World number one Novak Djokovic won a sixth Paris title and record 37th Masters crown on Sunday, beating defending champion Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final.
This comes a day after clinching a seventh year-end number 1 finish in the FedEx ATP Rankings.
The 34-year-old Serbian gained a measure of revenge over his Russian opponent who dashed his dreams of a Grand Slam sweep when he beat him in the US Open final in September.
According to Medvedev, Djokovic who he calls his friend was stronger on the crucial points.
Medvedev at his press conference said “I don’t like losing so I cannot say I am happy, I don’t even like losing at Play Station!”.
He stated
“But I gave everything and maybe I could have done a winner here or there or served one or two more aces.
“When you lose a match you always have the feeling that you can do a bit better. The trouble was Novak won the crucial points and apart from the first set I did not.
“However, I take consolation in having given everything against the best player in the world of all time. It was a good battle.”
Reacting to his victory Djokovic said:
“I went back and reviewed the final of the US Open to see what I did wrong and what I did right.
“I tried to read the patterns of his serve and the ball toss, maybe. I tried to look for the small details, because it was a match of small margins. He started better, broke my serve in the first game and I came back. He served the first set out pretty comfortably, but I felt as if I was there.
“I thought it was only a matter of time when I was going to read his serve better, and start to make some plays. You can’t go through him. You have to find a way to play with controlled aggression, play the right shots at the right time and make him come in. It’s variety that wins matches against him. We both suffered on the court and there was a lot of gruelling rallies.”
Both Djokovic and Medvedev will play the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in Turin, starting on 14 November, where Medvedev will attempt to defend his title.
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