of double-metre players went for the grandiloquent (but accurate): "Yesterday [Friday], in the press conference, I said that when Madrid played finals, they won them. I was on the right side of history. The White House has only lost three finals, in 1962, 1964 and 1981. Since that last defeat to Liverpool at the Parc des Princes (1-0) at the dawn of the Mitterrand era, they have won eight finals, sometimes easily, sometimes by the skin of their teeth. But won nonetheless...

Ancelotti, a man of records

It's easier to win the Champions League with Real than with any other team," says Carlo Ancelotti. The particular passion of the supporters, the history, the structure of the club... All that makes the club special." The Italian is himself a winner at heart, despite some less brilliant recent seasons at Everton and Napoli: having previously won the title twice as a player, this Saturday he set a new record of four Champions Leagues as a coach, with Milan (2003 and 2007) and Real (2014 and 2022), with just one defeat to Liverpool (2005).

"This team is easy to coach," continues the Mister. The dressing room was calm as we prepared for this match. The players have incredible confidence. That confidence comes with the history of this club. That's rare in football. And even unique. So much so, in fact, that we are more inclined to subscribe to the theory of the winner's DNA than to the 'Carlo's pussy' theory, which is easily defensible this season: not to mention the final, Madrid lost the first leg of the last 16 to PSG, the quarter-final second leg to Chelsea and the semi-final first leg to Manchester City.

"There's no such thing as luck", says Karim Benzema

Each time, Real came close to taking the lead, and each time they slipped through the window to the next round, buoyed by future Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema, scorer of 15 C1 goals this season, including 10 in the knockout phase. Benzema's 16th was disallowed late in the first half on Saturday for an offside flag that was confirmed after an interminable VAR call. There's no such thing as luck," the captain of five European Cups, one of the guarantors along with Modric and Marcelo of the group's balance, told Canal+. You can be lucky once, but not every time. We deserve our victory. We made an effort, we came back every time, we never gave up.

Wearing a T-shirt bearing the "14" logo that was as eloquent as it was unattractive, Ancelotti added another layer of praise in the Stade de France press room: "At the start of the season, nobody thought we could win this competition. We deserved it. We suffered a lot along the way, but we never lost heart. Even when Kylian Mbappé opted to stay at PSG after a whirlwind telenovela? "Today, Mbappé doesn't exist, there's the Real Madrid party," said president Florentino Perez on Spanish channel Movistar, with the insolence of people who succeed in everything.

Text by Nicolas Stival 20Minutes.fr