Title No 7 : How Djokovic, who “grew up indoors”, has become the Paris Master at Bercy

Two players above the age of 30 faced each other in the final of the Paris Masters for the first time in the history of the tournament.

One was the seemingly inexorable Novak Djokovic, who took on Grigor Dimitrov – a man he has now beaten ten consecutive times.

After winning Sunday’s final, he became the first player to win 50 singles matches at Bercy – the third ATP Masters 1000 where he has done that, following Indian Wells and Rome.

Here are some of the other stats on the incredible domination by Djokovic in the only indoor tournament labelled as a Masters 1000.

Djokovic: the premier in Paris

Djokovic lifted the Paris title for the seventh time in his career – the ATP Masters 1000 tournament he has won the most times. He has been the champion in Rome and Miami six times each as well.

His qualification for the final, the ninth one, was obviously another record before the last match started.

Djokovic’s hard court mastery

Djokovic has won multiple ATP Masters 1000 titles in a single season for the ninth time. Roger Federer – second in the list when it comes to that achievement – only managed it six times.

Djokovic’s Masters mastery

This was the Serbian’s 58th final at an ATP Masters 1000 event – five more than Rafael Nadal, who is second in that table. Before the match, he had a win percentage of 82.2% in ATP Masters 1000 events, the best of all players who have won more than 100 matches.

But why does Djokovic in particular do so well in Paris? Here are some words from the man himself.

“I love to play indoors, possibly because I grew up in Serbia where we have to play indoors four or five months in the year. I also played indoors at the Cilic academy for four years.

“I play a lot on indoor quick surfaces, I’m familiar with these conditions, I like it and my results are a testament to that.

“At the end of the year, you have several types of players. Players tired by how long the season is. Players that struggle for the last places for the ATP Finals no matter what. And a group of players who really want to end [the season] on a high note – I’m probably in this group. I’ve been managing that all through the years and Paris has been one of the most successful tournaments I ever had.”

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