Sinner bolsters No.1 ranking with Shanghai Masters title

Jannik Sinner defeated Novak Djokovic in the final of the Shanghai Masters on Sunday, denying the Serb his 100th title and extending his own lead at the top of the ATP rankings.

The Italian is now 4,800 points ahead of his closest rival, Carlos Alcaraz, after winning his seventh title of 2024.

Sinner and Djokovic played a highly competitive first set, with Djokovic actually winning one point more than Sinner but falling short in a tiebreaker.

Neither man was able to generate a single break point in the opening set, as Sinner won 81 percent of his first-serve points and Djokovic was not far behind.

In the second set, play was similarly tight, but Sinner was able to find an opening on his opponent’s serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.

He managed to hold off Djokovic for the remainder of the match, winning 7-6 (4), 6-3 in an hour and 37 minutes.

“It was a very tough match, obviously, playing against Novak is one of the toughest challenges we have,” Sinner said in his victory speech.

“I’m very happy with how I handled the situation.

“He was serving great the first set, I couldn’t find a way to break him.

“I played a really good tie-break which gave me confidence to start off well in the second set.

“It’s tough to tell you a secret about Djokovic because he doesn’t have any weaknesses.

“You have to try and use the small chances that he gives you, but there are not many during the match.

“He is a legend of our sport, he’s very tough to play against, so I am very happy.”

For Djokovic, the defeat in Shanghai sums up what has been a frustrating season.

The 37-year-old has claimed just one title in 2024 — his gold medal at the Paris Olympics — while this is the first year since 2017 that he’s failed to win a major.

“Comparing to most of my seasons throughout my career, this has been one of the worst-performing seasons in terms of results,” he said.

“It was going to come at some point where, you know, I wouldn’t win slams and maintain that highest level for so many years in a row.”

Djokovic is still taking positives from his run in Shanghai, while top tennis bookmakers have him slated as the early favourite to win the 2025 Australian Open.

“I still think that even in the finals today I played pretty good,” he said.

“[This] gives me, I guess, reason to believe that I can still play with these guys that are best in the world at this level.

“Hopefully I can maintain that level in the upcoming months, and also for the future.”

Djokovic remains in the running to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin next month, although he has stated that is not a priority this season.

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