Novak Djokovic: The king of Paris

There is just no stopping Novak Djokovic at the Rolex Paris Masters. In his 17th appearance, he steamrollered his way past Grigor Dimitrov and on to his seventh title 6-4, 6-3.

Master of the masters

 It was Novak Djokovic’s 40th Masters 1000 trophy – and if he goes on like this, he is going to need a bigger racquet bag. He has a smiley face on the side of it for every Masters title won so far and there is not a lot of room left for many more. Not that he shows any sign of slowing down.

Coming back from the brink

Djokovic has not had it all his own way this past week. He struggled with a stomach virus in his first couple of matches, he had a back problem in the semi-final and he was facing players who all fancied their chances against a clearly ailing world No.1.

“It feels incredible to be able to win it,” Djokovic said. “After quite challenging circumstances for me this week, basically coming back from the brink of losing three matches in a row on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – I was very close to losing those matches and somehow managed to find an extra gear when it was needed.

“Today, I think we both were quite tight at the beginning and I could see that he was running out of gas a little bit – myself as well – but I managed to find an extra shot over the net and I think the match was closer than the scoreline indicates. But it’s another amazing win for me and I very proud of this one considering what I’ve been through this week.”

Saving the best for last

Sadly for Dimitrov, when it came to the final, Djokovic brought out the best he could offer. It may not have been Djokovic in his absolute pomp but he was clinical, he was efficient and he had his eye on the trophy from the first ball. After all his health problems, it was a mightily impressive performance.

Dimitrov, who had played so well all week, could not lay a glove on him. The serve faltered, he could get his forehand into play and he could not put a run of rallies together – Djokovic would not let him. He was inconsolable once it was over, so much so that Djokovic broke off from a TV interview to run over and give him a hug and few words of comfort. It is only with a racquet in his hand that the world No.1 is a ruthless assassin.