Djokovic Joins Elite 40-Title Club With Win in Paris
November 4, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal
World number two Novak Djokovic became just the 15th player in the Open Era to win 40 ATP World Tour titles on Sunday, capturing the 2013 BNP Paribas Masters title from David Ferrer, 7-5, 7-5. With the win, Djokovic became the third active player to enter the 40-title club, along with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. It was the Serb’s sixth crown of the year and 16th Masters 1000 title. He was victorious at the Australian Open as well as in Dubai, Monte-Carlo, Beijing and Shanghai in 2013.
The 2009 Paris champion kept alive his slim hopes of finishing year-end world number one for a third consecutive year as well. He will seek to wrestle the mantle from top-ranked Rafael Nadal at this week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. He improves his winning streak to 17 straight since the U.S. Open and has a 2013 match record of 67-9 to date.
Djokovic improved his career head-to-head mark against Ferrer to 11-5, capturing seven of the previous eight meetings since 2009. Djokovic is 10-2 on hard courts in the rivalry, having dominated their most recent meeting, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Australian Open earlier this year.
"I am definitely playing the best tennis this year now," Djokovic said. "I'm playing on a very high level and have lots of confidence in myself, in my game."
