Del Potro out for season
INJURY-PLAGUED Juan Martin del Potro is set to miss the rest of the season after it was revealed yesterday the giant Argentine had fractured his knee at the Shanghai Masters. “It’s a very difficult moment. I feel very sad,” said the 30-year-old world No. 4 who is walking with his leg in a splint after doctors confirmed he had fractured the patella bone in his right knee. “It’s a hard blow which leaves me without any strength. It’s very difficult for me to think about recovery again. I did not expect this to happen.” Del Potro, the US Open runner-up to Novak Djokovic this year, hobbled out of the Shanghai Masters last 16 against Borna Coric last Thursday after hurting his right knee in an awkward fall after losing his footing. He had been set to complete his year at the elite eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London from Nov 11 after qualifying for the season-ending showpiece for the first time since 2013. Del Potro has been plagued by injuries since winning his only Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open at the age of 20. A series of wrist injuries required four surgeries. By the end of 2015, his ranking was at 581, he was deeply depressed and on the verge of quitting after having to sit out 10 Grand Slam events. However, he had been rejuvenated in 2018, reaching a career-high world No. 3 in August. He defeated Roger Federer in this year’s Indian Wells Masters final and was a key figure when Argentina won a first Davis Cup in 2016. Del Potro also owns 10 wins over world No. 1 players – the most by anyone who has never reached the top ranking themselves.
LIFE, Borna Coric found out quickly, was not going to be as fun for him on Sunday as it had been on Saturday in Shanghai. On the first point of his final against Novak Djokovic, Coric powered a backhand into Djokovic’s backhand. It was the type of shot that had brought the 21-year-old Croatian to his first Masters 1000 title match, and had helped him record a convincing straight-set win over Roger Federer the previous day. Djokovic took Coric’s first-point missile, and guided it right back into the opposite corner with his two-handed backhand. The message was clear – as well as Coric had played against Federer, he was going to have to play even better to beat Djokovic. In other words, Coric was going to lose. The scores were 6-3, 6-4, and the match was about as close as those routine scores indicate. Coric should probably be commended for keeping the second set as competitive as he did after going down 0-2. Instead of a blowout, this match was just another immaculate, never-in-serious-doubt win in a long string of them for Djokovic.
He’s 27-1 since the start of Wimbledon, with two Grand Slam titles and two Masters 1000 titles.
He has now overtaken Federer for No. 2 in the rankings, and it’s conceivable that he could he end what appeared to a be a lost season at No. 1.
He trails Rafael Nadal in the year-end race by just 35 points, and has nothing to defend over the last three weeks.
For Rafa and Federer, it must feel like 2006 all over again, with Djokovic racing up in their rearview mirrors; unlike in ’06, though, there doesn’t seem to be any way to slow him down.
“I thought I was actually playing really well,” Coric said.
“I was feeling good on the court. I was not serving particularly well, because I think he was returning extremely well.” Djokovic was also serving extremely well. Rather than try to up his pace and take on more risk with his deliveries, he let the fast Shanghai court do it for him.
“This was definitely one of the best service weeks that I’ve had in my career,” said Djokovic, who won his fourth Shanghai Rolex Masters title, and his 72nd title overall.
“I was saying before that I never played on faster courts here in Shanghai, so this year more than ever I needed a lot of success with first serves in, and I have had plenty of success with first serves, and a high percentage of first serves in every match. So obviously that brings me a lot of joy.”
Djokovic didn’t drop a set last week, and wasn’t broken in 47 service games.
At Wimbledon and the US Open, he won with emotion; even when his game went off, he wouldn’t let himself lose.
In Shanghai, the emotion wasn’t necessary, because his game never went off.
This was the return of Djokovic the tennis clinician, and right now there’s little reason to think he won’t close out 2018 in the same unbeatably efficient form.
Finishing No. 1 would be a fitting capstone for his meteoric re-rise.
It would also be a signal to everyone else on tour.
This has been a year when we’ve seen various potential successors to the ATP crown appear and then disappear again, from Hyeon Chung to Sascha Zverev to Dominic Thiem to Stefanos Tsitsipas and now to Coric.
But as we contemplate the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, the future of the men’s game looks like it belongs to Novak Djokovic again. – Agencies