Novak Djokovic ‘super pumped’ for season finale after Astana Open win over Stefanos Tsitsipas

Djokovic looked in fine form as he won Sunday’s final 6-3 6-4 against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The 21-time Grand Slam champion missed all of the North American hard-court summer, including the US Open, as he is unvaccinated so was unable to travel to Canada or the USA.

But on his return after three months away he won the Tel Aviv Open, and he followed that up with his 90th career title at the Astana Open.

“I could not ask for a better restart of the season,” Djokovic said afterwards.

“I’m super pumped and motivated to end the season as well as I have done these past couple of weeks.”

Djokovic needed just 76 minutes to beat Tsitsipas in the final, improving his head-to-head record against the Greek to 8-2.

The win secures Djokovic’s place at the season-ending ATP Finals as he is guaranteed to finish in the top 20 in the race, which is enough as he is also a Grand Slam winner this year at Wimbledon.

Djokovic is fifth in the all-time standings for most titles won behind Jimmy Connors (109), Roger Federer (103), Ivan Lendl (94) and Rafael Nadal (92).

Asked whether he could ever imagine he would win so many tournaments, Djokovic replied: “I dared to dream, actually.

“I always hoped that I would be going to have a great career. Obviously, I didn’t know the amount of finals I was going to play, the amount of tournaments I was going to win, but my intention was always to reach the highest heights in our sport.

“I’m just very grateful and blessed to be able to play this well at this stage of my life.

“You know, 35 is not 25. But I think the experience, probably, in these kinds of matches and big occasions helps as well to approach mentally in the right way.”

Tsitsipas, Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud have also qualified along with Djokovic for the ATP Finals.

However, it is not known if Nadal will play again this year.

His only match since losing in the fourth round of the US Open was doubles with Federer at the Laver Cup and it has been reported over the weekend that his wife Mary Perello gave birth to their first child.