Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic won the Champions Tournament for the sixth time and equaled the record of Swiss Roger Federer.
The 35-year-old native of Belgrade defeated Nor Casper Ruud 7:5, 6:3 in the final in Turin and won the highest one-time prize in the history of tennis. As the undefeated winner, he received a check for 4,740,300 dollars (over 111 million crowns).
Djokovic and Ruud did not lose a set even in their fourth match against each other. The final event of the season on the ATP Tour was dominated by the eighth player in the world ranking already in 2008 and 2012 to 2015 and is also its youngest winner.
“I’ve been waiting for this for seven years, that’s why today’s win is sweeter,” Djokovic gushed. By winning the prestigious trophy, he crowned a season in which he lost the Australian Open and the US Open, but won Wimbledon, due to his rejection of the covid-19 vaccination.
“I was tired of having to wait to see if I was going to play in tournaments or not. It’s a relief and a satisfaction,” the owner of 21 Grand Slam titles and the long-time world No. 1 breathed a sigh of relief.
Against Ruud, he used two break points out of five, he didn’t offer him any himself. The first set was decided by winning service in the twelfth game, the second in the fourth.
“The little things made the difference. We both served well, Casper played excellently from the start. But I stayed focused the whole time. I’m very satisfied,” Djokovic gloated.
With his sixth triumph at the Tournament of Champions, he broke away from Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. He can even surpass Federer, as the legendary Swiss retired in September.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury won the doubles for the first time at the Tournament of Champions. In today’s final, the American-British pair defeated the Croatian pair of Nikola Mektič and Ante Pavič 7:6 and 6:4.
Ram and Salisbury won the first set in a tie-break with a ratio of 7:4. They decided the second set in the beginning, when they took the lead 3:1 and kept the advantage until the end. They lost only two sets in five matches en route to the triumph.
The 38-year-old Ram won the title in the final event of the season on his third attempt. Last year, he failed with Salisbury, for whom it was then a premiership finals appearance. In 2016, he failed to reach the final alongside South African Raven Klaasen.
Tennis Tournament of Champions in Turin (hard surface, $14.75 million endowment):
Singles – Final: Djokovic (7-Serb.) – Ruud (3-Nor.) 7:5, 6:3.
Doubles – Final: Ram, Salisbury (2-USA/Brit.) – Mektic, Pavic (4-Croatia) 7:6 (7:4), 6:4.
