Novak Djokovic refuted the suggestion that with the world no.1 ranking secure and next week’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals looming very large on the horizon, he might be tempted to take things a little easy in this week’s BNP Paribas Masters at Paris’ Palais de Omnisports Bercy.
The fact the year’s concluding Masters 1000 series event and the season-ending finale are being played back-to-back has resulted in widespread conjecture that players who have already qualified for London may not give maximum effort. Defending champion Roger Federer pulled out of the event on Sunday, maintaining he needed to rest his body in preparation for what is undeniably a bigger and more valuable tournament.
Djokovic admitted the whole issue was a very sensitive subject but said: “I cannot speak for others, but always try to win every match I play.”
Most of the leading protagonists insist the calendar is far from perfect this year and rumors abound that the long standing Paris event will be shifted to a February date in the future.
Djokovic continued: “This is the schedule. It is the way it is. We have to adjust, we have to accept it,” he said. “Unfortunately, there is no other option at this moment.
“But we will discuss this matter after we finish this season. Maybe we can try to find some other way. This season is shorter by two weeks. Now we have a two weeks longer off-season. Maybe that was the sacrifice we had to make.
“There are still some options on the table about this (pre-London) week. Maybe we can move it around so we can make it more adjustable for the top players.”
Topics: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, Novak Djokovic, Paris Masters, Sports, Tennis Finals, Tennis News