Novak Djokovic’s fate in the Nitto ATP Finals was out of his hands when Holger Rune played Jannik Sinner in the final Green Group match. Had
Rune won, the Dane would have made the semi-finals and Djokovic would
have been eliminated. When Sinner won that match in three sets,
Djokovic’s coach, Goran Ivanisevic, had full confidence in his charge.

“I have to thank Jannik a little bit that he gave us a little help and
push for him to be in the semi-finals. But I knew as soon as he got into
the semi-final, he's going to win the tournament,” Ivanisevic said. “The mentality changed. The new Novak Djokovic arrived on the court from
Saturday. When real Novak Djokovic arrives on the court, then [in that]
moment [there] is nobody that can play with him.”

“I can see in his eyes, in his approach when he comes to the small
locker room, when he comes to the practice court. Warm-up was different. Warm-up was positive. When he entered the court against Alcaraz the
first time this week, he was from the first point pumping himself [up],
pumping his fist. He was very positive in a way,” Ivanisevic said. “Even
if Alcaraz didn't play unbelievable tennis — he was missing a lot for
his standards — even if Alcaraz plays with the left hand, you couldn't
beat him 6-3, 6-2.

That does not mean the week was easy. In fact, Ivanisevic revealed that
for a while Djokovic’s team did not hear from the World No. 1 after he
lost to Sinner.

“It’s not easy to deal with him when he's losing the match. On Tuesday night, he finished late. On Wednesday we didn't see him at all. Until
Thursday we didn't know what's happening, to be honest,” Ivanisevic
said. “We were in the room. We didn't know if we are going home, if we
are going to the warm-up against Hurkacz. We were sitting, sitting. We
finally find out that he's going to play.”

“It's very tough to improve with him,” Ivanisevic said, cracking a
smile. “But he wants to improve. That's the good thing and bad thing for
me as a coach and the rest of the team. I think he improved a lot his
volleys, his game at the net, and his position at the net. Now when he
comes to the net — OK, today he missed some easy volleys — but generally this week and this year he plays some amazing volleys.

“His position at the net is a lot better. It’s very tough to pass him. Before he was very easy to pass. Now he knows what he's doing at the
net. He's comfortable at the net. In the final of the US Open he played
two, three [very] important volleys against Medvedev. He's not afraid to
come to the net. He's hitting the forehands much, much harder. He's
going for the shots. Serving, I think second serve, sometimes he's
hitting over 200 [kph]. He's just going for it.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/ivanisevic-nitto-atp-finals-2023-final-reaction

Djok doesn't even talk to the peons!

--
"And off they went, from here to there,
The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair"
-- Traditional

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