Life goes by and Novak Djokovic never gets tired of winning. He began 2023 with the Australian Open, to win his twenty-second Grand Slam title and tie with Rafael Nadal, whom he already surpasses in two majors, and concludes it with his seventh masters tournament, remaining alone at the head of this list after leaving back to Roger Federer. When time was supposed to start chasing him, Djokovic, 36, exhibits amazing strength. In less than 24 hours, the world number 1 has passed Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, aged 20 and 22, second and fourth in the rankings.. Also champion at Roland Garros and the United States Open, as well as in Cincinnati, Paris-Bercy and Adelaide, he finishes the course with more titles than anyone else, seven, and is comfortably installed in first place in the ranking, where he concludes for his eighth season.. He still has the possibility of winning the Davis Cup again with Serbia, the final phase of which begins this Tuesday in Malaga.
He beat the Italian by a double 6-3, in one hour and 48 minutes, four days after he managed to defeat him, for the first time, in the group stage. No one had beaten the Serbian twice in this tournament: not Alexander Zverev, who lost in the 2018 round robin but beat him in the final of the tournament; nor Roger Federer, who beat him in the 2015 group stage only to lose in the final; nor Nikolay Davydenko, who lost in the round robin and in the 2008 final. Sinner was not going to achieve it either, who appeared in this Sunday's game with unusual presence.
In case there was any doubt after his three victories in the group stage, he held his own in the semifinal against Daniil Medvedev, who had a difficult time after losing the second set. Under the inertia of the best week of his career, despite showing obvious symptoms of fatigue, he finished off the Russian. Merciless from the first ball, Djokovic closed any debate with a majestic performance, perhaps one of the best in memory. Cruel fate for Sinner, who, overcoming his physical problems, with his victory against Holger Rune in the last match of the Green Group rescued a Djokovic who was out of the tournament.
Appeased public
The one from Belgrade, who scored 10 consecutive points at the start of the second set, had already silenced the audience that filled the 13,000 seats at the Pala Alpitour with an unusual start. All of Sinner's merits seemed to belong to a distant past. Sharp with each ball, electric with his legs and with an efficiency in the service typical of a specialist, he left the set with 10 winners and only two unforced errors. The Italian only had to barely stay in the game and not leave it with a embarrassing score.
He also did not look for solutions, when he had shown throughout the week that he can play at different speeds. Trying to beat Djokovic by continually going hard, without an alternative proposal that could make him uncomfortable, only widened the highway along which the Balkan man ran with the success of his approach.. Away from the baseline, rowing from side to side, Sinner proved harmless. He only raised his voice in the sixth game of the second set, with two balls that would have given him the tie at three. As happened to Alcaraz in Saturday's semifinal, he was unable to take advantage of them, replicated by two Nole winners that he was not able to subtract.
Always with water up to his neck, threatened on five occasions with remaining a astronomical distance away on the scoreboard, if the San Candido tennis player offered anything, erratic in the face of some concessions from Djokovic in the second set, it was dedication and dignity, virtues of which He will always be able to brag about his admirable attitude towards Rune, but on this occasion they were not enough baggage to defeat the man whom he had saved from shipwreck.