The Tennis Tournament of Champions in Turin offered an extraordinary story. In the basic group, until then, the sovereign home favorite Jannik Sinner could remove the biggest threat – Novak Djokovic – from the game. He didn’t do that, he behaved in a sportsmanlike manner, and in the final he pecked. In the final rounds, the Serbian giant, as usual, set off for performances that could not be competed with. Until the tennis world accused him of witchcraft.
At the age of thirty-six, Djokovic scored another extraordinary success. He dominated the Tournament of Champions for the seventh time in his career, surpassing Roger Federer.
In the weekend duels in Turin’s Pala Alpitour convincingly defeated the biggest stars of the future, Carlos Alcaraz 6:3, 6:2 and Jannik Sinner 6:3, 6:3.
“Novak is the best player to ever touch a tennis racket. The best to ever walk the earth,” gasped admiringly Nick Kyrgios, the then-non-playing Australian who took on a new role, commentating on the matches for the Tennis Channel.
“No one will dispute that, Nick. Alcaraz has an 86 percent serve success rate, and yet he’s lost serve for the third time. What sorcery is this?” his fellow commentator Brett Haber wondered during Saturday’s semi-final against the young Spaniard. “It’s absurd,” replied the 2022 Wimbledon finalist.
The spells and lines of the Serbian genius were widely discussed even on Sunday, when Djokovic trampled Sinner with a phenomenal service performance.
He played thirteen aces and recorded an almost unprecedented record: he won 91 percent of the balls after his first serve.
In the unequivocal first set, the Italian played only two balls on the return, and only got to the only two break points – immediately averted without any problems – in the sixth game of the second act.
During the entire match, Djokovic made only five unforced errors. “Practically nothing could be done about it,” Sinner admitted his frustration after the game.
According to himself, the Serb completed “one of the best seasons of his career”. In it, he won three of the four Grand Slam titles of the season, he already has twenty-four titles in total, and is undauntedly the best tennis player in history. Even at the Tournament of Champions, however, he showed hunger and endless motivation.
“He is number one, but he always wants more. He constantly wants something more, something better,” described his coach Goran Ivanišević.
When it looked like there would be a change of government in world tennis after years, Djokovic stepped in again and matured into another of the younger generations.
He lost the Wimbledon final to Alcaraz, while Sinner ended his 19-match winning streak in the Champions League group stage.
However, it has been confirmed once again that Djokovic’s defeats stimulate him to unceasing progress. Even at an advanced sporting age, he is constantly developing, the word “satisfaction” is not in his vocabulary. And when someone defeats him, in the vast majority of cases, merciless retaliation follows.
“I’m very proud of my performances against Alcaraz and Sinner, probably the two best players in the world right now along with me and Medvedev. I’m proud of the way I played. I had to improve, I had to outplay them and not wait for them to give me victory. And that’s what I did. It was a phenomenal triumph,” said Djokovic after another of his entries in tennis history.
At the same time, the Serb did not have to advance to the final stage of the ATP Finals at all. After beating the young Holger Rune in three sets and falling to Sinner in an amazing battle, he did not have his progress from the main group all in his hands.
He also had the set taken from the Polish substitute Hubert Hurkacz and had to wait to see how Sinner behaved.
Even if the Italian had lost to Run, nothing would have changed in his progress, but the ticket to the semi-finals would have been snatched from Djokovic’s hands by the ambitious Dane.
Sinner has received praise for his clear rejection of all speculation and intrigue, similar to his tennis performances.
In the current season, the twenty-two-year-old player has won an incredible 61 matches, and next season he is expected to attack for the premier Grand Slam title. But it won’t be easy against the ageless Djokovic.
“His body is in incredible shape. We’ll see him in the best possible shape for many years to come,” Sinner predicted.
Djokovic confirmed his highest ambitions shortly after the end of the Tournament of Champions. According to his visualization, the year 2024 could be the year when he goes down in history with a feat that only the German Steffi Graf in 1988 was able to achieve.
He will aim for the so-called Golden Slam.
“I can still win the Olympics and all the Grand Slams in one year. I’ve always only had the highest goals and that won’t change next year either. I still want to do great things,” said Djokovic.
