ATP Finals Player Profile: Novak Djokovic

The ageless marvel looks to punctuate another historic season with a seventh ATP Tour Finals title.

Current Ranking: 1

W/L: 51-5

Titles: 6 (Adelaide, Australian Open, Roland Garros, Cincinnati, US Open, Paris)

Grand Slam Record: 27-1

ATP Finals Appearance: 16

Best Result: W (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022)

Even with his litany of records, after all his superlative performances, is it possible that Novak Djokovic is currently playing the best tennis of his career? The 36 year-old entertained a more modest workload in 2023, but his accomplishments were still borderline preposterous. For the second time in three years, the Serb came within one match of the calendar Grand Slam. It pushed his men’s majors all-time record haul to 24, as he reclaimed the No. 1 ranking and seems a lock to finish the season in the top spot for an eighth time.

It started where it usually does for Djokovic, capturing his 10 Australian Open championship, dropping just a solitary set. Following an underwhelming spring clay-court season, Djokovic came into his semifinal match in Roland Garros against Carlos Alcaraz as the slight underdog. After two bruising sets, the Spaniard cramped and Djokovic waltzed into the finals where he dismantled Casper Ruud in straight sets.

Wimbledon was next. No grass-court tune-ups, just straight to Centre Court. Once again he battled Alcaraz, only now in the final, and with the 7-time champion the clear favorite. In an five-set instant classic filled with all the brilliance and drama the game is capable of mustering, the kid toppled the king.

After another three-set thriller between the two in the finals of Cincinnati—Djokovic taking this round—the stage was set for a reckoning in NYC at the US Open. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be—Alcaraz got tripped up in his semifinal—but, other than a slow start in the 3 round, Djokovic was utterly dominant.

Since then he played a Davis Cup match, won the Paris Masters for seventh time—his 40 Masters 1000—and enters the ATP Finals on a ho-hum 18-match win streak. If he wins just one match in his title defense in Turin, he will finish the year No. 1 for the eighth time.

Delaying Father Time is one thing, Djokovic is practically mocking it.