Paris Masters 2019: Novak Djokovic wins 34th Masters title to keep end-of-year No1 within sight

On paper, by almost every measure, Novak Djokovic was the favourite to storm to the Rolex Paris Masters title.

After all, the Serb had been No1 for the last 12 months, and while he would concede the top spot to Rafael Nadal come Monday, he was still in a strong position to reclaim it by the season’s conclusion, and equal the Pete Sampras record of six year-end No1 trophies.

Djokovic had won two of the year’s Majors, plus the Madrid Masters and Tokyo 500, and this would be his 50th Masters final. Should he win, he would close the gap on the record-leading 35 Masters titles owned by Nadal to just one.

And in Paris, he had taken on and beaten some of the best young players in the draw, including Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov, to reach the final without dropping a set.

He had beaten is last opponent, Denis Shapovalov, three times this year already, and in each of the Rome and Shanghai Masters, the 20-year-old Canadian had mustered barely half a dozen games.

However, the young Shapovalov had now reached four Masters semi-finals, and his walkover from Nadal in Paris propelled him to his first final at this level. He was, indeed, on a surge of his own, after winning his first title in Stockholm and taking three big scalps in Paris, Alexander Zverev, Fabio Fognini and Gael Monfils.

But this was a different level of opposition, and in one of the biggest arenas in front of one of the biggest crowds on the ATP circuit. The atmosphere was electric, and on such an occasion, the greatest champions are invariably galvanised into their best form.

The evidence was quickly proven to be accurate. Djokovic broke the young Canadian in the second game, and in under 17 minutes, the Serb had served almost flawlessly to take a 4-1 lead.

Shapovalov’s serve kept him alive with a good hold, but he continued to make few inroads into the Serbian serve, which was placed, time and again, with pin-point accuracy, angle and pace. In the blink of an eye, Djokovic had served out the first set to love, and with a serve-and-volley winner, in 28 minutes, 6-3.

The 20-year-old looked nonplussed. His explosive, all-guns-blazing tennis was having little impact on Djokovic, who can not only make one-two strikes, and control the baseline, but can chase down and absorb power in defence on both wings with equal ease.

More dangerous returns of serve from Djokovic brought up a break point in the first game of the second set, but Shapovalov aced to save it, and found another to get a game on the board, 1-0. But it was a constant challenge, and the Canadian struggled to find the form of his previous Paris wins, which is what he needed to pressure Djokovic.

It took a rare error from the Serb racket, only his seventh of the match, to bring up Shapovalov’s first break point, but that evaporated just as quickly courtesy of more incisive serving by Djokovic, 5-3. He would, in due course, serve it out to love with a serve-and-volley winner, 6-4. It had taken just 65 minutes, and earned him his fifth Paris Masters title.

The stats were extraordinary, even allowing for the youngster failing to replicate the level he had found against those three ATP Finals contenders. Shapovalov made 22 errors, Djokovic had just seven, and while the youngster’s second serve was picked off at random—he could make only 18 percent of points on his second delivery—Djokovic made 80 percent of his.

Naturally, the champion was delighted not only with this final match but with his performance throughout the tournament:

“It was a great tournament for me, I haven’t dropped a set. As the tournament progressed, I’m feeling more comfortable, more confident on the court. Obviously for Denis playing in a first Masters final, it is a completely new experience for him.”

He concluded:

“I’ve been feeling great, very confident, this week. That gives me a lot of encouragement coming into the World Tour Finals in London.”

And with more records on the line in London—and he has five titles at the season’s finale already, and has not fallen short of the final in his last six appearances—there will be as much incentive as ever to maintain this form and focus for a couple of weeks more.

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