Then Carlos Alcaraz had his say.
The 22-year-old fought back from a set down to overwhelm Djokovic in four sets, claiming a career grand slam and handing the Serb his first final defeat at Melbourne Park in 11 such appearances.
Sunday night's 2-6 6-2 6-3 7-5 defeat left the Serb stranded on 24 singles majors, still level with Margaret Court, and lamenting a missed opportunity to seal the elusive record.
Djokovic, who hit 42 unforced errors across the final three sets after four in the first, may wonder if he will have a better chance to win another slam, given Alcaraz and world No.2 Jannik Sinner have shared the past nine.
He will be world No.3 come Monday and has bristled at talk of retirement.
But even the 38-year-old conceded pre-tournament he potentially didn't have the "juice" in his legs to go with Alcaraz and Sinner at the pointy end of slams.
The superstar Serb couldn't have forecast the walkover against Jakub Mensik, then Lorenzo Musetti's injury-enforced retirement that surely helped give Djokovic extra gas in his semi-final win over Sinner.
But if Djokovic warded off a changing of the guard moment in his five-set semi-final masterclass to keep hopes of a record-extending 11th Open title alive, youth would not be denied a second time.
Rafael Nadal - who had a front-row seat on Sunday - had labelled his fellow Spaniard Alcaraz the favourite, but insisted his great rival Djokovic could never be written off.
It proved prophetic as fourth seed Djokovic steamed out of the blocks - unstoppable on serve and dominating Alcaraz with his ruthless baseline play.
But Djokovic's first-set symphony soon made way to explosive Alcaraz's heavy metal tennis.
After the opening two games of the second set looked like going down the same road, Alcaraz changed tack - and turned the match in his favour.
Melbourne Park had been a frontier Alcaraz was previously unable to conquer but once he took the lead, the Murcian marvel was simply irresistible.
In the third set, the 16-year age gap between the pair started to show as the Spaniard turned the screws.
After denying Djokovic an extraordinary backhand winner with a mercurial salvaged forehand, Alcaraz tipped a finger to his ear to soak up the crowd's adoration before pumping a fist.
Djokovic could only deliver a smile-grimace with his hands on his hips.
Alcaraz let out an almighty roar when he clinched a break at 3-2 and was imperious as he claimed the set.
Djokovic will never die wondering and gave himself a glimmer of hope when he dug in and saved six break points in a 12-minute service game at the start of the fourth.
The 38-year-old rolled with the punches and landed some of his own - and even earned himself a break point on Alcaraz's serve at 4-4.
But Alcaraz would not be denied and did what Nadal, Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Jo-Wifried Tsonga had tried and failed to do: beat Djokovic on his favourite stage.
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