Novak Djokovic will finish his eighth season at the top of the ATP rankings

At the Nitto ATP Finals, the final tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with a prize fund of $15 million, which started in Turin, the issue with the holder of the title of the first racket of the world in 2023 was decided on the first day. Having beaten Dane Holger Rune in three sets, 36-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic in the eighth guaranteed himself the lead at the end of the season. Thus, on November 20, the 36-year-old Serb will begin his 400th week at the top line of the ATP classification. From the Turin arena Pala Alpitour – Kommersant correspondent Evgeny Fedyakov.

This year, as usual, the final ATP tournament was preceded by the so-called press day. It took place on Friday in one of the halls of the sixteenth-century royal palace, which at one time belonged to the Savoy dynasty. Despite the magnificent interiors, which emphasized the significance of the event, the dress code for the players was loose. Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev preferred the classic casual style, the nominal leaders of the two groups, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, stood out against the general background with stylish bomber jackets from their technical sponsors, and for some reason, a dejected Stefanos Tsitsipas came to the event in a woolen poncho, which in this historical setting also looked unusual.

The reason for the universal sadness in the eyes of Tsitsipas became clear on Saturday, when, due to pain in his right elbow, which was operated on the year before, he had to interrupt his second training session in two days. Moreover, there was information that the chances of Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the ninth racket of the world and the first reserve, being significantly increased in Turin. On Sunday, Tsitsipas finally took the court against Jannik Sinner and, unable to earn a single break point, was defeated in less than an hour and a half – 4:6, 4:6. Thus, the hype surrounding the debut of the young Italian at the home Nitto ATP Finals is so far justified. The fast court is perfect for Sinner, who is in excellent form, who beat Alcaraz, Rublev at the October tournaments in Beijing and Vienna, and defeated Medvedev twice in the finals, and he is certainly capable of a lot in Turin.

The Sunday evening match in the White Group was of fundamental importance from the point of view of the fight for first place in the world rankings. More precisely, a pitiful semblance of this fight, because Djokovic’s advantage over Alcaraz before the start was calculated at 1490 points, and it was clear in advance that to guarantee that the Serb would retain the lead, it was enough to win the first match – against the Dane Holger Rune. This meeting was accompanied by a special psychological subtext. It was connected with the fact that Rune had recently begun to be coached by the former first racket of the world, German Boris Becker, who from the end of 2013 worked with Djokovic for three seasons and during that period helped the Serb achieve very good results.

“I probably won’t be very comfortable if in a match with Holger I see Boris in someone else’s box. Still, this has never happened before,” Djokovic admitted on Friday, calling Becker not only a tennis legend, but also his close friend. The German, who during Friday’s press conference filmed his former and current charges on his smartphone, shook his head and smiled roguishly, and two days later he really brought an additional zest to this confrontation. He constantly jumped up from his seat, which was located in the Rune team box next to the court and inspired his ward to exploits even when Djokovic was two or three meters away. Serbian compatriots who bought tickets for seats next to the press box were a little irritated by this behavior and provoked them to use the rich arsenal of their native language. But Djokovic himself did not react to the emotions of his senior comrade, feeling himself to be the master of the situation. And although Djokovic was unable to avoid a break in the fifth game of the first set, he immediately bounced back and then reserved a tiebreak, which he completed on the second set point with a perfect serve to the sideline.

The second game developed similarly almost until the very end. In the second game, Rune, who sometimes very effectively crossed the opponent’s half of the court with a backhand, took someone else’s serve, and in the third, Djokovic bounced back. But here, in the tiebreaker, things clearly didn’t go well for the Serb: he took the only point, already losing – 0:6. I had to play the third set, in which Rune fought to the end, but was able to respond with only one to Djokovic’s two breaks, in the second and sixth games.

In general, the outsider of the group, who in more than three months after reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon won only one out of eight matches, parted ways with the famous French specialist Patrick Mouratouglou and only recently, having agreed on cooperation with Becker, began to improve his results, looked very decent. Rune completely made Djokovic nervous, but he, having broken not just one, but two rackets in half, without showing his best, as at the recent victorious tournament in Paris, still pulled out this important match for himself in 3 hours 4 minutes – 7:6 (7:4), 6:7 (1:7), 6:3. Thus, for the eighth time in his career (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023) he will be able to finish the season as the leader of the ATP rankings. In addition, next Monday Djokovic will reach the unprecedented, simply fantastic milestone of 400 weeks in first place.

Evgeniy Fedyakov