Novak at number 350, praises the Greek prior to the quarterfinal
Novak Djokovic achieved his 350th victory at Masters tournaments today with a win over John Isner.
The Serbian tennis player won 7-5 6-3 after a great display and qualified to the Shanghai quarterfinal, where he will face the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas for the third time.
Novak spoke about his rivals during the last few days in Shanghai, mostly Rafael Nadal with whom he is having a battle for the Year-End #1 ranking.
"Even though I was in this position many times before now, I know Rafa had an incredible year and that I must play well in order to have any chance of meeting him until the end of the season indoors", says Novak.
The tennis he showed against Shapovalov and especially Isner is encouraging as the Shanghai tournament approaches its finish.
"I am happy to play well again. For me the most important thing is to be healthy because as you know I was forced to retire from the US Open. That was very hard to accept. The shoulder reacted well after the break and I had a good tournament in Japan. I will need a few more weeks in order to heal one hundred percent. Even though I am playing without pain, I have to be careful", said Djokovic.
He is aware that new, young players who are a threat to the leading three are coming. When it comes to them he underlines his next opponent, Tsitsipas.
"Among those young players I would say that it's approximately equal quality, but a few of them have stood out. Tsitsipas, he has already settled among the top ten. But Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov and Hurkacz can beat anyone on their day", warned Novak.