Novak Djokovic arrives fresh as a lettuce to the ATP Finals in Turin that start this Sunday. Of the eight qualified for the tournament that brings the curtain down on the course, the Serbian He is the one who has played the fewest tournaments and matches throughout the season.
The 24 Grand Slam champion He has played a total of 56 matches since January, spread over 12 tournaments. For comparison, Carlos Alcaraz has accumulated 73 matches and 16 events in his legs; Daniil Medvedev has the record for matches so far this year with 80; and Alexander Zverev has been present in up to 27 tournaments since January.
Logically, landing in Turin for the Masters Cup with fewer kilometers on his legs is an advantage for Djokovic, who at 36 years old is, by far, the oldest of all. The one who comes closest is Medvedev, with 27. Every gram of energy saved throughout the year is noticeable at the ATP Finals, a tournament to which the stars normally arrive with their tongues hanging out. Or they don’t even arrive at all, victims of fatigue and injuries.
MEDVEDEV IS THE ONE WHO HAS PLAYED THE MOST IN 2023
Number of matches and tournaments played in 2023 by each of the tennis players qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. The order corresponds to the 2023 race ranking.
One of the reasons that has led Djokovic to play so few tournaments in 2023 has been the coronavirus vaccine. His decision not to get vaccinated prevented him from playing the American spring tour of Indian Wells and Miami, two tournaments that have always been fixtures on his calendar. However, The Serbian also missed other big events that the rest of the tennis players are obliged to play by contract.: We are talking about the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Canada and Shanghai. The number one decided to skip those three events and has also only played one ATP 500.
Rule 1.09 of the ATP regulations
According to the rules, the best tennis players on the circuit are required to play the four Grand Slams, eight of the nine Masters 1000 (the exception is Monte Carlo) and at least four ATP500 category tournaments., one of them after the US Open. If they do not comply, they must have a medical justification. Djokovic has played the big four – he won three and in the other, Wimbledon, he reached the final -, four Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo, Rome, Cincinnati and Paris) and one ATP500, the one in Dubai. In addition, he played the ATP250 in Adelaide and Banja Luka and the Davis Cup in Valencia.
“I have the luxury of being able to decide which tournaments I want to play, choose the calendar to have my peak performance in the tournaments that are my big goals”
Novak Djokovic No. 1 in the world ranking
What happens then so that Djokovic can choose the calendar as he pleases while the rest of the circuit is squeezed throughout the year? The answer must be found in the ATP regulations, specifically in the 1.08 standardwhich was designed to benefit tennis players who have been on the circuit for many years.
“The number of mandatory Masters 1000 tournaments for a player will be reduced by one tournament for reaching each of the following milestones: 600 matches, 12 years of service and 30 years old“, reads the regulations of the men’s circuit. That is, any player who meets one of these requirements can skip one of the eight mandatory Masters 1000.
Djokovic’s case – like that of Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray, for example – is even more special because He has played 1,293 games, 20 seasons in his career and is 36 years old. “If a player meets all three conditions, he has a full exemption for the mandatory Masters 1000″, clarifies rule 1.08.
How Djokovic has taken advantage of it
The 24 Grand Slam champion has been meeting these three requirements for many years, specifically since 2017. Just that year he played very few games – 41 – due to an elbow injury that caused him to miss practically half of the season. Since 2018, he has considerably reduced the number of games played without this having affected him when it comes to winning big titles.. On the contrary: the fact of skipping the tournaments that he wanted has allowed him to avoid injuries and accumulate fatigue to arrive at the Grand Slam as best prepared as possible.
DJOKOVIC PLAYS MUCH LESS THAN A DECADE AGO
Matches per year that Novak Djokovic has played throughout his career. The year of the pandemic has not been taken into account.
As can be seen in this graph, Djokovic played 97 games in the 2009 season and 89 in 2015, his two most prolific years in number of matches played. Since he meets the three requirements established by the ATP, he has not gone over 69.
“Now I have the luxury of being able to decide which tournaments I want to play, choose the calendar to have my peak performance in the tournaments that are my big goals.“Nole himself pointed out a few days ago during the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000. And those objectives are, obviously, the four Grand Slams: Australia, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.
There are two pieces of information that prove this. Djokovic won his first 12 Grand Slams between 2008 and 2016 and he has conquered the other 12 between 2018 and 2023. If until 2016 he missed only seven Masters 1000s, since he meets those requirements he has missed 21. Less Djokovic is more Djokovic. While the rest of the tennis players push themselves, he measures, aims and shoots.
Nacho Encabo is a sports editor at Relevo, a specialist in tennis and the Olympic Games. Born in Madrid, he studied Journalism and Audiovisual Communication at the Rey Juan Carlos University and began as an intern in the sports section of El Mundo in 2011. Knowing German shortly after opened the doors of the dpa agency, where he worked as a special envoy to the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the 2016 Euro Cup in France and the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In addition, adding Relay and the rest of his career, he has covered the four tennis Grand Slams, the Davis Cup , athletics world championships, Formula 1 Grand Prix and countless LaLiga and Champions League matches. He has also worked as a reporter at El Independiente and traveled to the Tokyo Olympics on the Spanish Olympic Committee team. …
David Acosta is a Big Data engineer in Relevo’s data department. He studied Industrial Electronic and Automatic Engineering at the UPC of Terrassa and the Master of Sports Big Data at UCAM. He has previously worked for You First Sport, one of the most important representation agencies in the country, performing analysis and scouting tasks. Specialized in data extraction, automation and analysis, wherever he is, he always tries to find the hidden value of players through statistics. …
2023-11-10 10:42:23
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