Almost assured of the throne at the end of the season, Djokovic will equal Pete Sampras

By dominating the Croatian Borna Coric 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the round of 16 of the Austrian tournament on Wednesday night, Novak Djokovic (almost) achieved his goal: To finish the year number one in the world.

Used to summits since he will equal the record of the American Pete Sampras, six times world number one at the end of the season between 1993 and 1998. The 33-year-old Serbian has already finished a season as world No. 1 at five times: in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018. "Sampras has been my idol throughout my youth and it will be fantastic to equal his record by finishing the year in place of world number one for the 6th year", breathed hot Djokovic He is now ahead of his rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer who have achieved this performance five times "only".

Nadal, in fact, could still deprive the Serbian of the throne, but his chances are almost zero since the king of Roland-Garros would have to win the Rolex Paris Masters, then in Sofia (from November 8 to 14, where he is not not engaged) and at the London Masters ...

38 wins for 2 losses

In this year 2020, marked by the Covid-19 health crisis, and cut off by five months of competition, the Serbian managed to win four titles (his eighth Australian Open in January, the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati and Rome, and the Dubai tournament) and lost just two matches.

The Roland-Garros final against Nadal and his disqualification against Carreno-Busta in the round of 16 of the US Open.

A stroke of blood and a black spot in a year also marked by the Adria Tour cluster, where the Serbian contracted Covid-19 and is controversial.

If he has not necessarily won all hearts yet, Djokovic, the "unloved" confirmed that he is indeed the undisputed boss of world tennis with for the moment a fabulous record of 38 wins for 2 defeats.

What to dream of still very big.

The future world number one, winner of 17 Grand Slam tournaments, also has in his sights Roger Federer's record for the number of weeks spent in place of N.1, or 310 weeks.

The Serb began his 292nd week at the top of world tennis on Monday.

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