Ernest Osogbue
This may not have been exactly how 38 year old Novak Djokovic expected to win his centenary tour title, but we know that he would accept it in good faith. The man who turned 38 on Thursday may have expected an ATP 1000 or 500 event to be his 100th title, but it was on the clay courts of the Geneva Open an ATP 250 event that he clinched it.
Playing against Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, a player who is yet to score a victory against him in seven prior encounters, Djokovic allowed three break point opportunities to slip by in the first set before Hurkacz struck in the 12th game to take it 7/5. There were no breaks of serve in the second set, and Djokovic took matters into his own hands, taking the tiebreaker 7/2. In the third set, Hurkacz broke Djokovic in the first game to take an early lead. It looked ominous for Djokovic at this time, with a centenary title about to go out of the window. But like the warrior that he is, he broke back in the seventh game and that was the last break of the game. Into another tiebreaker we go, and it went the same way as the first one with Djokovic taking an early lead which he refused to relinquish until the game was won 5/7, 7/6 (2), 7/6 (2). With this victory, Djokovic joins an elite group of only two other players, Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103), to have won a century of titles on the ATP tour.
With a clay court title under his belt, the next challenge is a 25th grand slam title, which hopefully would come in the dusty grounds of Roland Garros, the French Open, which serves off tomorrow. His first round opponent on Monday is MacKenzie Macdonald of the USA. For now, We say, “Congratulations, Nole!”
