By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Sunday, October 13, 2024
Photo credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty
Novak Djokovic has applied artistic deconstruction capturing 24 Grand Slam titles.
Seeing Djokovic trying to break down Jannik Sinner in today's Shanghai final was like watching a former heavyweight champion trying to knock out his own shadow.
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The Grand Slam king took his cracks, but world No. 1 Sinner struck stinging blows scoring a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over fourth-seeded Djokovic in today's Rolex Shanghai Masters final.
Solidifying his status as the world's best player, Sinner seized his seventh title of the season, improving to 7-1 in finals, and raised his 2024 hard-record vs. Top 5 opponents to 8-2.
Since losing to Djokovic in the ATP Finals in Turin last November, Sinner has beaten the 10-time Australian Open champion three times in a row and has won four of their last five meetings to level their head-to-head at four wins apiece.
Asked to assess the similarities between himself and Sinner, Djokovic cited three key components between the pair of former junior standout skiers:
1. Balance off forehand and backhand and point-ending power off either wing.
2. Both are baseliners who developed all-court games and sharpened their serves during their careers.
3. The skill of straddling the baseline and taking the ball on the rise empowers both men to squeeze opponents' reaction time and "suffocate" them over the course of baseline rallies.
"All around, you know, every shot [Sinner's] got in the game," Djokovic said. "He's improved his serve tremendously, I think that became a big weapon. He's just very aggressive from the baseline, as soon as he's got a shorter ball, he's taking the initiative.
"Just very solid from forehand and backhand, doesn't make too many mistakes, and just tries to take away the time from the opponent.
"You know, that's something that reminds me of myself throughout my career, that's what I've done for so many years consistently, you know, playing fast-paced tennis, taking away time from the opponent, kind of suffocating the opponent, if you want, in a certain way."
As a trio of former world No.1 champions—Carlos Alcaraz, his coach, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer—watched intently, the 23-year-old Sinner separated himself from the four-time Shanghai champion denying Djokovic his 100th career championship.
A year ago, Djokovic captured three of the four Grand Slams with only Alcaraz's dramatic Wimbledon final conquest stopping the Serbian from making history as the first man to win the calendar Grand Slam since Rocket Rod Laver in 1969.
This year, Sinner and Alcaraz have split the Grand Slam spoils.
Djokovic says Sinner's powerful presence and championship consistency are keys to his spectacular season becoming the first Italian man to secure the ATP season-ending world No. 1 ranking.
"That's what you want, you want your opponents always to feel under pressure from your shots, from your speed, from your presence on the court," Djokovic said. "So he's got that, I mean, this year he's been so consistent, it's really, really impressive."