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Several tennis fans reacted to Novak Djokovic's incredible feat of finishing the year as World No. 1 for the eighth time.
After defeating Holger Rune in his opening match of the 2023 ATP Finals on Sunday, November 12, Djokovic confirmed his place as the year-end World No.1 for a record-extending eighth time.
Djokovic edged past the World No. 10 in three sets, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3, establishing a 3-2 advantage in their head-to-head. He also accomplished the extraordinary feat of securing a historic 400th week as the World No. 1 on the ATP Rankings.
Rafael Nadal, one of Serb's main competitors, has been ranked World No. 1 for 209 weeks and has finished the year as No. 1 five times. Roger Federer, Nole's other adversary, has spent 302 weeks as the top-ranked player and has finished the year as the top-ranked player five times.
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Tennis enthusiasts took to Reddit to express their admiration for the 36-year-old's majestic achievement of becoming World No. 1 on the ATP Rankings.
One of the fans opined that Djokovic is far outperforming Nadal and Federer.
“He’s creating a big gap between himself and his two biggest rivals and the gap grows bigger everyday.”
Another fan cited Djokovic's accomplishments against Federer and Nadal in terms of Grand Slam championships, Masters titles, weeks at No. 1, and closing the year as World No. 1.
“He’s too far ahead of either at this point for any meaningful comparison. Vs Federer: 4 slams, 12 masters, 96 weeks #1, 3 YE#1. Vs Nadal: 2 slams, 4 masters, 6 YEC, 197 weeks #1, 3 YE#1. That’s a top 15 all time career either way,” they commented.
Another fan served up a mention of the tournaments that the Serb missed out on due to COVID-19 and vaccination issues.
“Bear in mind he’s missed out on tournaments because of covid and vaccine saga and the one time he was disqualified,” they wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from tennis fans:
Comparing their Grand Slam titles, Djokovic, at the 2023 US Open, became the only player in open-era history to win 24 Grand Slams. Nadal and Federer, on the other hand, have 22 and 20 Grand Slam titles, respectively. Furthermore, Djokovic has won 40 Masters championships, whereas Nadal has 36 and Federer has 28.
Novak Djokovic on how he overcame Holger Rune in their first match in Turin
In a post-match press conference, after beating Holger Rune in a closely contested three-setter, Djokovic talked about the tough moments while facing the Dane in their first encounter at the 2023 season-end tournament on Sunday, November 12.
“Well, there were a lot of difficult moments. It was very challenging to play Holger, who I thought was on a very high-level tonight. He had a very clear game plan. You could see that he was very sharp, very aggressive from the beginning, taking every chance he had to come to the net,” he said.
Djokovic went on to praise Rune's game, stating he couldn't find any flaws in it and that he had to work hard to come out on top against the 20-year-old.
“He served very accurately, very precise, very strong. It was very difficult to find any, let's say, holes in his game tonight. I really had to work very hard and battle, which was the case, to get the win. It lasted more than three hours. I think the longest match that I ever played here,” he stated.
The World No. 1, however, found his way to the top against all odds, making history in Turin.
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