Novak Djokovic will finish the year in first place in the tennis classification again

On the starting day of the Nitto ATP Finals, the final tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in Turin with a prize fund of $15 million, the issue of leadership in the world classification at the end of the year was decided. It was won for the eighth time in his career by 36-year-old Novak Djokovic, who in his first match in the Green Group broke the resistance of Holger Rune in three sets. A Kommersant correspondent observed the nightly vicissitudes of the elite competition at the Pala Alpitour arena. Evgeny Fedyakov.

The last segment of the route to the eighth title of the world number one at the end of the year was given to Novak Djokovic at the cost of great effort and two rackets broken in half by brutal blows of his left leg after failing in the tiebreaker of the second set. Not wanting to delay the final resolution of this issue until the next match, he, of course, could not play in complete relaxation with Holger Rune, a young, ambitious and skillful opponent. In addition, the Dane has been collaborating for several weeks with the former first racket of the world, German Boris Becker, who, working with Djokovic from 2013 to 2016, studied him well and still maintains friendly relations with him. It is not surprising that the evening meeting lasted more than three hours, had a special psychological overtones, and there was a moment when the Serbian victory, which looked almost certain after the first set, was in doubt.

However, in the decisive game, Djokovic strained himself a little and finally overcame his tenacious opponent. Being 16 years younger than the Serbian, Rune had difficulty moving his legs from non-stop running along the back line, back and forth, at the end of the game. The happy veteran also gave it his all. After giving a short interview on the court, Djokovic went for a mandatory massage and delayed the start of the press conference, which started at 1:40 a.m. Turin time.

The Serbian tennis player, of course, was asked if it could be said that this year is the best of his career?

“Not the best, but one of the best,” the main character of Sunday night smiled roguishly, on whose face fatigue was successfully combined with the pleasure of the work done. “And what I cannot call the best season, during which I won three Grand Slam tournaments, and on the fourth (Wimbledon.— “Kommersant”) reached the final, very glorious in its own way.”

In fact, this is the fourth time Djokovic has won three majors during the season (see reference). And from the point of view of stability of results, the pinnacle of his career was definitely 2015, which he finished with 11 titles and other outstanding indicators. The question is that Djokovic was 28 years old at the time, not 36, and he, having gained excellent shape, did almost everything he wanted against the backdrop of brilliant self-confidence. Djokovic’s current physical condition should also be considered outstanding for his age, but he knows that the body’s capabilities are not unlimited. Therefore, for a long time now it has been winning not by quantity, but by quality – just as Roger Federer did relatively recently.

The Nitto ATP Finals is Djokovic’s thirteenth tournament this year, if you count the September Davis Cup match against Spain, which he took the time to take part in a few days after his triumph at the US Open. And since Djokovic plans to go straight from Turin to Malaga for the Davis Cup finals to help the Serbian team win the Silver Salad Bowl again 13 years after their first triumph, in total he will de facto have one more tournament played than in the past season.

How carefully and rationally Djokovic treats himself can be judged by looking at the list of tournaments he has played by category.

Surprisingly, since January the Serbian has held only four out of nine “masters” – Monte Carlo, Rome, Cincinnati and Paris. He missed not only Indian Wells and Miami, the last competitions he could not play in because he was unvaccinated against the coronavirus, but also Madrid, Toronto and Shanghai. His schedule also included two 250 tournaments, the Dubai 500 and, of course, all four majors on which Djokovic made his main bet. And with such a truncated set, he has already managed to take six titles – to Australian Open, Roland Garros, US Open, in Adelaide, Cincinnati and Paris, ahead of all representatives of the two younger generations, currently led by 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz and 27-year-old Daniil Medvedev. One cannot help but be surprised and admire such a masterful grasp.

And here is another fact that speaks of the uniqueness of the current leader of the world rankings. After the match against Rune, he had 254 victories over opponents from the top ten of the world rankings. Meanwhile, the seven remaining Nitto ATP Finals competitors have just 188 such wins. However, is this surprising if the oldest of them, Medvedev, is nine years younger than the Serb?

Djokovic also looks impressive compared to his famous predecessors. The second most number of seasons in first place in the ATP rankings is American Pete Sampras, who has finished first six times in a row since 1993. American Jimmy Connors, Swiss Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal finished first in five years. But similar statistics on the number of weeks look even more impressive.

This coming Monday, November 20, Djokovic will celebrate his anniversary – a total of 400 weeks in first place.

Next come Federer (310), Sampras (286), Czech-American Ivan Lendl (270), Connors (268) and Nadal (209). That is, here the Serb left the Spaniard far behind him much earlier than in their most fundamental rivalry – for the record number of victories at Grand Slam tournaments, of which Djokovic had 24 this year, and Nadal had 22 left.

But the current king of tennis, of course, will try not to deny himself the pleasure of surpassing the Spaniard by more than two times. He has 18 weeks left to do this, which is about four and a half months, or just a blink compared to 400 weeks.

Evgeniy Fedyakov