Novak Djokovic Identifies Reasons Behind Surprising ATP Finals Loss

Wednesday, 15 November 2023 at 13:00

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byEvita Mueller

It's been a long time since Novak Djokovic lost a match, but it happened at the 2023 ATP Finals on Tuesday night, ending a 19-match winning streak.

Wimbledon was the last event where Djokovic lost the match. It was the final against Carlos Alcaraz, and since then, the Serbian largely dominated at all the events he played. He won the Cincinnati Masters, the US Open, and the Paris Masters and added wins in the Davis Cup and at the ATP Finals.

The streak is over thanks to Jannik Sinner who produced a wonderful performance on home soil beating Djokovic in three sets. It was a much better match for Sinner than their Wimbledon match, which Djokovic won in straight sets. The match was referred to by Djokovic in his post-match interview.

Well, I think last time we played was semis in Wimbledon. I won in straight sets, but it was very close match. Few points here and there decided every set. today. Game-wise I think he was playing as well as he's playing Maybe serving better. But I think the main difference is that in the important points, he was going for it, he was more courageous.

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Sinner did indeed play the crucial rallies better, even though he had a pretty bad second-set tiebreak. He picked his spots rather perfectly, never really rushing to do too much. He waited for his chance and then took it with great precision.

Yeah, he deserved to win because in important moments I wasn't I guess aggressive enough, I wasn't decisive enough. I gave him opportunity to take the control over the points. Yeah, 5-All third set, 15-30, second serve, I was in the rally and should have stepped in and didn't, and he did.

You have to just congratulate him. He just played a fantastic match. That's what I told him at the net. I think in the most important moments, he played his best game and he absolutely deserved to win.