World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz couldn't go the distance and had to withdraw due to injury before the tournament.

Rafael Nadal, N.2 with the possibility of becoming N.1 again, did not last long with two defeats to start.

The others, those present who had the misfortune to cross swords with Djokovic could not prevent his march forward.

Five games, five successes including the one in the final against the Norwegian Casper Ruud (4th) beaten 7-5, 6-3.

By the way, this invincibility allows him to win the biggest jackpot ever offered by the ATP: 4,740,300 dollars.

At 35, he also became the oldest winner of this tournament bringing together the eight best players of the season.

The Serb thus ends in style a season truncated by his refusal of the anti-covid vaccine by winning his second major title of the year after Wimbledon.

A sixth trophy at the Masters, which he had been waiting for seven years (the fifth dates back to 2015) and which will allow him to end the year in 5th place in the world.

Serbian Novak Djokovic after his victory over Casper Ruud on November 20, 2022 at the Masters in Turin Marco BERTORELLO AFP

"I would have signed"

However, the former world No.1 missed two Grand Slam tournaments this year (Australian Open and US Open) and four Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Miami, Canada, Cincinnati).

And his victory at Wimbledon did not bring him a single point (but it allowed him to approach a length of the record of 22 Major titles held by Nadal).

For his part, Ruud lost his third grand final of the year, after Roland-Garros and the US Open.

But at 23, 2022 will remain the best season of his career so far as he reached 2nd place in the ATP after Flushing Meadows and will be 3rd on Monday.

"It's disappointing to have lost these three finals, but in the end, if I had been offered, on January 1, to finish the world No.3 season, to play the finals that I played, I would have signed immediately, without a shadow of a doubt!", commented the Norwegian while emphasizing that he had "room for improvement".

Norwegian Casper Ruud during the Masters final against Novak Djokovic on November 20, 2022 in Turin Marco BERTORELLO AFP

"Of course, I've played very good tennis this year but I don't feel like I've reached my peak yet or played the best tennis of my life," he added.

Renowned as a clay-court player, Ruud has notably improved his serve and his backhand, which has enabled him to perform well on hard courts as well, including on the very fast court in Turin.

On Sunday, Djokovic started the match well by getting two break points on his opponent's first serve.

5 titles, like Alcaraz

But the Norwegian held and at 2-1, the Serb ostensibly began to wince, raising fears of another physical slump, as he had experienced in his two previous matches against Medvedev and Fritz.

Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud after their Masters final on November 20, 2022 in Turin Marco BERTORELLO AFP

Impeccable on his serve (not a single break point to defend throughout the match), Djokovic gradually regained his physique, his game and his clear and voluntary gaze: he obtained a new break point at 4-3, but failed to achieve it.

As often, however, he managed to raise his level of play on the important points and when he created a first set point on Ruud's serve, it was the Norwegian who broke down in the exchange and left the Djoker win the first run.

As Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked on, Djokovic then took control of the match: he scored the first break of the game to lead 3-1 in the second set, playing increasingly superior tennis to Ruud's.

Quietly, Djokovic came to serve for the match at 5-3 and concluded with an ace.

He finished the year with the greatest number of titles (5) like Carlos Alcaraz, the world N.1 official.

© 2022 AFP