(Tel-Aviv) Serbian Novak Djokovic (7e world) won the ATP 250 tournament in Tel Aviv on Sunday with authority, his third title this season and the 89e of his career, explaining that he found “additional motivation” in his forced removal from the circuit in recent months.
Djokovic, who was playing his first individual tournament since his coronation at Wimbledon on July 10, quietly beat Croatian Marin Cilic in the final (16e) in two sets, 6-3, 6-4. In four games played this week in Tel Aviv, he has not conceded a single set.
“I hadn’t played a single tournament in three months, so that was extra motivation for me to do things really well, especially because people have been so friendly and supportive of me all week,” declared the Serbian champion in front of the press.
As at the start of the year in Melbourne, where his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19 had led to his expulsion before the Australian Open, the former world number one could not, for the same reasons, play the American tournaments this summer, including the United States Open.
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In fact, after his title at Wimbledon, the seventh of his career on the London lawn, on the 21e in Grand Slam, he had to wait until the Laver Cup, a team event between Europe and the rest of the world, last week in London, to play again in competition. And the Tel Aviv tournament marked his official return, in an ATP tournament.
“A special week”
“That’s why I came to Israel, to try to win the title,” he said, recalling that he had not played in this country “since a Davis Cup meeting there is over fifteen years,” Djokovic continued.
“It was really a special week, I felt at home, with all your support”, he had thanked the public a little earlier after receiving the trophy on the court, also taking care to congratulate his beaten opponent, 30 like him: “I’m sure we’ll continue to beat all these young players for a while yet,” joked the 35-year-old Serb to his one-year junior.
Djokovic looped on a service winning the 127e final of his career on the ATP circuit, in which he was never worried by Cilic. He took his serve from him in the second game of the match and concluded the first set 6-3 on his 4e ace of the game, in 47 minutes.
Cilic resisted a little better in the second set, but only got one break point, missed, while Djokovic only needed one break, from the first game of the set, to definitely take off and beat Cilic for the 19the times in 21 confrontations.
Next week, “Djoko”, also crowned in May on clay in Rome, will be in Kazakhstan for the ATP 500 tournament in Noursultan / Astana, whose high field also offers the young Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, new world number 1 at 19 years, or the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
In the fall of a confusing season for the former world number one, which began in an Australian detention center, only three players have won more titles than him this year: Alcaraz (5), Rafael Nadal (4) and Casper Ruud (4).
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