Paris Masters: Novak Djokovic takes Paris take US Open revenge

Paris Masters 2021: World No.1 Novak Djokovic wins his fifth title of the 2021 season defeating World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. It took the Serbian 2 hours and 15 minutes to defeat the defending champion.

Medvedev crushed the dream of a Calendar grand slam year for Djokovic at US Open 2021 finals. However, this time around Novak was not going to fall as he avenged his US Open loss.

“I went back and reviewed the final of the US Open to see what I did wrong and what I did right,” Djokovic told the Tennis Channel. “I tried to read the patterns of his serve and the ball toss, maybe. I tried to look for the small details because it was a match of small margins. He started better, broke my serve in the first game and I came back. He served the first set out pretty comfortably, but I felt as if I was there.

“I thought it was only a matter of time when I was going to read his serve better and start to make some plays. You can’t go through him. You have to find a way to play with controlled aggression, play the right shots at the right time and make him come in. It’s variety that wins matches against him. We both suffered on the court and there were a lot of grueling rallies.”

Setting the record for being the World No. 1 for seven-year straight, Novak Djokovic wins his 48th match of the season. He also breaks Rafael Nadal’s most Masters 1000 titles.

When asked about his serve-volley tactics, Djokovic told the Tennis Channel, “He stands so far back in the court, so you try to open up the court with wide serves and come in. You still have to play some half volleys, some low volleys and come in, but you have the whole of the court to play with.”

It is better to not win the first set against Novak Djokovic because if you win the opening set you won’t get to win any of the remaining ones. Novak started sluggishly with unforced errors however settled to win the next three games after losing the two.

The first set was closed in by the Russian by taking a 4-3 advantage in Paris Masters 2021 with a chase down a drop shot. The Serbian mixed up his game in the second set and took a 5-3 lead to serve for the set.

He saved three break points to eventually complete a marathon 16 point game to pocket the second set. The match went into the decider set. Djokovic played very tactically of where to play the ball and which shot to play the most and which to avoid.

The World No. 1 found the break from 40-15 behind, at 2-2. His opponent aided him with groundstrokes errors to win nine points of the next 11 points. He grabbed the moment to lead by 5-3 in the decider. Daniil Medvedev was finding some air in an air-tight container created by Novak. However, the Serbian determination never broke Daniil for his 6th victory over the Russian in 10 ATP head-to-head encounters in Paris Masters 2021 finals.

Since the start of last year’s Paris Masters tournament, Medvedev has compiled a 19-2 indoor record. Medvedev is now 54-12 on a career-best season that includes four titles.