Paris Masters Director accolades Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s dominance while naming the new challengers to them
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Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Serbian legend Novak Djokovic‘s hunt for a consecutive third title win ended with his loss in the finals of the Paris Masters by Holger Rune in 2 hours and 32 minutes. While a new record was created in Bercy, Paris Masters Director Cedric Pioline is optimistic about the turnout of new champions in the future while being assertive of the dominance of Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
The former World No 1 failed to defend his title at Bercy after his unfortunate series of events due to his unvaccinated status. While on the other hand, Nadal faced a shocking early elimination in his first match and continued his drought to win a title at Paris Masters. Pioline appreciated the efforts of the younger generation players who have had quite impressive performances in the year.
Upon being asked about his pick to choose the most impressive player in the current generation, the Paris Masters director was quick to name Rune and Felix Auger Aliassime as his favorites. He further stated that as of now, three different generations of players are playing on the Tour. He is assertive of the fact that if players like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev are less affected due to injuries and play their best then, it will be a completely different scenario.
During an interview, Pioline said that “On the new generation, it’s easy to talk about Rune. Félix also made a rather incredible series. They are already really well-positioned. Musetti too, on first reading, we say to ourselves that it may be a little less obvious to see him climb as high as some, but he will suddenly progress enormously physically, and with what he has in his racket, he can too!“
Adding to his series of thoughts, the tournament director further said “It is clear that we have, roughly speaking, three generations playing at the same time. The last are Nadal, Djokovic, mainly, then the Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev, and Thiem. And, suddenly, there are those who are even younger and others. Thiem, even if he is a little older and Medvedev, are the two who won in the intermediate generation, but already, Alcaraz wins! Thinking that Nadal and Djokovic still have two more seasons on their hands, what will happen is very interesting and exciting.“
Novak Djokovic’s 13-match winning streak ended with his loss at the Paris Masters final
The 21-time Grand Slam winner had won the singles title at Tel Aviv and Astana but lost in Bercy. It ended his 13-match winning streak where he had dropped only one set that came in the semifinals at Paris Masters against Stefanos Tsistiaps. Unable to defend his title, he fell a drop in the ATP rankings despite the fact that he was rather looking to improve his rankings before the end of the year.
The Wimbledon champion was quite disappointed with his loss and wasn’t happy about losing out on his chances. Novak Djokovic felt he was not active enough despite having five break points. But he did not budge away from appreciating his opponent Rune for putting up a great fight with utmost dignity and composure. He congratulated him on the win and admitted that the Danish player was quite brave enough throughout the game.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)