The 36-year-old Djokovic won 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to become the oldest men’s champion in New York in the Open era and match Margaret Court’s all-time mark for most Grand Slam victories.
“I don’t know where to start. It obviously means the world to me,” said Djokovic, wearing a white jacket with the number 24 on his chest during the trophy presentation.
“It’s hard to describe. I’m really living my childhood dream to compete at the highest level in this sport.
“I never imagined I would be standing talking about 24 Grand Slams but the last couple of years I’ve felt I have a chance and I have a shot at history and why not grab it.”
The Serbian is the first man to win three Grand Slam events in the same season four times, crowning his impending return to world number one in the most fitting of ways inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The victory added to his wins at the Australian and French Opens earlier this year, with the only blemish his five-set defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the final of Wimbledon in July.
“You know, some people who are born, he’s a genius. He’s one of kind. Not too many people in this world like him in sport-wise,” said Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic.
“This is one of the biggest achievements in the sport history.”
Medvedev suffered his fourth loss in five Grand Slam finals, all of which were against Djokovic or Rafael Nadal.
“First of all I want to ask Novak: What are you still doing here? Come on!” quipped Medvedev.
“I don’t know when you are planning to slow down a little bit.
“I mean, 24. I feel like I have not a bad career and I have 20 titles. You have 24 Grand Slams. Wow.”
Medvedev defeated Djokovic in straight sets in the 2021 final to prevent the Serbian from becoming the first man to win all four Grand Slams in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969.
Djokovic admitted to feeling overwhelmed on that occasion, but there was little evidence of nerves as he quickly took command of yesterday’s championship match.
The second seed - who missed last year’s US Open because of his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 - burst out of the gate with a confident hold sealed by successive aces and struck at the first opportunity, punishing Medvedev for a double-fault to break for a 2-0 lead.
A third ace consolidated his advantage before Medvedev got on the board in the fourth game.
The pair traded holds largely untroubled until Djokovic again put pressure on Medvedev as the third seed served down 2-5.
Medvedev dug in to twice stave off set points, but Djokovic calmly made the set his the following game.
Second set grind
Medvedev dethroned last year’s champion Alcaraz with a “12 out of 10” performance in the semi-finals, but he struggled to replicate his very best consistently against an imperious Djokovic.
Attempting to be the first player to beat the top two seeds en route to the title since 1975, Medvedev once more repeatedly found himself under the pump early in the second set.
He was able to resist, hitting a sweeping volley to fight off break point as he secured a gutsy hold for 4-3 before finally asking questions of Djokovic, who was showing signs of fatigue.
A leaping overhead gave Medvedev his first break chance of the contest the very next game, but Djokovic responded with a brilliant scoop on the half-volley to save it.
Djokovic wobbled serving at 5-6, double-faulting twice as Medvedev brought up set point. But Djokovic was waiting as Medvedev went cross-court, and put away the volley to force a tie-break.
Medvedev seemed to have the momentum on his side after winning an astonishing rally to nose 5-4 ahead only for Djokovic to bag the next three points, snatching a marathon 104-minute second set and closing in on a historic triumph.
“Should have won it,” Medvedev said of the second set. “Should have won it, but sometimes tennis is not that easy.”
Djokovic sportingly offered to help Medvedev to his feet after the Russian took an awkward tumble early in the third set, but there was no such goodwill when two break points came about soon after.
Medvedev pumped a backhand long to hand Djokovic a 3-1 advantage. He gave the break straight back, but Medvedev faltered again and there was no mistake second time around as Djokovic wrapped up the title before the emotions streamed out.
Gauff defeats Sabalenka
Meanwhile, on Saturday American teenager Coco Gauff came from behind to win the US Open women’s singles title, clinching her first Grand Slam with a battling win over Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.
Gauff, 19, produced a gutsy performance on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in 2hr 6min to complete a fairytale transformation in her season’s fortunes.
The sixth seed from Florida had gone into the final as the underdog against the hard-hitting second seed Sabalenka, who will become world number one in next week’s rankings.
But with both players making a slew of mistakes throughout an error-strewn final watched by a star-studded record crowd of 28,143 it was Gauff who held her nerve when it mattered to seal a deserved victory.
The win completed a remarkable turnaround for Gauff, who was left distraught after a first round exit at Wimbledon in July.
However she bounced back to win titles in Washington and Cincinnati and has now landed the biggest win of her career, after a shattering loss in her first Grand Slam final at the French Open last year.
“It means so much to me,” an elated Gauff said afterwards. “I feel like I’m a little bit in shock in this moment.
“That French Open loss (last year) was a heartbreak for me. This makes this moment even sweeter than I could imagine.”
Gauff, the third American teenager to win the US Open after Tracy Austin and Serena Williams, also used her victory speech to thank those who doubted her talent.
“Honestly thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me,” she joked.
“To those who thought they were putting water on my fire, they were putting gas on my fire and I’m burning so bright right now.”
Sabalenka meanwhile blamed self-inflicted errors for her defeat, saying at times she was playing “me against me.”
“She was moving just unbelievable today,” Sabalenka said of Gauff. “But then the second set I start probably overthinking, and because of that I start kind of like losing my power.
“Then she start moving better. I start missing a lot of easy shots.”
First set struggle
Gauff was in trouble in the opening game, Sabalenka breaking her straight away with a rasping backhand that drew a roar of “Come On!” from the Belarusian.
She held easily to take a 2-0 lead but Gauff then took advantage of a shaky service game from Sabalenka to break at 2-2 in the fourth.
The Belarusian double-faulted twice to allow Gauff to get back on level terms.
But that hard-won parity was surrendered in the next game as Sabalenka broke back to go 3-2 ahead.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka then wobbled on her own serve once more as Gauff eked out two break points in the sixth game.
But Sabalenka got it back to deuce with an ace and then took a 4-2 lead with an emphatic smash.
Gauff’s problems on serve continued and Sabalenka broke for the third time to race 5-2 ahead, and she duly wrapped up the set by holding in the next game.
Yet with the match threatening to become a rout, Gauff finally clicked into gear in the second set, making fewer unforced errors and ironing out the kinks in her serve.
Instead it was Sabalenka who began to show signs of brittleness as the tension mounted. She double-faulted to hand Gauff the only break of the set and a 3-1 lead.
Gauff fended off a break point in the next game to hold for 4-1 and went on to hold for the remainder of the set to level the match when Sabalenka smacked a forehand long.
The momentum remained firmly with Gauff in the final set and she secured another crucial break in the opening game when she put away an underhit Sabalenka lob with a smash.
Gauff then held easily for a 2-0 lead as Sabalenka struggled to regain any semblance of composure.
She coughed up four unforced errors to gift Gauff a break and a 3-0 lead, and the American then held with ease to go 4-0 up.
Sabalenka stopped the rot by holding serve in the fifth game, before taking a medical timeout to receive treatment on her left thigh.
Gauff was in no mood to let her grip on the match slip though.
Although Sabalenka held and broke Gauff to cut the lead to 4-2, Gauff hit back when Sabalenka double-faulted to present a break point.
Gauff cashed in to break and grab a 5-2 lead and then swept to victory in the next game, holding to love with a backhand winner.