Novak Djokovic doesn’t intend to dwell too much on his surprise defeat to Jannik Sinner at the ATP Finals on Tuesday but admits that his opponents always appear to be extra motivated to beat him.
The world No.1 was ousted in a three-set thriller by Sinner after over three hours of pulsating play. It is the first time he has suffered a defeat on the Tour since losing in the final of Wimbledon to Carlos Alcaraz in July. Before playing Sinner this week, he was on a 19-match winning streak and had never lost to the Italian.
“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.” Djokovic said in tribute to his opponent.
“I don’t think I’ve done too many things wrong in terms of my game. He just was more decisive and courageous in the moments when he needed to be. He made some amazing points, and played exactly the shots he needed to play.” He added.
It is only the sixth time this season that the Serbian has lost a match with four of those defeats being to players participating in this week’s ATP Finals – Sinner, Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev. It is also the first time he has been beaten at the ATP Finals since 2021 when he lost the title match to Alexander Zverev.
Given his status in the world of tennis, Djokovic is used to having a target on his back. Speaking about the young guns at this week’s tournament, the 36-year-old says it is ‘normal’ for them to be over-motivated to beat him.
“I don’t think there is anything strange about that. It’s normal they want to beat me. I was experiencing already these kind of feelings that every single player is motivated even more to beat me anywhere I play in the world,” he explained
“It’s normal to lose some of my matches like this (against Sinner), but I have to be content with the fighting spirit. I managed to make a comeback from set down, break down in the third set. Played in really challenging and difficult conditions on the court.’
“I’m proud of the fight that I put in. It just wasn’t enough for the win.”
One of the challenges he faced was the highly animated crowd of roughly 14,000 spectators with the majority of them cheering on their home player Sinner. At times he received booing from the stands and made a couple of sarcastic gestures towards them.
“It was expected,” Djokovic commented on the crowd reception. “Obviously with him being the only Italian in the tournament, playing in Italy, there was a big hype and a big excitement for him to play in front of his home crowd. He’s in great form. It’s normal that the crowd wanted him to win.”
Djokovic will return to action on Thursday when he will play his final group match against Hubert Hurkacz who has been brought into the competition to replace Stefanos Tsitsipas. Tsitsipas has been forced to withdraw from the event due to a back injury.