Novak Djokovic is crowned King of Madrid with a final victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas
Novak Djokovic has been crowned King of Madrid for the third time in his career. The world number one beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 6: 3 and 6: 4 thanks to a fantastic performance.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: May 12, 2019, 08:45 pm
by Nikolaus Fink from Madrid
Accompanied by the song "We will rock you" Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas marched into the Estadio Manolo Santana at 6.30pm. The almost 12,500 spectators could expect a real spectacle, as both players had shown excellent performances in their semi-finals against Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal.
At first, however, only the world number one was able to rock, who immediately reduced Tsitsipas' serve to 2-0 and a little later was in the lead with 3-0. Djokovic recalled his performances in the final phase of this year's Australian Open, played with an unbelievable length, returned brilliantly and did not allow anything even with their own service.
Djokovic confidently takes the first set
At times, Tsitsipas held up well and, like Dominic Thiem in the semifinals, tried to get the Serbs out of the game with stop balls. From time to time this worked quite well, but overall Djokovic quickly put his stamp on the game. An extremely impressive game developed in which the 31-year-old deservedly won the first round 6: 3.
Tsitsipas played anything but bad and even had a positive winner-forced-error statistic (11: 9), but had no chance against a phenomenally laid-back Djokovic. The Serb struck 14 winners and produced only seven uncommon mistakes, and the 15-time Grand Slam winner received an enormous amount of support from his serve. After the first service, Djokovic won 84 percent of all points, Tsitsipas only 56.
Djokovic continued in the second section exactly where he left off in the first. But just with two breakballs at 1: 1, "Nole" made two simple mistakes - at least for his standards. With its own service, however, the Serb remained untouchable, so the pressure on Tsitsipas during his service games always remained extremely high.
33rd Masters 1000 title for Djokovic
At 4: 4, Djokovic even increased the pressure and was able to set 5: 4 thanks to some incredible points. After a little more than 90 minutes of play, the world number one had to make a debut, but in the end served safely for his first title since the Australian Open and his third in Madrid.
"Congratulations to Stefanos for a great week," said Djokovic right after the game. "We have a lot of fun playing here," continued the Serb.
"It is inspiring what you are doing," said an emotional Tsitsipas at the awards ceremony to Djokovic. "Thanks to my team that believes in me," added the Greek. "I hope to see you next year," the 20-year-old finally said to the fans.
With his 33rd title at Masters 1000 level, Djokovic caught up with Rafael Nadal. In Rome next week, they will have the chance to become the sole record holder again. Stefanos Tsitsipas, like all the other stars on the scene, will also serve in the Italian capital.