The Serb, who beat Britain’s Andy Murray 5-7, 7-6 (13/11), 6-3 to take his 13th masters series title, is now just 195 points behind Federer, who was beaten in the semi-final of the tournament, and could even take his position in the coming weeks.
Speaking in the after-glow of his thrilling come-from-behind victory over British third-seed Murray, Djokovic, who won the Australian Open at the start of the year, said he had had an unbelievable season.
“We have to pay a little bit of respect to the other players,” said Djokovic. “They’ve had an amazing year also. At this level you cannot expect to win all the matches. Obviously this (Shanghai win) is going to be a huge confidence boost and also is going to help me in the race for number one. It’s still not done though. I still have to play well indoors.”
It would take an unlikely sequence of events for the Serbian to fail in his quest as he has fewer points to defend in the closing weeks than Federer in the rolling 12-month rankings.
“It’s my biggest objective in this moment,” he added when asked what it would mean to finish at the top for two years in a row. “It’s something I’m aiming for.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2012.
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