The legendary Novak Djokovic’s season was filled with twists and turns but overall, he will be satisfied with how it transpired.
Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open in 2019, 2020, and 2021 editions and was set to be a favorite at this year’s event. However, he was deported from the country just hours before the tournament began, owing to his unvaccinated status against COVID-19. His Australian visa was canceled, and he was handed a three-year visa ban.
He returned to action at the Dubai Tennis Championships. This was his first tournament in 2022. He defeated Lorenzo Musetti and Karen Khachanov en route to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jiri Vesely in straight sets. The Serbian veteran suffered a monumental upset at the Monte-Carlo Masters as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina ousted him in three sets in the round of 32. Djokovic fared better in the Serbia Open and made it to the finals. Second-seeded Andrey Rublev defeated him in the final. After a semi-final exit at the Madrid Open, Djokovic finally bagged his first title of the season at the Italian Open.
Djokovic got the better of Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Italian Open final. The former won the tournament without dropping a set.
Djokovic was allowed to compete at the French Open. Eventual champion Rafael Nadal ousted him in the quarterfinals. The 35-year-old won his only major title in 2022 at Wimbledon. He defeated Nick Kyrgios in the final. However, his toughest outing of the tournament came against Jannik Sinner. The Italian youngster took the experienced campaigner to the limit but couldn’t finish the match after winning the first two sets. A sensational comeback from Djokovic allowed him to keep his campaign going.
The dominant finish to the season
Novak Djokovic joined his arch-rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal among others as a part of Team Europe at the Laver Cup. However, the campaign wasn’t a memorable one as Team Europe lost to Team World for the first time in the tournament’s history.
Djokovic’s sensational run began at the Tel Aviv Open. He won the tournament without dropping a set. He actually lost only 26 games in 4 matches in the tournament. The former world No. 1 followed it up by winning the Astana Open, once again without dropping a set. Djokovic lost in the finals of the Paris Masters against a red-hot Holger Rune.
He ended his season with a bang by winning the ATP Finals in Turin. He won all his matches in the tournament. Against Daniil Medvedev, in a dead rubber, Djokovic battled illness and won a hard-fought match. In the final, Djokovic made light work of world No. 3 Casper Ruud, defeating the Norwegian in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.
This was Djokovic’s sixth win at the season-ending tournament. He tied Roger Federer’s record for the most number of ATP Finals titles and also became the oldest player to win the tournament.
Djokovic won a whopping $4,740,300 as a prize money cheque for winning the ATP Finals and it is the biggest pay-out in tennis history.
He received great news while playing in the ATP Finals. His visa ban was overturned by the new Australian government that came into power in May and the Serbian stalwart will have no problems in playing the Australian Open next year.
Season in Numbers
Djokovic finished the season with 42 wins and 7 losses. He bagged five titles in the season and earned prize money of $9,934,582. The 21-time Grand Slam champion finished the season at world No. 5 on the ATP rankings.
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