the serbian Novak Djokovic was crowned this Sunday, for the sixth time in his career, as champion of the Rome Masters 1,000 by beating the Greek in the final Stefanos Tsitsipas in two sets, 6-0 and 7-6 (5). Djokovic conquered Rome again. It is already six times that the current number one in the world has won this tournament in the Italian capital. And he did it without giving up a single set.
Was the victory number 1,001 in the career of the Serbian, who has already entered the select club of players with the most wins, along with Jimmy Connors, Roger Federer, Ivan Lendl and Rafael Nadal, by beating Norwegian Casper Ruud in the semifinals. It was the perfect week for ‘Nole’, who in addition to his 1,000th victory and the crown of Rome, managed to keep the highest position in the classification until Roland Garros.
Djokovic played his second final of the year, after losing to Russian Andrey Rublev in Serbia, and this time he didn’t fail. He clearly defeated a Tsitsipas that he did not appear in the first round and that he did not know how to take advantage of his advantage in the second.
The Serbian destroyed the Greek in the first set. In half an hour he had already signed a Perfect 6-0, no faults, that despaired a Tsitsipas who paid for it with his racket. The failures of the Greek, very erratic, and the solvency that he has shown until the final were enough for Djokovic to break his rival’s three serves and maintain his own serve.
The story was completely different in the second stake. Despite a few unforced errors, Tsitsipas, encouraged by the public, eager for entertainment and reluctant to see the match being a mere formality for the Serbian, He found strength and good tennis to mentally recover from the hard blow he suffered.
He broke the Serb’s serve and confirmed the ‘break’ with his to go 4-1 up. It seemed that he was going to redeem himself quickly from the previous set, but ‘Nole’ was not going to allow it. He recomposed the one from Belgrade, returned the ‘break’ to the Athenian and put the tie, 5-5 on the scoreboard. A powerful cry of rage came from Djokovic, who with a clenched fist released the tension and knew he was closer to victory.
The equality in the second set inevitably led the set to a ‘tie-break’. It was the Greek’s last chance to extend the match, but at 2-2 he crashed his backhand against the net and gave up his serve. He recovered and made it 5-5, but Djokovic did not fail in one of his favorite tournaments and he returned another ‘break‘, definitive, to sentence the game and the tournament.
Djokovic is crowned again in Rome, in one of the most special weeks of his career. It is the eleventh consecutive season that Novak has reached at least one Masters 1,000 final, and only Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, with 14 and 15respectively, have seen more such seasons during their careers.
The Serbian player, about to fulfill 35 years, He is the one who accumulates the most Masters 1,000 in history with a total of 37. In addition, he is the only one who has won all nine tournaments in that category.