Plant-Based Novak Djokovic Wins 24th Grand Slam at 36

Plant-based tennis star Novak Djokovic has won his 24th Grand Slam title at the age of 36, beating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the US Open final in New York on Sunday, September 10.

The win equals Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 major singles titles, and makes Djokovic the oldest man to win the US Open in the Open Era. The result also takes him back to world number one, the Associated Press reports.

It was also sweet revenge. Medvedev beat him in the 2021 final at Flushing Meadows to stop him completing a calendar Grand Slam. Speaking on court afterwards, Djokovic said:

I never imagined that I would be here standing with you talking about 24 Slams. I never thought that would be the reality.

Djokovic has eaten a plant-based diet for years. He doesn't like the word vegan (he told reporters at Wimbledon in 2019 that he dislikes labels because they get misused), but he's been very open about why he eats the way he does. He told Essentially Sports, in comments reported by Plant Based News:

I'm very pleased that I am plant-based and play on this level for four and a half years.

It's a lifestyle. More than just a diet because you have ethical reasons as well.

Beating the world number three, nine years his junior, at an age when most players have retired, is about as good an answer to the protein question as you'll get. It fits the research too. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that plant protein builds muscle just as well as animal protein, and the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found it's better for your heart.

Djokovic joins a long list of plant-powered champions, from Lewis Hamilton winning his sixth F1 world title to heavyweight boxer David Haye and UFC fighter Nate Diaz. Many of their stories were told in The Game Changers, the best-selling documentary in iTunes history.

No meat, no problem. Congratulations Novak!