Novak Djokovic won 6-3, 6-4 in 75 minutes to claim his 90th title of his career and the fourth of 2022 with a dominant straight-sets victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the ATP final in Astana on Sunday.
It was the ninth successive match victory for the fourth seed, who guaranteed himself a spot at the 2022 ATP Finals as a result of the win.
After winning his final match, he said:
“I always hoped that I would be going to have a great career. Obviously, didn’t know the amount of finals I was going to play, the amount of tournaments I was going to win, but my intention was always to reach the highest heights in our sport.”
Novak Djokovic was banned from the US Open and the entire North American hard court swing over his refusal to be vaccinated before returning for Roger Federer’s farewell in the Laver Cup team event in London last month.
Talking about his ban, he said:
“Well, it did. I could not ask for a better restart of the season. I’m super-pumped and motivated to end the season as well as I have done these past couple of weeks.”
Novak got off to a flying start, winning the first game at love in a little over one minute. The Serb converted his third match point with a backhand winner into an open court.
“I’m just very grateful and blessed to be able to play this well at this stage of my life,” Djokovic added. You know, 35 is not 25. But I think the experience, probably, in these kinds of matches and big occasions helps as well to approach mentally in the right way.”
