Tennis : Novak Djokovic shows insane mental reserves to fight his way to Paris masters final

 

Novak Djokovic at 36 continues to amaze tennis world with his immense mental strength .  Currently number 1 and in his 397th career week ranking as number 1 , Djokovic is currently competing in the Rolex Paris masters,  one of the last events of the year. 

After getting a bye in first round  , Djokovic easily beat T Echeverry 6-3 , 6-2 in the round of 32 and then had 3 excruciatingly tough games in his next 3 rounds . 

In the round of 16 Djokovic beat T Griekspoor in 3 tough sets after losing the first set  6-4 . In the tight 2nd set Djokovic levelled the match with a brilliant tiebreaker (7-2) and then gradually took control of the big points in the 3rd set against the fast improving dutch to win the match  4-6, 7-6 & 6-4 .

In these best of 3 set events  there is only 24 hours of recovery time and Djokovic came up against the defending champion and fast improving Holger Rune who is considered as a future superstar .

The Djokovic v Rune game rose to great heights . After a tight first set Djokovic broke at the right time to steal the set 7-5 . However Rune came back strongly with  scorching serves and imperious returns to get the momentum back and thrash Djokovic in the second set tiebreak 7-3 to level the match. This set up a gruelling third set but after the 2nd set disappointment   Djokovic raised his intensity to break Rune early in the 3rd set and held on to the lead to finally seal the match  7-5 , 6-7, 6-4  .

In the semis  Djokovic played a tactical game against Russian  Andrei Rublev . Rublev has an unfavourable record vs Djokovic but on this day he looked in explosive touch , reeling off lethal returns and serving well to dominate Djokovic for most parts of the first set before he won 7-5 . Rublev's momentum continued as he suffocated Djokovic in the second set with several close games and looked the likely winner . Djokovic just about hung on to take the set to a tiebreaker and this time won an emphatic tiebreaker by 7-3 to come back in the contest .

The epic battle continued in the  3rd set as both players clung on to their service games but just at the big moment Djokovic again raised his level to break Rublev and win the match  5-7, 7-6 , 7-5 in a 3 hour marathon and reached the final .

In the final Djokovic will face Gregor Dimitrov who had an epic semi final vs Tsitipas which he finally won by 2 sets to one .

What stood out about Djokovic in this one week  event was his ability to absorb so much pressure from youngsters even at his 36 years of age and his tremendous mental strength with borders on the insane  . There were moments in the pre quarters , quarters vs Rune and semis vs Rublev when Djokovic looked in trouble , got stiff , struggled physically at times but still found a way to extract wins against players who are in hot form .  Djokovic is a mental beast and he has showed his insane mental strength  in this week's mega event despite not always playing at his absolute best against some top class young and energetic players   .

The final will be another gripping encounter against a determined Gregor Dimitrov . It remains to be seen whether Djokovic is able to carry his momentum to win another title that will go a long way in helping him finish as number 1 this year .