They say form is temporary, class is permanent.
That saying rang true in the French Open final last night, with Novak Djokovic recovering from a bad start and showing his class to win a 19th Grand Slam title at the expense of Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Playing in his first Grand Slam final, the 22-year-old from Greece had the early momentum and stunned Djokovic to take the first two sets.
The Serbian No.1, who had a titanic tussle with Rafa Nadal in their semifinal on Friday, then fought back to win the match in five sets 6-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and prove that class trumps form (or momentum if you like).
Spare a thought for Tsitsipas who fought off two break points in the first game of the match and then had to wait until Djokovic’s fifth service game for his first point on his opponent’s serve.
Djokovic broke serve first in the encounter to make it 6-5, before Tsitsipas broke back and ultimately won the tie-break 8-6.
Momentum was with the Greek after that first set, as he then broke the first game of the second set and continued in that vein to take it 6-2.
But then Djokovic went for fresh attire and returned a new man to take the third set 6-3 and 6-2 to set up a deciding fifth set.
The 34-year-old then threatened to break in the first game, but Tsitsipas found his fight again and held serve.
The world No.5 was not as lucky in his second service game, with Djokovic breaking serve and then holding on to win the set 6-4.
The talented Tsitsipas fought hard and showed enough to suggest that he’ll win a big title in the near future, but for now it’s all about Djokovic being one Grand Slam title behind Nadal and Roger Federer with Wimbledon lying in wait after also winning this year’s Australian Open in February.