"Nole", in search of a sixth Masters coronation to equal Roger Federer's record, will not have yielded a single set during this group stage where he successively dominated the Norwegian Casper Ruud (N.8), the Russian Andrey Rublev (N.5) then Norrie, who replaced Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.4) for the last two days, forfeit after his first match.

For his first match against the Serbian ogre, Norrie did what he could but was never able to resist as soon as Djokovic picked up the pace and lengthened the punches.

And he failed to achieve the only break point that appeared at the start of the second set when he dropped his throw-in five times.

The match, completed in just over an hour (1h06), will have finally looked like a good training gallop for the world No.1 before finding Zverev, the one who deprived him last summer of a Olympic final in Tokyo before clinching gold himself.

© 2021 AFP