Paris: A day after he broke the tie with American legend Pete Sampras for the most number of year-end world No.1 finishes on the ATP Rankings, Serbian star Novak Djokovic recorded his fifth title of the year in Paris, taking sweet revenge over Russian Daniil Medvedev, defeating the world No.2 and defending champion 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 here.
Djokovic, who had rallied to defeat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in the Paris Masters semifinals to clinch a record seventh year-end world No.1 finish on Saturday (November 6), avenged his US Open final loss to Medvedev for a record-breaking 37th ATP Masters 1000 crown in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
It was the 14th time this season that Djokovic rallied to victory from a set down to capture his sixth Paris Masters title. It was also the first Paris Masters final to feature the top-two players on the ATP Rankings since 1990.
Djokovic said that he studied the footage of the US Open loss to Medvedev to understand where he had gone wrong against the Russian at Flushing Meadows. Djokovic was on course for a calendar Grand Slam before he was derailed by world No. 2 Medvedev in the final.
“I went back and reviewed the final of the US Open to see what I did wrong and what I did right,” Djokovic told the Tennis Channel late on Sunday evening. “I tried to read the patterns of his serve and the ball toss, maybe. I tried to look for the small details, because it was a match of small margins. He started better, broke my serve in the first game and I came back. He served the first set out pretty comfortably, but I felt as if I was there.
“I thought it was only a matter of time when I was going to read his serve better, and start to make some plays. You can’t go through him. You have to find a way to play with controlled aggression, play the right shots at the right time and make him come in. It’s variety that wins matches against him. We both suffered on the court and there was a lot of gruelling rallies,” added Djokovic.
Djokovic also broke his tie with Spain’s Rafael Nadal with whom he shared the record for the most number of Masters 1000 titles at 36 before the Serb won his 37th title on Sunday evening.
Asked about his serve-volley tactics, Djokovic said, “He (Medvedev) stands so far back in the court, so you try to open up the court with wide serves and come in. You still have to play some half volleys, some low volleys and come in, but you have the whole of the court to play with.”
The two players now take their rivalry to Turin where they play the elite Nitto ATP Finals, to be held November 14-21.
(IANS)