Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner beat Serbian Novak Djokovic (No. 4) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in the final of the Shanghai Masters 1000 on Sunday, his third title in this category in 2024.
Sinner, who had already secured himself the title of No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Saturday, thus achieved his 65th victory of the season with just six defeats, improving his performance for 2023. This year, in addition to his Grand Slam victories at the Australian Open and the US Open, the Shanghai event marks his third Masters 1000, after Miami and Cincinnati.
Since Rafael Nadal in 2018, no other tennis player has won three Masters 1000 titles in a single season. In total, Sinner now has seven titles in 2024. After the match, Sinner described his rival as a “legend” who continues to play “incredible tennis year after year.”
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Djokovic experienced the other side of the coin and was unable to add what would have been the 100th title of his career. The Serbian, gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, had not played in a final on the ATP circuit since his defeat against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon in July.
“He was just too good today, too strong, too fast,” Djokovic said of the Italian. In a very evenly divided first set, neither player managed to break their opponent’s serve, although in the tie-break Sinner quickly took control, moving ahead 5-1 and closing out the set with his second set point.
A very tough year for Sinner
The second set was more decided in favor of the Italian, who took a 40-15 lead in the fourth game, in which Djokovic was serving. The Serb saved the first break point with an ace but was unable to avoid the second, scoring on a backhand from Sinner.
Ahead 3-1 on the scoreboard, the Italian relied on his serve to close out the set and win the match after 1 hour and 37 minutes.
With this result, Sinner draws level with Djokovic at 4-4, after having achieved four victories in the last five meetings between the two players.
But it is not all good news for Sinner, who is still haunted by two positive results for clostebol, an anabolic steroid derived from testosterone, in tests carried out last March.
In August, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared Sinner after accepting the explanation of accidental contamination. The Italian claimed that the small amounts of clostebol detected came from his physiotherapist, who used an over-the-counter spray to treat a cut on his finger and contaminated the tennis player when massaging him.
However, in September, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced that it had appealed the decision and requested a “one to two-year” suspension.
This news came while Sinner was participating in the Beijing tournament, where he lost the final against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
He deserved to win
“I feel I am strong when I go out on the court trying not to think about it… When I wake up I try to concentrate on any match or training session, but of course, I have moments when I think about it, which is not comfortable,” added the Italian.
Djokovic, for his part, said in a press conference that Sinner played “the important points better” and that “he deserved to win.”
Following Nadal’s retirement announcement on Thursday, Djokovic is the only player left active from what was considered the golden era of tennis, completed by the Swiss Roger Federer.
