Novak Djokovic underlined his current dominance of men’s tennis by adding the Shanghai Rolex Masters to his already astonishing collection of titles won this year.
The Australian, Wimbledon and US Open champion won his 25th ATP Masters 1000 series title with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Having moved ahead of Roger Federer’s total, Djokovic is now only two behind Rafael Nadal in the all time list.
This title, the ninth of the season for the 28 year-old, means he will also set a new record for ranking points amassed when the ATP World Tour’s computer clicks into action tomorrow morning.
Djokovic will have 16,785 points, while Andy Murray, who is ranked second with 8,750 points, has only a little more than half. The Serb is guaranteed top spot until at least four months into 2016.
In effect, victory against Tsonga was tied up within eight minutes. In that time, Djokovic registered two breaks of serve against the 30 year-old Frenchman, who, like Murray a day before him, was rapidly jolted from the elation of an excellent victory in the previous round.
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Tsonga appeared to be trying just a little bit too hard to replicate the way he overcame Rafael Nadal in the semi-final. His game was a little too exuberant: he repeatedly hit the ball too hard and an excess of unforced errors ensued. Djokovic, a performer that rarely let’s an early lead slip, could hardly believe his good fortune and though Tsonga’s aggression became far more controlled in the second set, the die was cast.
The first set was eventually delayed by a couple of minutes when an uncharacteristically errant game by Djokovic handed back one of the breaks but there was no massive swing of momentum and normal service resumed with a break back to love.
Tsonga served with far more accuracy in the second set, unleashing five aces to dent the Djokovic armour but victory seemed inevitable when a double fault allowed the Serb through to lead in the second set.
Djokovic is nearly $1 million dollars richer for the victory and has now won 11 of the past 19 Masters series events. Going forward to first Paris Bercy and thereafter the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, it is becoming incredibly hard to imagine anyone breaking the monopoly.