(Paris) New historic record for Novak Djokovic: by qualifying on Saturday for the final of the Masters 1000 in Paris at the expense of Hubert Hurkacz, the Serbian made sure to finish the year N.1 world for the seventh year, i.e. one more than Pete Sampras.
Since his professional debut in 2003, Djokovic, 34, has finished at the top of the world hierarchy in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020 and therefore 2021.
This season, he notably won the first three Majors (Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon) and played the final of the United States Open to try to achieve an extremely rare Grand Slam.
He was prevented from doing so by Daniil Medvedev (2e world) which, until Saturday, could still deprive him of the record for the number of years finished as N.1.
Djokovic did not hide it, this record was one of his great goals, like the record for Grand Slam titles that he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (20). His two great rivals finished five seasons on the world throne: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009 for the Swiss, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019 for the Spaniard.
“That’s the main reason I’m here,” Nole agreed on Friday after qualifying for the semi-finals.
To achieve this, he beat Hurkacz on Saturday (10e) 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5).
PHOTO CHRISTIAN HARTMANN, REUTERS
Hubert Hurkacz and Novak Djokovic
Sunday, at the end of its 54e Masters 1000 final (record), he will have the opportunity to win a new record on his own with a 37e title in this category of tournaments just below the Majors, one more than Nadal.
For this he will have to beat Medvedev or Alexander Zverev (4e) who compete in a remake of the 2020 final, won by the Russian.
The two men are again two of the players in form this year: before their half, the German has the most games won this season, 55 like Stefanos Tsitsipas, two more than his opponent (53).