By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, October 13, 2024
Photo: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty
Novak Djokovic has applied artistic deconstruction capturing 24 Grand Slam titles.
Seeing Djokovic trying to break down Jannik the Sinner in today’s final in shanghai it was like watching a former heavyweight champion try to eliminate his shadow.
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The Grand Slam king took his shots, but world No. 1 Sinner hit the backs to record a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory over fourth-ranked Djokovic in today’s Rolex Shanghai Masters final.
Cementing his status as the best player in the world, Sinner captured his seventh title of the season, improving to 7-1 in finals and raising his difficult 2024 record against Top 5 opposition to 8-2 .
Since losing to Djokovic at the ATP Finals in Turin last November, Sinner has beaten the 10-time Australian Open champion three times in a row and won four of their last five meetings to level head-to-head with four wins apiece.
Asked to assess the similarities between himself and Sinner, Djokovic cited three key components between the two former standout young skiers:
1. Balance from forehand and backhand and power with point-finish outside each arm.
2. Both are grassroots players who developed games across all fields and sharpened their serves throughout their careers.
3. The ability to catch the baseline and get the ball on the rise empowers both men to squeeze the reaction time of opponents and “suffocate” them during the course of baseline rallies.
“Every round, you know, every shot (of Sinner) was in play,” Djokovic said. “He’s improved his serve tremendously, I think that’s become a huge weapon. He’s just very aggressive from the baseline, as soon as he has a shorter ball, he takes the initiative.
“Just very solid from the forehand and backhand, doesn’t make too many mistakes and just tries to take the opponent’s time away.
“You know, that’s something that reminds me of myself throughout my career, that’s what I’ve done for so many years consistently, you know, playing fast-paced tennis, taking time away from the opponent, suffocating the opponent, if you will, in a certain way.”
As a trio of former world No. 1s—Carlos Alcaraz, his coach Juan Carlos Ferrero and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer—looked on, the 23-year-old Sinner was separated from the four-time Shanghai champion. denying Djokovic his 100th career championship.
A year ago, Djokovic won three of four Grand Slams with only Alcaraz’s dramatic upset in the Wimbledon final stopping the Serb from making history as the first man to win the calendar Grand Slam since Rocket Rod Laver in 1969.
This year, Sinner and Alcaraz shared the Grand Slam spoils.
Djokovic says Sinner’s powerful presence and championship consistency are key to his spectacular season, becoming the first Italian player to secure the No. 1 of the world at the end of the ATP season.
“That’s what you want, you want your opponents to always feel under pressure from your shots, from your speed, from your presence on the court,” Djokovic said. “So he has that, I mean, this year he’s been so consistent, it’s really, really impressive.”
