15 years after Novak Djokovic won his first ATP Finals, he’s still dominant

NEW YORK – For Novak Djokovic, his 2008 season, just a few years after he turned pro, was great by any measure. It was his breakout year.

He not only won his first of six ATP Finals, but he also began the year taking the Australian Open, the first of his 10 titles there and

what would become 24 Grand Slams overall.

In the semi-finals in Melbourne he upset the top seed, Roger Federer, and beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.

Djokovic also reached the last four at the French Open, where he fell to Rafael Nadal, and the US Open, where he lost to Federer, also in the semi-finals. The Serb was just 21 at the time.

By season’s end, he had won two other tournaments – Masters 1000s in Indian Wells, California and Rome.

That year solidified Djokovic as a bona fide member of what was to become known as the “Big Three”, alongside Federer and Nadal.

“He played like a beast,” Nikolay Davydenko, who lost to Djokovic 6-1, 7-5 in the 2008 final in Shanghai, said in October. “He’s a good runner, had good control and the best concentration on the tour. I had no chance.”

Now, 15 years later, Djokovic, 36, is still leading the sport and

enters the ATP Finals as the top seed.

This season has once again been one of his best. For the fourth time in his career he won three of the four Grand Slams.

He heads into the season-ending ATP Finals with a 51-5 record.

Last Sunday, he captured his seventh Paris Masters championship and 40th career Masters 1000 title.

The ATP Finals begin on Sunday in Turin, Italy, where Djokovic will try to win the event for a record seventh time.

His chief rival is the second seed, Carlos Alcaraz, who spoilt his chance to become the third man to attain the calendar Grand Slam by beating him in July’s Wimbledon final.

But the Spaniard has not won a tournament since the summer and was forced to pull out of an ATP event in Basel in October because of injury.

The 20-year-old 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 defending champion, having beaten Casper Ruud in the final in 2022.

“I obviously had a fantastic year so far,” Djokovic said. “I couldn’t ask for a better season.

“One match away from winning all four Slams is something I would sign (up) right away at the beginning of the season if someone told me that would be the case.”

He enters the ATP Finals as the all-time leader in weeks ranked No. 1 with 398. He could reach a milestone 400 weeks the day after the event ends.

The Serb has ended the year at No. 1 seven times, one more than Pete Sampras, who did it from 1993 to 1998. All he has to do is win one round-robin match at the ATP Finals to become 2023’s No. 1, ahead of Alcaraz.

In three of the six years that Djokovic has won the ATP Finals, he ended the year top ranked. The only time his year-end No. 1 ranking came down to the championship match at the ATP Finals was in 2016, when he lost to Andy Murray, who took the year-end No. 1.

These days, Djokovic stays motivated by the Grand Slams and by retaining his ranking. Stan Wawrinka, who has played the veteran almost 30 times, knows the vagaries of competing against Djokovic at the year-end championship.

“For me, it was something special to play Novak,” the three-time Slam champion said from the Paris Masters. “Playing him indoors, when he’s really focused and motivated, was always a big challenge.

“His game is amazing on all surfaces, but I would say indoors, that’s where he’s at his best.”

Meanwhile, Murray has parted ways with his long-time coach Ivan Lendl for a third time, the former world No. 1 confirmed on Friday.

Lendl had helped the Scot to his three Grand Slam titles and teamed up with him again in 2022. Their latest split was mutual, they said. NYTIMES, REUTERS