Novak Djokovic closed the ninth decade – Sport – Kommersant

Novak Djokovic became the champion of the Astana Open, the 500 category tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of $2 million. Having shown an excellent level of play in the final against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the famous Serb won in two games, won the 90th title of his career and officially issued a ticket to Turin for the Nitto ATP Finals. With the latest tennis news from the capital of Kazakhstan – Kommersant correspondent Evgeny Fedyakov.

In the pantries of tennis statistics rich in various textures, calculations are sometimes found that are difficult to explain logically. One of them concerns Stefanos Tsitsipas. It turns out that this extraordinary master with beautiful technique and the owner of several very prestigious titles has lost all nine of his finals at tournaments in the 500 category. Those damned “500” (in the rankings of the ATP calendar season they are only third after the Grand Slam championships and Masters 1000 tournaments) they have not submitted to the Greek since the spring of 2018, when in Barcelona for the first time he reached the decisive stage of the ATP level competition and very easily lost to Rafael Nadal there. The same Barcelona story with the participation of Nadal was repeated last season. In addition, Tsitsipas lost the finals twice in Dubai and failed once in Beijing, Hamburg, Acapulco, Rotterdam, and now in Astana. Rich, what can I say, a collection that its owner probably wants to throw in the trash.

Of course, we must take into account the fact that in all these finals Tsitsipas was opposed by very strong opponents. Nevertheless, before the start of the match against Novak Djokovic, the Greek’s chances were quoted quite high, because in general, the week in Astana turned out to be quite good for him. In the previous four matches, Tsitsipas lost his serve only once – in the semifinals against Andrei Rublev, and even then in the very first game, not yet warmed up. Not surprisingly, on Sunday, Djokovic was initially hit by a flurry of accented attacking blows. But he persevered, remembering that the day before vs. Daniil Medvedev it was even more difficult for him. Moreover, if on Saturday at a press conference he mercilessly criticized his pitch, then this time he had it at the highest level. 79% hit from the first ball, 87% of points won on the first serve, and 80% on the second. With such indicators, it is customary to smash the notorious outsiders, or at least the middle peasants, but not the sixth racket of the world.

However, Tsitsipas was not so lucky. He ran into Djokovic in perfect physical and mental condition. It is precisely such Djokovic, who, due to his trademark stretching, is able to restrain any attacks, sharply counterattack and complete in his favor sometimes hopeless draws for himself.

The result was a classic final for a Serb. At the very beginning of the eighth game of the first game on someone else’s pitch, Djokovic pulled himself up, pulled out the hardest point, and his opponent could not stand the stress of the moment, making a couple of mistakes. In the second set, Tsitsipas had to win back two break points already in the third game, and the same situation repeated two more games later. Djokovic again managed to repel the onslaught of the Greek in the first draw, and Tsitsipas could not cope with the nerves. The citizens of Astana, who in a week felt a taste for tennis and, according to the Serb, created a heavenly atmosphere for professional players at the tournament, of course, dreamed that the magnificent banquet on the court of the National Tennis Center would last as long as possible. They began to chant the name of Tsitsipas throughout the hall, but everything was inexorably moving towards the end. In the tenth game, the Greek played one match point, then with the help of a cable the second, but the last two points remained with the Serb, who won with a score of 6:3, 6:4 in 75 minutes.

Thus, this season, which Djokovic himself considers strange and even unique for himself, is not going so badly for him. Having missed the Australian Open and all American competitions due to the lack of a coronavirus vaccine, he won his fourth title, and brought the total number of tournament victories to 90. This is far from a record. During the Open Era (since 1968), Jimmy Connors has won 109 titles, Roger Federer 103, Ivan Lendl 94, Rafael Nadal 92. But the 35-year-old Djokovic has both the time and ambition to try to enter at least top three of this list.

In addition, following the results of two tournaments in Asia (and a week ago, the Serb won in Tel Aviv), Djokovic managed not de facto, but de jure, to get a ticket to the final ATP tournament in Turin, which he, as the champion of Wimbledon, and without that was practically in his pocket. However, what strikes me the most is something else. With just nine individual tournaments, Djokovic is in 10th place in terms of points scored this season. The next competition with his participation will be the Rolex Paris Masters, which will be held in early November in the capital of France. There the Serb will have to defend last year’s title.