Djokovic wins the ATP Finals and thus shows that he is still out of category

Novak Djokovic ended a turbulent tennis season by winning the ATP Finals in Turin. It’s already the 35-year-old Serb’s sixth title at the year-end tournament, which is clearly not worn out yet. He beat Casper Ruud in the final 7-5, 6-3.

Djokovic missed the Australian Open and the US Open this year, among other things, because he was denied access to Australia and the United States. This because he did not want to be vaccinated against coronavrius.

He won the title at Wimbledon this season. No world ranking points could be earned there this year, after it was learned that tennis players from Russia and Belarus were not welcome in London.

The tennis player from Belgrade therefore missed a mountain of points for the ranking and fell to eighth place. By winning the final, he finished the year in fifth place.

But Djokovic, 35, now the oldest winner of the ATP Finals, still belongs to the outdoor category. This fall, he won the tournaments in Tel-Aviv, Nur-Sultan and lost the final of the masters tournament in Paris.

Djokovic felt like a fish in water this week on the hard and fast court in Turin. After a narrow victory over Daniil Medvedev in the first group match, the Serb started to run, with a solid performance in the final as the highlight.

Ruud hadn’t won a set in all three mutual duels with Djokovic, including last year in the final. Now the Norwegian was close to winning the set, but things turned sour at 5-6: Djokovic reached the set point at 30-30 thanks to a lucky netball and struck.

The set win apparently worked liberatingly for Djokovic, as Ruud was hardly involved afterwards. With six victories in the year-end tournament (his first title dates back to 2008), Djokovic is on par with record holder Roger Federer. This is his 91st tournament win.

The tennis season is not over yet, as next week the Davis Cup final will be played in Malaga, Spain. The Netherlands will face Australia in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.