Novak Djokovic upsets Roger Federer, becoming first ever to achieve Career Golden Masters
World No. 10 Novak Djokovic defeated world No. 2 Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4 Sunday in the final of the Cincinnati Masters tournament, securing his place in modern tennis lore.
With his win, the Serbian Djokovic becomes the first singles player to win all nine Masters 1000 tournaments, a feat otherwise known as achieving the Career Golden Masters. He had won each of the other eight tournaments – which include contests in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid, Italy, Canada, Shanghai, and Paris – multiple times.
Pure GOLD 🙌
The moment @DjokerNole became the first ever winner of the Career Golden Masters. #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/27n8EAOCxj
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 19, 2018
Djokovic was ecstatic with his win, and thanked Federer after the win for his “letting [him] win once in Cincinnati.” Federer himself has won seven times in Cincinnati.
"Roger thank you for your kind words and thank you for letting me win once here in Cincinnati."
🤣 @DjokerNole #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/MQseJLpCxI
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 19, 2018
The biggest outlier between Djokovic and Federer’s performances was their second serve success: Djokovic won 78 percent of his, while Federer only won 47 percent of his. Additionally, Djokovic committed 16 unforced errors to Federer’s 39.
Before Sunday, their 46th meeting overall, the pair had not faced each other in 31 months. Djokovic is now 24-22 in their head-to-head matchups.
The 31-year-old Djokovic is now a favorite to win the upcoming US Open, which begins August 27.
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