PARIS: Novak Djokovic looked imperious in beating an overawed Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 Sunday to win his fifth Paris Masters final, clinching a 34th overall Masters title in fine style to move one behind record holder Rafael Nadal.
At 32 years old, Djokovic has already won 77 titles in a stellar career and fully intends to add many more.
“I don’t take them for granted like it’s something normal or usual or common. I’ve been blessed to win so many big titles in my life,” he said. “That’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m still playing professional tennis, to fight for these big trophies and to still be able to play the highest level.”
Shapovalov was mostly outclassed, even though he was physically fresh having avoided a potentially grueling semifinal because the second-ranked Nadal pulled out beforehand with an abdominal strain.
Still, the odds were heavily stacked against the 20-year-old Canadian, who was appearing in his first Masters final.
“I put him under pressure for the second serve and from the back of the court I was solid, not giving him too many opportunities,” said Djokovic, who felt unwell with a sore throat earlier in the week. “I feel like the second part of the week was terrific, it was improving day by day in terms of my level.”
Djokovic never appeared troubled on his way to a fifth ATP title this year — level best with Dominic Thiem.
He served out the match with a love hold, hitting a forehand winner before turning to look at his box and raising his arms in triumph.
“It was my best serving performance of the tournament,” Djokovic said. “Denis maybe lost his focus a bit.”
Shapovalov entered the match with only one career title — a modest ATP 250-level tournament in Stockholm last month — and having lost his three previous encounters against a 16-time Grand Slam winner considered among the all-time greats of tennis.
The big-serving left hander looked tense, making three unforced errors in his first service game and slipping quickly to 3-0 down against a composed Djokovic playing in his 50th Masters final and 111th overall. After botching a return on Djokovic’s opening serve of the seventh game he whacked his racket into the ground in frustration.
Dropping only four points on his serve in the first set, Djokovic clinched it with another dominant serving game which included two aces and concluded with a volleyed winner at the net.
“It was tough for me to find a groove just because he was really picking his spots on the serve,” Shapovalov said. “He just places it well, it’s tough to read.”
As Shapovalov’s unforced errors resurfaced in the seventh game, Djokovic broke him again for a 4-3 lead.
Djokovic saved his first break point of the match at 30-40 in the next game when Shapovalov returned a sliced serve well wide.
With that, the briefest glimmer of hope was gone.
“I’m sure the best things are yet to come for you,” Djokovic said to Shapovalov during the trophy ceremony.
Kind words, yet the gap to Djokovic’s level remains huge.
“It’s great to hear that, but I still have a long way to go,” Shapovalov said. “I want to be beating guys like Novak so I have to improve, find a way to return better.”
Djokovic has won every final he’s played at Bercy Arena except for last year’s against Karen Khachanov, which came after a three-hour semifinal slugfest against 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.
This year, Djokovic did not drop a set and heads to the upcoming ATP Finals in London looking to secure the year-ending No. 1 ranking for a sixth time. That would move him two ahead of Nadal, one ahead of Federer and Jimmy Connors, and into a tie with record-holder Pete Sampras.
Nadal is also in strong contention to finish the year as No. 1 but it remains uncertain whether the Spaniard can play at the ATP Finals, which start Nov. 10.
“I’m sad to see that he’s injured because that’s not what you want to see. I know how that feels,” said Djokovic, who struggled nearly two years with an elbow injury. “Historically he’s had several injuries at the last part of the season, so I hope he can recover. Because without him, obviously the battle for No. 1, but also the tournament itself, is different.”
Imperious Djokovic wins 5th Paris Masters and 77th title
Imperious Djokovic wins 5th Paris Masters and 77th title
- The 32-year-old Serb has already won 77 titles in a stellar career and fully intends to add many more
- He now holds a 34th overall Masters title, one behind record holder Rafael Nadal
Morocco banish any doubts about ability to host World Cup 2030
- Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the 24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time
RABAT: Morocco’s successful staging of the Africa Cup of Nations means there should be no skepticism about its ability to co-host the World Cup with Portugal and Spain in 2030, even if Sunday’s final was clouded by a walk-off and defeat for the home team.
Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the
24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time.
Morocco plans to use six venues in 2030 and five of them were used for the Cup of Nations, providing world-class playing surfaces and a spectacular backdrop.
The Grande Stade in Tangier with a 75,000 capacity is an impressive facility in the northern coastal city, less than an hour’s ferry ride from Spain.
Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino condemned "some Senegal players" for the "unacceptable scenes" which overshadowed their victory in the final when they left the pitch in protest at a penalty awarded to Morocco.
African football's showpiece event was marred by most of the Senegal team walking off when, deep into injury time of normal play and with the match locked at 0-0, Morocco were awarded a spot-kick following a VAR check by referee Jean-Jacques Ndala for a challenge on Brahim Diaz.
security personnel at the other end of the stadium, Senegal's players eventually returned to the pitch to see Diaz shoot a soft penalty into the arms of their goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The match was played at the Stade Moulay Abdellah in the capital Rabat, which has a capacity of 69,500. The attendance for the final was 66,526.
Stadiums in Agadir, Fes and Marrakech were also more than adequate and will now be renovated over the next few years.
But the crowning glory is the proposed 115,000-capacity Stade Hassan II on the outskirts of Casablanca which Morocco hope will be chosen to host the final over Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
In all, Morocco will spend $1.4 billion on the six stadiums. Also planned is extensive investment in airports, with some 10 Moroccan cities already running direct air links to Europe and many budget airlines offering flights to the country.
An extension of Africa’s only high-speed rail service, which already provides a comfortable three-hour ride from Tangier to Casablanca, further south to Agadir and Marrakech is also planned. Morocco hopes all of this will modernize its cities and boost the economy.
On the field, Morocco will hope to launch a credible challenge for a first African World Cup success, although on Sunday they continued their poor return in the Cup of Nations, where their only triumph came 50 years ago.
They surprised with a thrilling run to the last four at the Qatar 2022 World Cup as the first African nation to get that far and will hope for a similar impact at this year’s finals in North America. They are in Group C with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
