As he prepares to make his final preparations ahead of his penultimate ATP tournament of the 2019 season, Novak Djokovic has vowed to keep focus on his form and not his place in the rankings.
The current world No.1 is in a battle with Rafael Nadal for the end-of-year top spot. However, he faces a tough task of achieving it with his Spanish rival having no ranking points to defend for the rest of the season. Meanwhile Djokovic has runner-up points from both Paris and ATP Finals to defend.
Djokovic, who is the top seed at this week’s Paris Masters, is required to finish the tournament less than 1500 points behind Nadal to have a shot. He currently trails his rival by 1280 points and will lose his top place on November 4th regardless on how well he performs in the French capital.
“In order to have a chance for year-end No. 1, I have to win all of my matches till the end of the season, which I’m aware of. But it depends on him, how he does.” Djokovic said during his pre-tournament press conference on Monday.
“So these kinds of calculations are never really great for the mentality of a player, and they take away vital energy that you need to use for your performance, so I prefer not really think about it too much.”
Despite their rivalry, the two titans of tennis have high respect for each other. Last week they locked horns in a charity exhibition match in Kazakhstan, which Nadal won in three sets. Then in Paris they held a practice session together in a move that generated major attention from the media. However, the significance was later dismissed by Nadal’s coach Carlos Moya.
“Obviously we are rivals, but that doesn’t prevent us from being respectful and treating each other in the right way and our teams as well.” Djokovic explained.
“I have always had that kind of relationship with Rafa. And regardless of which course our careers went to and how tense, maybe sometimes rivalries were, but we always had respect for each other.”
The 32-year-old is aiming to clinch his fifth title of 2019 on the tour this week in Paris. A milestone that has only been achieved by Dominic Thiem, who recently won the Vienna Open. Four-time champion Djokovic has won the tournament more times than any other player in history. Between 2013-2015 he was unbeaten and overall he has a win-loss record of 32-8.
“I really historically play well indoors, so I’m looking forward to play in Paris. I played finals here last year. I like the conditions.” He said.
“Physically I’m feeling well. I haven’t had any left shoulder pain or any major concerns physically in the last three, four weeks basically. So my preparation has been going well.”
Djokovic will open up his campaign at the Paris Masters against either Coretin Moutet or Dusan Lajovic.
