Record-Breaker Novak Djokovic Claims Seventh ATP Finals Crown

Novak Djokovic claimed another record on Sunday with his seventh ATP Finals title, sweeping aside local hero Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-3 in Turin and leaving tennis fans wondering when he will end his tennis dominance . Djokovic entered the Finals at the end of an age-defying year that brought three Championships, taking his total to an all-time best of 24, and his 40th Masters 1000 title. He will mark his 400th week at world number one after capping off an incredible season – which also saw him reach the Wimbledon final – beating the retired Roger Federer in victories at the season-ending tournament.

The 36-year-old claimed his crown of excellence when he beat the game’s two best young players in Sinner and bested semi-finalist Carlos Alcaraz, showing he still has plenty to give with the Paris Olympics around the corner and her gold medal the only major title missing from her honors list.

“Very special, one of the best seasons I’ve had in my life, without a doubt. It’s amazing to win against the hometown hero Jannik, who played great tennis all week,” said Djokovic.

“I am very proud of the performances in the last two days against Alcaraz and Sinner, they are probably the two best players in the world, next to me and Medvedev at the moment. up.”

Sinner was looking to become the first ever Italian to win the Finals and he looked like the right man to do it after his impressive group stage win over Djokovic.

But the 22-year-old, like Alcaraz in Saturday’s semi-final, was unable to handle Djokovic, a man on a mission to reach his best form at the right time in the tournament.

However, it is a testament to how far Sinner, a four-time winner this year, has come in the past year that the fate of Djokovic’s tournament was in his hands at the end of the group stage, when Holger Rune would win after the Serb home soon.

Djokovic recorder

Djokovic’s sin saved his skin and ultimately paid off in the final, but the quality of his performances at the Pala Alpitour has given Italy plenty of hope and suggests he should be a Grand Slam contender next season .

“We have seen today that there is still a lot to work on… but we can look at the positives from this season,” said Sinner.

“When I started this season I was one type of player, now I am another. Let’s see how we go next season.”

Djokovic took control early in the match, breaking Sinner at the first opportunity in game four and then serving comfortably in the opening set.

His dominance was such that Djokovic silenced a partisan crowd that had been cheering for all of Sinner’s games, and he immediately broke serve again at the start of the second set.

He completed 14 straight points from the start of the final game of the first set into the third game of the second, which Sinner eventually won to hold his serve.

Sinner looked like he was going to be walked but showed huge heart and brought the crowd to their feet when he held serve in game seven, a 15-minute mini-epic in which Djokovic had two break points, to hold on 4 -3.

In the end though he couldn’t hold off Djokovic and conceded the match in disappointing fashion with a double fault.

Earlier, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury retained their doubles title as they cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

The US Open champions retained their crown with a near-perfect campaign in Turin, unbeaten in their five matches.

American Ram and Briton Salisbury took their winning streak at the season-ending tournament to 10 games after also going undefeated in last year’s title.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and has been automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)