In a rosier world, Novak Djokovic should have arrived at this year-end tournament a little more physically drained. The tournament in Turin was supposed to get underway immediately at the end of the ATP tournament in Tel Aviv, which was cancelled due to the war in Israel, and in which the Serbian was supposed to take part once more. That didn't happen, some would say that Djokovic's participation was in doubt anyway, and so the greatest tennis player in history had a week to arrive in Italy as prepared as possible.
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Whether out of Mordechai's love or hatred of Haman, there is no one who does not wait for Djokovic's decline. It is no longer about the one who will take his place or the younger generation who will gain control of the top of tennis, but about finding a small piece of vulnerability that may still exist in this superhuman creature, who at the age of 36 and a half leaves this number no chance of posing any problem for him, even the slightest.
On Sunday, the Serbian added a seventh-year-end title to his monstrous trophy cabinet, overtaking Roger Federer, who had six. Of course, even before his win, Djokovic had promised to close out an eighth year ranked number one in the world – more than anyone before him.
After sweeping Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals in two sets that made everyone wonder for the umpteenth time which was older and which was the freshest 20-year-old, he met Italy's Jannik Sinner in the final – the hottest name in the sport at the moment after those two, and in front of the home crowd in Turin avenged his loss in the group stage of the tournament.
"It's one of the best seasons of my career without a doubt," the Serbian concluded, and he knows what he's talking about. A set away from winning all four Grand Slams, seven titles, and an astonishing 6:55 record. You can't argue with numbers, certainly not the ones you get in the second half of your fourth decade. "It's been a phenomenal week," he added, "I'm proud of how I played against Alcaraz and Sinner, the local hero - the two best players in the world by my side at the moment."
Every sports legend will experience in the later stages of his career some kind of decline, it's natural, it happens, it's known. Federer wasn't the same Federer in the last few years before retirement, Rafael Nadal hasn't played for almost a year and is expected to hang up the racket next year, and there's that one, which, like the best wine they've ever produced, only gets better with time.
12 titles. That's the amount Novak Djokovic now lacks to achieve the only title he's missing – the all-time tournament winner. Yesterday's trophy was his 98th overall, ahead of only Federer (103) and the legendary Jimmy Connors at the top (109). He'll get there too.
Djokovic missed the Tel Aviv tournament, especially us, and some of us are still waiting for his reaction and that of other senior figures in the tennis world to the difficult events in Israel, including his good friend, the Israeli tennis player Andy Ram. So far, that's not happening, because Djokovic, for his part, continues to do only one thing, which he does and has done the best in history - play tennis.
#NovakDjokovic 🎾 Except for #Wimbledon this year, he has won it all. What a champion🫡 pic.twitter.com/OFw2OI6ifR
— Devanayagam (@Devanayagam) November 19, 2023
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