Sinner Dominates Djokovic To Win First Shanghai Masters Title

Jannik Sinner, Shanghai Masters
Jannik Sinner (photo: ATP Tour video)

SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, October 13, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

One of the toughest challenges any tennis player can face is playing Novak Djokovic. Just ask Jannik Sinner, who has faced the 24-time major champion eight times in his young career — including four times in the past year.

Sunday evening in Shanghai, before an enthusiastic crowd filling Stadium Court at Qi Zhong Tennis Center in China’s largest city, Sinner, the current World No. 1 from Italy, defeated Djokovic, the former World No. 1 and four-time Rolex Shanghai Masters champion, 7-6 (4), 6-3. It was a performance that was masterful and, at times, dominating, too.

“It was a very tough match, obviously, playing against Novak is one of the toughest challenges we have,” the 23-year-old Sinner said during an on-court interview, moments before he was presented with his first Shanghai champion’s trophy. The victory, which was Sinner’s fourth over the Serbian great, leveled the pair’s lifetime series win-loss record at 4-4. “I’m very happy with how I handled the situation. He was serving great the first set; I couldn’t find a way to break him. I played a really good tie-break which gave me confidence to start off well in the second set.

“It’s tough to tell you a secret about [Djokovic] because he doesn’t have any weaknesses. You have to try and use the small chances that he gives you, but there are not many during the match. He is a legend of our sport, he’s very tough to play against, so I am very happy.”

Sinner won 76 percent of his first-serve points, hit 22 winners to 23 unforced errors and faced no break points. He broke his opponent once in two tries, which gave him a 3-1 advantage in the second set that he would not relinquish.

Djokovic countered with four aces, also won 76 percent of his first-serve points, hit just 12 winners and also made 23 unforced errors. Sinner outpointed Djokovic 65-60 to improve to 8-2 versus Top-5 players on hard courts this season.

Sinner’s eighth service ace of the championship final, fired out wide left on his first match point, left Djokovic dead in his tracks and closed out the one-hour, 37-minute title victory in style. It earned the South Tyrolean congratulations not only from Djokovic, who lost his first Shanghai final, but also applause and smiles from former and current greats Roger Federer and Carlos Alcaraz, and Alcaraz’s coach Juan Carlos Ferrero, who sat together in the front row behind the baseline.

Afterward, during his champion’s news conference, Sinner, who clinched the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honors on Saturday after defeating the Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac, was asked how he would rank his Shanghai title victory with his other successes of the 2024 season, which include: three ATP Masters 1000 titles, seven crowns overall and an ATP Tour-leading and personal best 65 wins.

“Yeah, it’s always tough to give it, you know, a ranking or a number, but, you know, today was a very special day because, you know, different circumstances,” Sinner said, “You know, having Roger in the stands, and Carlos, and Juan Carlos, and the atmosphere has been very, very great.

“Playing against Novak, you know, in a final, it’s always very, very tough, so I’m happy how I handled these kinds of situations, and, yeah, very happy to hold this trophy here.

“And, yeah, the season’s not over yet,” Sinner added. “It’s still a couple of tournaments, but, you know, throughout the whole season I had a lot of success, and hopefully we can keep going, keep improving as a player, and then we see what’s coming.”

Although Djokovic (37-9) was stymied by Sinner in his bid to become the third man to win 100 tour-level titles (after Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer), the 37-year-old Olympic gold medalist still found positives in his play.

“Well, I think there’s quite a few positives that I can take. First of all, I think the level of my tennis was really good this tournament, probably best after Olympic games in terms of how I played, how I performed, how I fought,” he said during his post-match news conference.

“I did my best tonight. Under the circumstances, you know, I felt maybe not a hundred percent fresh, but at the same time big credit to Jannik for playing the big points better than me, and that’s what made the difference. He deserved to win; he was just too strong in important moments. But, nevertheless, I still think that even in the finals today I played pretty well, so, which, you know, gives me, I guess, reason to believe that I can still play with these guys that are best in the world at this level.

“Hopefully I can maintain that level in the upcoming months, and also for the future.”

Koolhof and Mektic win first Shanghai title, fourth crown of season 

Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Nikola Mektic of Croatia captured their fourth ATP Tour doubles title of the season by winning the Rolex Shanghai Masters crown Sunday afternoon.

The Dutch/Croatian duo mastered Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni of Argentina, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 26 minutes on Stadium Court. The winners (Koolhof is ranked 17th and Mektic 19th) combined for four service aces and saved all six break points they faced from the Argentines, while converting two of three chances. Koolhof and Mektic outpointed Gonzalez and Molteni 56-55.

“The goal was to reach Turin, we knew what was at stake here,” said Koolhof, who who will retire from pro tennis at the conclusion of the 2024 season. “This has been a great week. We are fighting for the last two spots, so this definitely helps. It would be nice to finish my career in Turin. We still have the Davis Cup Finals after that, so that will be special in other ways obviously.”

Mektic added: “I think you can see by the look on our faces that we are just thrilled. It was such an emotional week. All the matches from the beginning were so tough. We came back from saving match points, being a set and a break down. We came up here today with our best tennis and I am so proud of us, so happy.”

By the numbers

By winning the Rolex Shanghai Masters title on Sunday, Jannik Sinner set a number of records:

— He became the first player to win three ATP Masters 1000 titles in a single season since Rafael Nadal in 2018.

— Sinner joined Novak Djokovic (2015) as the only World No. 1 players to win the tournament.

— At age 23, Sinner is the youngest Shanghai champion in tournament history.

— Sinner is the first player to win consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles since Novak Djokovic in 2020 at Cincinnati and Rome.

“Quotable …”

“My main motivation comes from love and passion for the sport, and also the desire to keep competing. These are kind of the matches and challenges that I still strive for, to be in a position to play against the best players in the world, on the biggest stage, in the finals of some of the biggest tournaments in the world.

“So, you know, that’s what I work for and why I still keep on pushing myself. Yeah, I mean, that’s all that can be said about that. I don’t know what future brings, I’ll just, you know, try to kind of go with the flow to see how I feel in a given moment. I still plan to compete and play next season and, yeah, let’s see how far I go.”

World No. 4 and fourth seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, during his post-match news conference Sunday, on his resilience and persistence at this stage of his career.

 

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