Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates winning the women’s final match of the French Open tennis tournament against Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic in three sets, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday, June 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)

PARIS — Novak Djokovic made clear for years this was his goal. What drove him. What inspired him. The biggest titles from his sport’s biggest stages were Djokovic’s main aim and now he finally stands alone — ahead of Rafael Nadal, ahead of Roger Federer, ahead of every man who ever has swung a racket.

If Djokovic could wait this long to hold this record, he certainly could wait for the half-hour or so it took to straighten out his strokes in the French Open final. And so, after a bit of a shaky start in thick, humid air and under foreboding charcoal clouds Sunday, he imposed himself. The opponent at Court Philippe Chatrier, Casper Ruud, never really stood a serious chance after that.

Djokovic earned his men’s-record 23rd Grand Slam singles championship, breaking a tie with Nadal and moving three in front of the retired Federer, with a 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Ruud that was not in doubt for most of its 3 hours, 13 minutes.

Djokovic, a 36-year-old from Serbia, puts this one alongside the French Open titles he earned in 2016 and 2021, making him the only man with at least three from each major event. He won his very first at the 2008 Australian Open and now possesses a total of 10 trophies from there, seven from Wimbledon and three from the U.S. Open.

“I knew that going into the tournament, going into the match, especially, today, that there is history on the line, but I try to focus my attention and my thoughts into preparing for this match in the best way possible to win, like any other match,” Djokovic said, wearing a red jacket with “23” stitched on the chest. “Of course I would lie if I say that I didn’t think about the finish line that is right there and that one more match is needed to win a trophy — a historic one.”

Also worth noting: He again is halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam — winning all four majors in one season — something no man has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969. Djokovic came close to pulling off that feat in 2021, when he won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon and made it all the way to the title match at the U.S. Open before losing to Daniil Medvedev.

Djokovic will resume that pursuit at Wimbledon, which begins on the grass of the All England Club on July 3.

“He has this software in his head that he can switch (on) when a Grand Slam comes,” said his coach, Goran Ivanisevic. “The day we arrived here, he was better, he was more motivated, he was more hungry. Every day, he played better and better.”

On Saturday, Iga Swiatek defeated Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to collect her third championship at Roland Garros and fourth Grand Slam title.

The No. 1-ranked Swiatek raced to a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes in Court Philippe Chatrier. And then she was ahead 3-0 in the second set, too, before Muchova made things more intriguing. With Swiatek looking out of sorts and seeking advice from her coach between points, Muchova grabbed five of six games on the way to pulling even at a set apiece. Muchova carried that momentum into the deciding set, going ahead 2-0 and 4-3. But Swiatek took the last three games.

Also on Saturday, a year after squandering three match points in the final, fourth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States won the men’s doubles title at the French Open by beating unseeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-4, 6-1.