'Novak Djokovic was a little bit jarred by that', says top journalist

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Since the Masters 1000 series began, 72 indoor tournaments have been held. Between 1990 and 2008, players battled for two Masters 1000 indoor titles, with the Paris Masters being the ultimate dinosaur in 2009. Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and Roger Federer were the players to beat in terms of number of victories, achieving between 47 and 41 to top the list. Novak Djokovic claimed six wins in Madrid between 2006 and 2008 and claimed his first indoor Masters 1000 crown in Paris in 2009. The Serb has been a player to beat in the French capital since 2013, lifting six trophies from eight finals and beating the aforementioned legends. Novak played his eighth Paris Masters final last Sunday and lost to 19-year-old Holger Rune. Djokovic did not get the seventh crown from him in the French capital, but he did make an impressive record. Novak became the first player with 50 indoor Masters 1000 wins, standing at 51 and leaving Pete Sampras at 47. Djokovic is 45-9 in Paris, with four wins last week. Novak started the action against Maxime Cressy and prevailed 7-6 6-4 in one hour and 43 minutes. Djokovic had to stay focused against a dangerous serve and volley player and keep everything under control in his games. Novak lost six points after the initial hit and kept the pressure on the other side.

Steve Flink talks about Djokovic

In light of this, Steve Flink recently spoke with David Bellinson on a podcast about Novak Djokovic's semifinal match with Tsitsipas. "Novak hadn't lost a set all week, and he was on his winning streak too. He had won his last three tournaments, going back to Wimbledon and two in a row in the autumn. He didn't lose a set coming into Tsitsipas and that was an interesting match because he won the first set really comfortably 6-2, then had a 0-30 opening at the start of the second set," Flink said. "Stefanos got out of that game, started waving his arms up with the crowd, he really played with the crowd and I don't say that grudgingly, I think it was wise because he wanted to let the crowd react, to use a little boost there, 'help me out', and they did. They really got behind him and Novak. You could see that he was a little bit jarred by that. He wasn't angry, he just was a little more low-key, a little less confident," he added.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/T30M2Iz

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