Djokovic out to spoil the party in London

It seems that Novak Djokovic can spoil anyone’s party right now. Not content with defeating hometown favourite Roger Federer in the Basel ATP finals last week – the Serbian has added another title to his name, and ignored the wishes of the thousands of fans in attendance in the process.

Djokovic won the Paris Indoor Masters Series event, after defeating Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, and then outlasting Gael Monfils – a Paris favourite himself - in the final. The Serb prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, and in doing so, won his first Masters title of the season.

Would anyone be surprised if Djokovic finishes the year by beating another local player for another indoor title? It would take a brave man to bet against the world number three right now, who is unlikely to be fazed by the prospect of ‘Murray-Mania’ as the tennis season reaches its climax in London for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Indeed, Djokovic – the defending champion in London - seems to be thriving on such an occasion.

In a gruelling season, where the amount of tennis being played is being put under increased scrutiny, you feel Djokovic won’t want his season to end. In his 94th match of the season, the Serbian showed no signs of fatigue, and was quickly dominating from the baseline. He quickly raced into a 6-2 lead against Monfils, who, appearing in his first Masters final, had no answer to the world number three.

Djokovic was soon 3-0 up in the second set, sealing his second break with an unbelievable on the run passing shot. Sensing defeat, and faced with the prospect of disappointing the thousands of French fans in attendance, Monfils decided to make a game of it. He duly won three successive games to level the set, and with a second set tie-break looming, produced a crushing forehand of which Djokovic had no answer. One hold later, and it was Monfils forcing an unlikely final set - to the delight of the crowd.

The final set was predictably tight, with both players beginning to tire – helped in no small part thanks to an incredible 43 shot rally at the beginning of the set. In the end, it was a tiebreak that settled things, and that’s what did for Monfils. The number 15 seed hit a forehand long, handing Djokovic a 4-2 lead from which he never looked back. A double fault from the Frenchman ended the contest, causing Djokovic to let out a mighty roar, which he later attributed to “letting his emotions out.” Certainly, it wasn’t the behaviour of someone using this tournament as a warm up exercise for next Sunday’s climax in London. Such behaviour is blasphemy to the 22 year old, who, since the US Open, has lost only once to Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

The Serbian now has the chance to end the season as the world No 2, should he defend his title successfully in London. On such form, Djokovic is the man to beat, though, luckily for Britain’s Andy Murray, there is no chance of being randomly selected in the same group as the Serbian, since the world No 3 and the world No 4 are kept separate.

Then again, Djokovic may want to save such a scalp for the big occasion. Now that would really spoil the party.