Jannik Sinner made an ominous prediction as he claimed that Novak Djokovic would be hanging around for a few more years after the Serb clinched a record seventh ATP Finals crown. The world No 1 dispatched Sinner 6-3 6-3 in Sunday’s final, just five days after losing to the 22-year-old in the group stage. After another dominant season from Djokovic at the age of 36, Sinner believes that his rival isn’t going anywhere.
Djokovic capped off the year by winning the ATP Finals for the seventh time, surpassing the previous record of six titles that he shared with Roger Federer. It was also his seventh title of the season after he managed to set two other records – getting to 24 Grand Slam titles and 40 Masters 1000 crowns.
After a difficult round-robin stage which saw Djokovic dragged to three sets in all of his matches, making it out with a 2-1 record, the 36-year-old was sublime over the weekend. He dropped just 11 games across his matches with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, two of the game’s biggest young talents.
And Sinner doesn’t think that they will be able to get rid of Djokovic anytime soon, a gloomy prospect for the young players who are waiting to take over. Reeling off a list of the Serb’s achievements, the world No 4 said: “His body is in an incredible shape. We’re going to see him around for I don’t know how many years still.”
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While it meant that players like Sinner and Alcaraz could continue to lose some significant matches to the world No 1, the Italian also drew inspiration from Djokovic’s longevity and ability to stay so fit in the latter years of his career. He continued: “What I said on court is that he’s an inspiration because he worked throughout the whole years before when he was younger in the right way to get to this point.
“That’s also one of my goals, no? It’s not only about to watch one season. You watch this season, and you say, Okay, played good. But you have to play every season in a good way, and you have to get to a certain age, which is 35, 36, 37, whatever, and you can still feel the body in the right way.”
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With the sport becoming increasingly physical, Sinner explained that Djokovic had nailed the perfect balance with the mental side of things. “The match, it’s really physical now because the balls are getting so fast, you have to be physically ready,” he added.
“Also mentally you have to understand really fast what is happening. That’s what he’s doing at the moment better than anyone else. He won three Grand Slams out of four. He won end-of-year championship. He won Masters events. He played really, really good the important moments. He knows how to handle the situation, especially in semi-finals and finals. This is good for him.”
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