Novak Djokovic celebrated his year-end No 1 finish in an unusual way as he took to Instagram Live and broke out into a dance before making an emotional speech about the “difficult” achievement. The Serb extended his own record by ending the season atop the rankings for the eighth time, sealing the achievement with his opening ATP Finals win against Holger Rune on Sunday evening.
Djokovic is still breaking records as the 2023 season draws to a close – this time securing his eighth year-end No 1 finish. On his day off at the ATP Finals on Monday he took to the court to accept a trophy for his feat – and he enjoyed some celebrations before and after the special moment too.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion took to Instagram Live to stream the moments before his presentation as he was filmed dancing in the tunnel leading out to the Centre Court at the Pala Alpitour, singing along to Show Me Love. Djokovic then took to the court to be awarded the year-end No 1 trophy for the eighth time as he gave a heartfelt speech about how tough it was to secure the top spot.
“Well it’s obviously the crown of the season. You know, finishing the year as No 1 in the world I think is the dream of every tennis player,” the 36-year-old said. “It’s one of the most difficult things to do in our sport. Obviously winning Grand Slams and being No 1 in the world are probably the pinnacles of the sport. It’s been a very long year for all the players and being able to stand here is a blessing.”
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Thanking his coach, physio and the rest of the team, Djokovic added: “It’s a team effort even though I’m standing by myself here on the court but I can’t wait to be celebrating with them. This is a tremendous success and a tremendous achievement and I’m very proud of it.”
And Djokovic did just that once he got off court, returning to his locker room at the ATP Finals to celebrate with Goran Ivanisevic and the rest of the team. The 97-time title winner was back on Instagram as he posted a new video of himself dancing and celebrating after collecting the trophy.
Ahead of this week’s ATP Finals, Djokovic confessed that securing the year-end No 1 ranking was his main goal ahead of defending his title at the tournament. He needed just one round-robin win to seal his fate and got the job done on day one, beating Holger Rune in a tight match 7-6(4) 6-7(1) 6-3.
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“For me, the biggest goal right now is to end the season as the No 1 player in the world, so hopefully I can clinch it,” Djokovic told ATP Media. “I need one win, so hopefully that happens. And then of course, I would love to win the tournament as well. But that’s the goal and then let’s see what happens afterwards.”
A six-time champion at the ATP Finals, Djokovic can now turn his attention to lifting the trophy for a seventh time. He faces Jannik Sinner in his second round-robin match on Tuesday and will take on Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday.
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