Serbian Novak Djokovic won the 101st title of his career, by turning around the final of the Athens tournament to defeat Italian tennis player Lorenzo Musetti, who failed to qualify for the ATP Finals.
Hours after the Portuguese Francisco Cabral, alongside the Austrian Lucas Miedler, celebrated the doubles title, ‘Djoko’ wrote another page in the history of tennis, adding the 72nd scepter on a fast court and distancing himself from Roger Federer, with whom he shared the record.
To do so, the record holder of Grand Slam titles was ‘forced’ to a tough battle against Lorenzo Musetti, who, after winning the first set, saw victory and qualification for the ATP Finals slip away from him, after being defeated by 4-6, 6-3 and 7-5 in exactly three hours.
At 38 years and five months, the fifth-ranked ATP player became the oldest champion on the main men’s circuit since Ken Rosewall won the Hong Kong tournament in 1977, aged 43 years and 11 days.
With his second title of the year – he won in Geneva in May – Djokovic is now just two behind Federer and eight behind the record holder for trophies, the American Jimmy Connor.
Musetti, who was looking for his first title since 2022 and the third of his career, lost his last ‘ticket’ to the ATP Finals, which starts on Sunday.
Thus, in Turin, there will be Felix Auger-Aliassime, eighth in the world hierarchy. The Italian needed to win the title in Athens to overtake the Canadian.
