In the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters on Friday, Novak Djokovic beat Lorenzo Musetti 6-0, 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes to win his 12th consecutive match on the tour.
The Serb qualified for the year-end championships last month because of ATP's Grand Slam champion provision, a rule that allows entry to a current-year Major winner placed between No. 8 and No. 20 in the rankings. It turned into a controversy after Britain's Cameron Norrie recently called Djokovic's qualification "unfair."
However, with his win on Friday, the 35-year-old stacked up enough points to finish in the top eight players by the end of the Paris Masters. This makes the exemption irrelevant, not that there was anything unfair about it, to begin with.
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Due to his unvaccinated status against COVID-19, he missed out on playing two Grand Slams and four Masters 1000 tournaments this year. The tennis icon's fans celebrated the achievement, hailing him for his mental toughness and his fight against all odds after having an unpleasant year.
"@DjokerNole #GOAT it is one thing taking on the opponents….it is quite another taking on the entire establishment and still coming out on top……what an inspiration this man is," a fan tweeted.
"Exactly why they try to stop King #Djokovic the in every way they can. So embarrassing and mortifying 2 have a year like this. GS rigged & a fake no. #1. I genuinely feel sorry 4 the kid clearly cracked under the pressure of what they did but I'm sure they don't. Shameful," a user posted.
"Doubt mainstream media will talk about this as much, but as tough as 2022 has been for #Djokovic, history will show that it is one of the standout years of his career in terms of highlighting why he’s one of the greatest to ever hold a tennis racket," another tweet read.
Here are a few more fan reactions:
"Not having Novak Djokovic compete would've been dumb" - Rennae Stubbs
Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Wimbledon banned players from Russia and Belarus from competing in London this year. This resulted in the ATP and WTA canceling ranking points at the event. Novak Djokovic, who won the tournament, thus missed out on 2,000 ranking points. However, the Grand Slam champion provision ensured the Serb's qualification in the ATP Finals last month.
With a bit of controversy around that, former Australian player Rennae Stubbs expressed her thoughts on the topic. She stated it was disappointing for her to learn about the cancelation of ranking points at Wimbledon, but she was happy that the ATP went ahead with the Grand Slam champion provision rule and allowed the Serb to qualify for the year-end championships.
"The @atptour @WTA tours not allowing points at Wimbledon to me was so ugh but I am glad the ATP at least allowed the rule of, if u win a slam u are in the masters still, cause not having @DjokerNole compete would have been DUMB! feel badly for all the players that did well there," Stubbs tweeted.
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