Novak Djokovic was the absolute protagonist of the ATP Finals in Turin after winning the final against the Italian Jannik Sinner, whom he surpassed with another exhibition that closed in two sets by double 6-3. However, the road to the title was tough and It started with some controversiesincluding his group stage defeat against Sinner himself and a pair of broken rackets in his debut against the Dane Holger Rune.
But the most delicate moment of his time in the tournament was after losing that match with the young Italian. His main coach, the Croatian Goran Ivanisevictold some intimacies about coexistence within the competition and revealed an anecdote from an unknown episode of the Serbian: Novak Djokovic disconnected from everything and disappeared for a day.
After the defeat, Ivanisevic’s first feeling was uncertainty upon seeing that his pupil had not shown up for training the next day. “It’s not easy to deal with him when he loses,” Ivanisevic recalled.
The situation took a more worrying turn when he stated: “On Wednesday night we didn’t see him all day. We didn’t know what was happening until Thursday. We were (with the team) in the locker room and we didn’t know if we had to go home or if we had to prepare for the warm-up training against Hurkacz.”
Hours passed until it finally came out of nowhere: “We were sitting, waiting, and finally we found out that he was going to play”. Later, his coach clarified that he, “like every human being, he has his fights with himself. We were patient with him. In fact he had my family and we went shopping that Wednesday.”
“Who am I to get mad at Novak? It is the best ever. “It only makes me angry when he yells at us for no reason,” said Ivanisevic, who received some shouts during the first group stage match against Sinner. “Yes, it is not easy, not easy at all. This is life. He is number one and always wants more, to improve all the time.”
Finally, his personal trainer stated that saw a totally different personality change upon his appearance after his whereabouts were unknown in the previous 24 hours: “It changed once I was qualified for the semi-finals. On Saturday I saw it in his eyes, how he approached the locker room, how he trained. In the first point with Alcaraz he was already raising his fist. In his eyes you could see the change in his mentality. He was going for the tournament. AND “When the real Djokovic is on the court, at that moment there is no one who can play with him.”
Finally, The Serbian destroyed the Italian Jannik Sinner in the final of the ATP Finals in Turin with another exhibition that closed in two sets, by double 6-3, and He proclaimed himself ‘Master’ for the seventh time in his career, thus surpassing the Swiss Roger Federer, with whom he tied on six titles.
Nolenumber one in the world and absolute ‘Master’revenge was taken against Sinner after their first defeat in the group stage. He gave no option to the local sensation, who could do little to prevent Belgrade’s reunion with the glory of the Masters Cup.
