Novak Djokovic won the final of the ATP Finals on Sunday (November 19th, 2023) in Turin 6:3, 6:3 against Jannik Sinner. Djokovic is now the sole record winner at the ATP Finals.
The world number one converted his first match point after 1:43 hours. For Djokovic it was the seventh title at the end of the season among the best eight tennis professionals of a season. It is a triumph that makes him the record winner at the ATP Finals. He had previously been tied with Roger Federer (six titles).
Djokovic once again wrote tennis history, as he did with his Grand Slam titles 22 to 24 this year in Melbourne, Paris and New York. Only at Wimbledon was he defeated in the final by the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz – the “Djoker” is still the measure of all things.
In the preliminary round, Djokovic lost to Sinner
Djokovic and Sinner had already met in the preliminary round, and the result was quite a surprise. Sinner won after more than three hours and in three sets, it was his first win ever against Djokovic. Sinner was unable to repeat this success when they met again in the final.
Djokovic only made it through the preliminary round because Sinner had also won against the young Danish star Holger Rune, trained by Boris Becker, at the end of the group phase.
Of course, there was no sign of Djokovic’s gratitude in the final. Quite the opposite: The record Grand Slam champion gave Sinner, who was previously unbeaten in this tournament, a lesson. Powerful, dominant, fully concentrated – at times you could almost see a class difference between Djokovic and Sinner.
Djokovic was unstoppable in the final
After just 38 minutes, Djokovic took the first set. Sinner looked desperately at his team in the stands. But Djokovic, who had already outclassed Alcaraz in two sets in the semifinals, was simply unstoppable that evening. In the second round, the world number one immediately managed another break.
The Italian fans tried to push Sinner again with chants, but that didn’t help either. With the score at 3:2, the Italian missed two break chances that could have brought him back into the match. But Djokovic survived this small phase of weakness and was no longer deterred on the way to the title.
Sinner on Djokovic: “He is a legend”
After his preliminary round success, Sinner also spoke about Djokovic in an interview with Sportschau. Sinner said: “What Djokovic is doing is incredibly impressive. He is a legend and his list of achievements is fantastic.”