Djoko ends year as top gun as Nadal misses ATP Finals
Rafa hopes ‘to be in full condition for next season’ after undergoing ankle surgery
Rafael Nadal has pulled out of next week’s ATP Tour Finals in London due to injury, so Novak Djokovic will end the year as world number one having returned to the top of the rankings yesterday.
French Open champion Nadal announced that an abdominal muscle problem, which prevented him from playing in the Paris Masters last week, and ankle surgery had forced him to pull out of the season-ending event.
“Unfortunately I had the abdominal problem in Paris last week and I also have an issue in the ankle joint that has to be removed in the operating room today,” the 17-times Grand Slam winner wrote on Twitter.
“This way I hope to be in full condition for next season.”
American John Isner will take the 32-year-old’s place in London when the Finals get underway on Sunday. Kei Nishikori has also been drafted in to replace Argentine Juan Martin del Potro who pulled out due to a knee injury.
Spaniard Nadal’s withdrawal in Paris meant Djokovic returned to the top of the world rankings. The Serbian will now become the first player since ATP rankings were introduced in 1973 to end the year at number one having started it outside the top 20.
“Reflecting on what I’ve been through in the last year, it’s quite a phenomenal achievement,” said Djokovic. “And, of course, I’m very, very happy and proud about it.
“Five months ago, if you told me that, I would be — I always believe in myself, but it was highly improbable at that time considering my ranking and the way I played and felt on the court.”
Having missed the second half of the 2017 season because of his troublesome elbow, Djokovic returned at the start of this year but the injury flared up again at the Australian Open and he decided to have surgery on it.
He was dumped out of the French Open as the 20th seed at the quarter-final stage before embarking on a fine run.
Djokovic beat Nadal in a Wimbledon semi-final thriller before ending a two-year Grand Slam drought by defeating Kevin Anderson in the final.
A few weeks later he beat Del Potro in the final to win the US Open and last month claimed the Shanghai Masters title without dropping a set.
“What Novak has achieved this season has to go down as one of the great sporting comebacks. It’s been a phenomenal return to form that would have been hard to imagine just six months ago,” ATP Executive Chairman and President Chris Kermode said.
“He fully deserves his return to No 1 in the ATP Rankings and should be incredibly proud of his exceptional season.”
Djokovic’s dominant run ended on Sunday when he was beaten 7-5 6-4 by Russian Kharen Khachanov in the Paris Masters final.
Djokovic, 31, underwent elbow surgery in January and slipped to 22nd in the world after a depressing quarter-final exit at Roland Garros in June, which left him briefly threatening to skip Wimbledon.
But he regrouped, romped to a fourth Wimbledon title the following month, a 32nd Masters in Cincinnati and then a third triumph at the US Open in September.
Despite his loss in the final of the Paris Masters to Karen Khachanov on Sunday — which ended a 22-match win streak — his record since the start of Wimbledon stands at 31-2.
Djokovic is now just three behind Nadal’s total of 17 Grand Slams and six shy of Roger Federer’s record of 20.
But he has time on his side — Federer has already celebrated his 37th birthday while injuryplagued Nadal is 32.
Furthermore, Djokovic enjoys a lifetime 25-22 record over Federer and 27-25 against Nadal.
“Novak has everything to make records in this sport,” said Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro after losing to Djokovic in the US Open final.
Djokovic’s ability to thrive amongst the greats has never been in doubt, but the size of his heart often led to questions in his early days.
At Wimbledon in 2007, he retired with a back injury in the third set of his semi-final against Nadal. He also quit at the 2006 and 2007 French Opens at the third round and quarter-final stages respectively, while at the 2009 Australian Open, where he was defending champion, he pulled out of his quarter-final with Andy Roddick citing heat exhaustion.
But nobody could question his courage at the 2012 Australian Open, when he beat Nadal in the longest Grand Slam final of all time, a draining 5hr 53min epic.
Djokovic captured the first of his majors in Melbourne in 2008, but it was three years before he added his second.
After leading Serbia to a maiden Davis Cup in 2010, he raced through the first half of 2011, building up a 48-1 winning run.
Only a semi-final defeat at the French Open prevented him from becoming just the third man to capture a calendar Grand Slam.
He finished 2011 with a 70-6 win-loss record, a haul of 10 tournament victories and the year-end number one spot for the first time.
Back-to-back Australian Opens followed in 2012 and 2013, although three heartbreaking final defeats kept the French Open frustratingly out of reach until 2016, when his breakthrough win at Roland Garros allowed him to complete his career Slam.
In Paris that year, he also became the first player to break through the $100mn (87.8mn euro) prize money barrier.
Djokovic has also not been afraid to take chances and innovate his game, bringing in Boris Becker as part of his coaching team for the start of the 2014 season, although he has since reunited with long-time mentor Marian Vajda.
Off court, Djokovic married long-time girlfriend Jelena Ristic in July 2014. They have two children, a son Stefan and daughter Tara.
However, despite his achievements, Djokovic appears doomed never to be held in the same warm esteem as Federer and Nadal.
There are those who see something a little more calculating in the Djokovic make-up.
He was castigated during the 2015 French Open semi-finals for taking an eight-minute medical time-out after dropping the third set to Andy Murray, and at Indian Wells the next year he was roundly criticised for suggesting that men should “fight” to get more prize money than women.
“The stats are showing that we have much more spectators on the men’s tennis matches,” he said. At Wimbledon this year, he hit out at some Centre Court fans for a perceived lack of respect while schedulers also felt his ire for exiling him to Court Two for a third round match.