Novak Djokovic one win away from achieving goal bigger to him than winning ATP Finals
Novak Djokovic is coming into the ATP Finals with one clear objective in his mind.
Novak Djokovic is within touching distance of one of his biggest goals as the 2023 season nears its end - the year-end No 1 ranking. The 24-time Grand Slam champion needs to win just one round-robin match at this year’s ATP Finals to secure a record-extending eighth finish atop the rankings. Despite coming to Turin as the reigning champion, Djokovic confessed that the No 1 spot is his priority over defending his title.
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Djokovic is reaching the end of another superlative season which has seen him win three of the four Majors this year to become the most decorated player in Open Era history with 24 Grand Slam titles to his name. The 36-year-old has only lost five matches this year and has picked up three more titles - the Paris Masters, the Cincinnati Open and the Adelaide International.
The Serb now comes into this week’s season-ending championships on an 18-match winning streak, with his last loss coming in the Wimbledon final almost four months ago. He is also the defending champion - having lifted the trophy last year after going 5-0 in matches - but Djokovic has his eye on something other than the title.
“For me, the biggest goal right now is to end the season as the No 1 player in the world, so hopefully I can clinch it,” Djokovic told ATP Media. The six-time ATP Finals champion is tantalisingly close to his goal, and he will then turn his attention to lifting the trophy if he can secure the year-end No 1 spot.
He continued: “I need one win, so hopefully that happens. And then of course, I would love to win the tournament as well. But that's the goal and then let's see what happens afterwards.”
Djokovic only needs to win one of his three round-robin matches to end the season on top for the eighth time. He already holds the record for seven year-end No 1 finishes. The top seed in Turin, he has been drawn in the Green Group alongside Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune. And he could achieve his goal as early as Sunday night, when he faces Rune in his opening match.
If the Serb wins the ATP Finals next week, he will also pull ahead of Roger Federer and be the sole record holder of the most titles at the season-ending championships with seven. It would join his existing records of most Grand Slam titles, most Masters 1000s and most all-time weeks at No 1 in the world. And the 36-year-old is motivated to keep making history.
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“I also love competing, I love the sport. That's my greatest motivation really, because I've made a lot of records, I've broken a lot of records and it's great,” Djokovic explained.
“But even if I leave professional tennis now and reflect on everything I've done, I can be extremely, extremely satisfied. So I don't have a pressure to keep on competing, but I still have desire and still have the level.
“I’m playing at a very high level, so records are there obviously as a huge inspiration as well, no doubt, and history of the sport. I still want to create my own history and history of tennis and see how far I can go.”
