Novak Djokovic became the first player to win 40 ATP Masters 1000 titles and extended his 'big titles' lead over his two greatest rivals, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
He completed one of the toughest title-winning weeks of his career with a polished performance in Sunday's final at the Paris Masters. Djokovic overcame a stomach upset during the week and survived a trio of three-set matches en route to the final.
But he cantered past Grigor Dimitrov in the championship match without facing any break points. He won the 97th ATP title of his career and took his tally at Masters level to 40, which is unchartered territory. Djokovic has now won more Masters titles than Roger Federer and Peter Sampras combined.
Djokovic also stretched his lead in the Masters 1000 category over Nadal by four titles and is 12 ahead of retired Federer. The 'big titles' tallies the total of trophies won at the Grand Slam level, ATP Finals, Masters 1000, and at the Olympics.
The 36-year-old has now won a total of 70 'big titles' which is 11 clear of Nadal and 16 more than Federer. Unless the Spaniard can turn the screw in his comeback year, this is another stat sheet Djokovic has pulled clear of his rivals.
The Serbian appears to be in the ascendancy in all metrics except for the Olympics, which he'll have the chance to add to his collection in Paris next year. Djokovic can also break a two-man tie at the ATP Finals for the most titles won at the season-ending championships (currently 6-all with Federer).
He is on course to become just the third player in ATP Tour history to win 100 titles, and it is likely to happen at some point next year. Djokovic could still add to his trophy cabinet next week where he will appear at the ATP Finals in Turin.
Djokovic is pursuing the year-end No. 1 ranking and he only needs one round-robin win to put a capstone to another barnstorming year of rewriting the history books.
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