15 years after winning his first ATP Finals, Novak Djokovic is still dominant
For Novak Djokovichis 2008 season, just a few years after turning pro, was amazing anyway. It was his breakthrough year.
Not only did he win his first of six ATP Finals, he also began 2008 by winning the Australian Open, the first of his ten titles there, taking his total to 24 major championships.
In the semi-finals, he defeated the top favorite, Roger Federer, and defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. Djokovic also reached the semi-finals of the French Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal, and the United States Open, where he lost to Federer, also in the semi-finals. Djokovic was only 21 at the time.
By the end of the season, Djokovic had won two more tournaments, including Masters 1000s in Indian Wells and Rome. That year, Djokovic cemented his position as a full member of what would later become known as the Big Three, alongside Federer and Nadal.
“He played like a beast,” Nikolai Davydenkowho lost 6-1, 7-5 to Djokovic in Shanghai in 2008, said by email last month: “He is a good rider, had good control and the best concentration on tour. I had no chance.”
Now, 15 years later, Djokovic, 36, is still the leader of the sport and heads into the final as the top favorite. This year has been another of his best. For the fourth time in his career, he has won three of the four majors and heads into the ATP Finals with a 51-5 record. Last Sunday his seventh prisoner The Paris Masters championship and the 40th Masters 1000 title of his career, with a three-set victory over Grigor Dimitrov.
The ATP Finals begin Sunday at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, where Djokovic will attempt to win the event for a record seventh time. His main rival is second seed Carlos Alcaraz, who ruined Djokovic’s chance to become only the third man to achieve the Grand Slam when Alcaraz defeated him in the Wimbledon final in July.
But Alcaraz has not won a tournament since the summer and was forced to withdraw from an ATP event in Basel, Switzerland, last month due to foot and lower back problems. He was then upset in his opening match at the Paris Masters by qualifier Roman Safiullin.
The six other singles players in the round-robin competition are Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Holger Rune. Djokovic is the reigning champion, having defeated Casper Ruud in the 2022 final.
“I’ve obviously had a fantastic year so far,” Djokovic said just before the start of the Paris Masters last month. “I couldn’t have asked for a better season. To be one match away from winning all four Grand Slams is something I would sign up for [up] “If someone told me that at the beginning of the season, I would do it straight away.”
Djokovic enters the ATP Finals as the all-time leader in weeks spent at No. 1 with 398. He could reach a milestone of 400 weeks the day after the event concludes. He has finished the year at No. 1 seven times, one more than Pete Sampras, who did so from 1993-98. All he needs to do is win one round-robin match at the Finals to become No. 1 this year, ahead of Alcaraz.
In three of the six years that Djokovic has won the ATP Finals, he has finished the year as the best. The only time his year-end No. 1 ranking depended on the championship match at the ATP Finals was in 2016, when he lost to Andy Murray, who took the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Today, Djokovic stays motivated by the majors and maintaining his ranking. Stan Wawrinka, who has played Djokovic nearly 30 times, knows the vagaries of competing against Djokovic at the year-end championships.
“For me it was something special to play Novak in the World Tour Finals,” Wawrinka said of the Paris Masters. “It was always a big challenge to play him indoors, when he is really focused and motivated. His game is great on all surfaces, but I would say he is at his best indoors.”
