Not that Novak Djokovic wasn’t already in elite territory to begin with, but his win at the 2015 US Open puts him in historic company.

Djokovic has won nine major titles in the past five years. That’s more than any other pair of players combined in that span.

More significantly, he’s one of three players to have nine Grand Slam titles in a five-year span in the Open Era. The other two are the man he beat, Roger Federer (12 from 2004 to 2008), and Pete Sampras (nine from 1993 to 1997).

The history

Djokovic joined Federer as the only men in the Open Era to win three of four Grand Slams in a single season multiple times. Djokovic won three in 2011.

Djokovic became the fifth man with 10 Grand Slam titles in the Open Era, joining Federer (17), Rafael Nadal (14), Pete Sampras (14) and Bjorn Borg (11).

Djokovic improved to 2-4 in US Open finals. He’s now 8-6 all-time versus Federer in Grand Slams with a 3-1 edge in finals wins.

How he won

Djokovic won by forcing Federer to run all over the court. There were 39 rallies of nine shots or longer, and Djokovic won the point on 27 of them.

Federer had to cover an average of 37.5 feet per point in this match, compared to 28.7 feet per point in his semifinal win.

That may explain Federer’s 54 unforced errors, more than twice as many as he had in any other match in this US Open. Federer also failed to convert on break opportunities. He won on 4-of-23 on Sunday after winning 29 of 70 (41 percent) earlier in the tournament.