Novak Djokovic is usually a title contender in every tournament he enters, but that wasn’t the case for the Shanghai Masters 2024. Considering the third-round loss that he suffered at the US Open 2024, not many had faith in Djokovic to win his 100th ATP title in China.
To his credit, the Serbian legend stunned tennis fans by finishing as the runner-up. Nole played extremely well, dropping merely one set en route to the final. However, Jannik Sinner simply outclassed him in the championship match. The World No.1 required less than 100 minutes to clinch a 7-6, 6-3 victory.
Djokovic will have to wait a bit longer for the 100th title. He seemed to have found peace with the loss, from what his comments suggested. But his die-hard supporters haven’t accepted the loss with as much grace.
These fans, including the popular X account @Djoko_UTD, claim that Djokovic was wronged by the organizers. The ATP was first under scrutiny for allowing Sinner to participate in the event even though WADA is still inspecting the doping incident. Later, fans believed that the organizers of the ATP Masters 1000 didn’t give the 37-year-old enough rest between matches.
More Rest for a 23 year old player than a 37 year old player.
Allowing a player to play despite under review for doping.
Horrible scheduling.
It’s Djokovic vs the most protected Establishment player..Fighting the establishment since 2003. Proud of you Goat ❤️ pic.twitter.com/WJGCSduYGr
— SK (@Djoko_UTD) October 13, 2024
Unlike Grand Slams, players don’t necessarily receive a day off in between all of their matches during other ATP tournaments. In this case, Sinner played his quarterfinal on Thursday — the same day Djoko had no match. On the other hand, the 24-time Grand Slam winner had to play his quarterfinal on Friday, his semifinal on Saturday, and his final on Sunday.
Irrespective of the results and all the baseless allegations, the Djoker silenced all naysayers. The Serb proved that he still has gas remaining in his tank and the hunger to surpass Jimmy Connors on the ATP’s most titles list.
Djokovic was content with the level of tennis he played
Novak Djokovic has had a forgettable season. Barring the Wimbledon 2024 and the gold medal win at the 2024 Olympics, he hadn’t reached the final of any ATP event before the Shanghai-based tournament began.
Generally, players witness a dip in their performance after the conclusion of the final major of the year. This has a lot to do with motivation levels. However, it was surprising to see Djokovic play some of his best tennis so late in the 2024 season.
“I think there’s quite a few positives that I can take. I think the level of my tennis was really good this tournament, probably best after the Olympics in terms of how I played, how I performed, how I fought,” Djokovic said.
A majority of the tennis community was hoping for Djoko to reach the elusive 100-title mark in China. However, Djokovic will have to wait a little bit longer for the same. Fortunately, he remains motivated to accomplish a feat only two other men have achieved before him.
