Novak Djokovic surpasses Rafael Nadal with 36th ATP 1000 Masters victory
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The victory earlier in August fetched Novak Djokovic his 35th ATP 1000 masters title. He was at par with Rafael Nadal who has 35 ATP 1000 Masters as well. However, the Italian Open was supposed to be the tie-breaker as they were expected to clash here.
Rafael Nadal crashed against Diego Schwartzman and that ended his dream to clinch the 36th title. As the defending champion was away, Novak grabbed the opportunity.
From 2007 to 2020 and still going strong
Novak Djokovic held his first Master’s trophy in 2007 at Miami Open. He defeated Guillermo Canas. That was just the beginning, as Novak has kissed 35 more ATP trophies since then.
Novak won the title as a teenager and was the youngest in 23 years to have achieved this feat. The same year, he won in Canada which was his second title.
In 2008, he won Indian Wells and the Italian Open. Novak had four ATP 1000 titles and was slowly beginning to showcase his talent in the men’s tennis world. Unfortunately in 2009 only one at Paris. In 2010, Djokovic failed to win a single ATP 1000 title.
While people were thinking that he was just a small-time wonder, Novak began 2011 with the Indian Wells title, followed by the Miami Open title. Yet he still had more to win, he won a total of 5 titles in 2011. The third one came in the Madrid Open and then at the Italian Open. The fifth title came at the Canadian courts. He was the World No.1 as the year ended.
In 2012, Novak won the Miami Open and the Roger Cup at Canada once again. He won his first Shanghai Open that year as well before repeating in 2013, 2015 and 2018 again. The Serbian was yet to win at Monte Carlo and this happened when he conquered the clay at the 2013 ATP Masters. He defeated eight-time champion Nadal in straight sets on clay.
2015 Monte Carlo and the Madrid title in 2016 and 2019 are also the clay-court chronicles that Novak cherishes winning on the surface dominated by arch-rival Rafael Nadal. He also won the 2016 Roger Cup and ended the year 2016 parting ways from Boris Becker as a coach.
Novak had won all the eight ATP titles except the Cincinnati Masters. A long wait ended when he won the title in 2018, which was his 31st ATP 1000 masters title. He repeated the victory in 2020 as well.
Winning the same ATP 1000 title 5 times
Novak Djokovic was a defending champion at three separate Masters event. He reigned for a stretch of three years in the courts of Indian Wells from 2014 to 2016.
The Paris courts also witnessed the Serbian’s dominance. Novak won the Paris Masters in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Serbian has also won the 2009 and 2019 ATP Paris Masters event.
Djokovic won the Rome Masters (also called the Italian Open) in 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015. The King of clay holds records at the clay-court and to win a clay masters 5 times in the regime of Rafael Nadal is a phenomenal achievement.
Also Read: Italian Open 2020: Novak Djokovic wins 36th Masters title beating Diego Schwartzman
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Jagriti Choudhry
(329 Articles Published)