“Don’t know what future brings” – Djokovic after losing Shanghai Masters final

At 37 years old, Novak Djokovic had the opportunity to become the oldest Shanghai Masters champion on Sunday but Italian Jannik Sinner had other plans.

Sinner downed Djokovic 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the title clash of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament to deny him the record. Also, the result means the Serb stays one short of 100 career titles.

It was an intense outing that lasted for nearly 100 minutes, with the only break-point conversion coming from Sinner’s racquet in the second set. The Serb produced a better first-serve average of 66 percent against the winner’s 61.

He matched the Italian in terms of winning first-serve points, as the two ended with an identical 76 percent. However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion failed to create any break points that left him with the runner-up trophy.

The Paris Olympics champion was nevertheless pleased with his performance throughout the week in Shanghai, where he beat the likes of world No 7 Taylor Fritz and Grigor Dimitrov-slayer Jakub Mensik.

“First of all, I think the level of my tennis was really good this tournament,” Djokovic said in his post-match presser. “Probably best after Olympic games in terms of how I played, how I performed, how I fought.

“I did my best tonight. Under the circumstances, you know, I felt maybe not a hundred percent fresh, but at the same time big credit to Jannik for playing the big points better than me, and that’s what made the difference. He deserved to win, he was just too strong in important moments.

“But I still think that even in the finals today I played pretty good, so, which, you know, gives me, I guess, reason to believe that I can still play with these guys that are best in the world at this level. Hopefully I can maintain that level in the upcoming months.”

With former rivals Roger Federer already retired and Rafael Nadal bracing for a farewell in November this year, the Serb hopes to play as long as he can with uncertainty over what’s in store.

I don’t know what future brings, I’ll just try to kind of go with the flow to see how I feel in a given moment.

“I still plan to compete and play next season and, yeah, let’s see how far I go,” he added in the presser. “Saudi, Six Kings Slam is happening next week, so I’m playing that, then I’ll see where I play next.”

The season has turned out to be Djokovic’s first after 2017 when he hasn’t won a Grand Slam trophy but the no-longer-elusive Olympic gold has been the silver-lining for him.

“I mean, comparing to most of my seasons throughout my career this has been one of the worst-performing seasons in terms of results. But, you know, it was going to come at some point where, you know, I wouldn’t win slams and maintain that highest level for so many years in a row.

“And that’s okay, I’m happy with my gold medal from Olympics, that was the main goal for this year. And, you know, of course I wish that I could have gotten at least a Grand Slam title or won big title, but it’s fine, it is what it is.”

Notably, the 24-time Grand Slam champion is well poised to qualify for the 2024 ATP Finals, with the runner-up finish in Shanghai contributing 650 points to his tally in the Race to Turin. He now sits sixth ahead of Norway’s Casper Ruud, Russian Andrey Rublev, and Aussie Alex de Minaur in the subsequent positions.

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