Lifting The World's No.1 Tennis Player Trophy For The Seventh Time, Djokovic: Holding This Record After Sampras Is Amazing

Novak Djokovic (Twitter @atptour)

JAKARTA - Novak Djokovic was awarded the year-end ATP world number one trophy after winning against Casper Ruud in his opening match at the ATP Finals, in Turin, Italy, Monday.

It was Djokovic's seventh time lifting the trophy, which according to the ATP Tour website, also broke the record in ATP rankings history since 1973.

The Serb surpassed the record he shared with American Pete Sampras who held the year-end ATP No.1 title in 1993-1998. Meanwhile, Djokovic has also achieved this feat in 2011-2012, 2014-2015, 2018, and 2020.

"I was four or five years old when I saw Sampras play at Wimbledon for the first time," Djokovic said.

"I asked for a racket and fell in love with tennis. Knowing that I hold this record now, after Pete, is amazing."

The 34-year-old, who won three major tournaments this year - the Australian Open, Roland Garros, and Wimbledon - has 49 wins and six losses this season.

Djokovic is chasing a sixth ATP Finals trophy this week to match Roger Federer's record at the season-ending tournament.

The top seed last won the ATP Finals in 2015 in London.

Meanwhile, Greece's world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Russia's Andrey Rublev in the Green Group preliminary round match on Monday evening local time or Tuesday Indonesian Western Time (WIB).

Previously, in the opening match of the ATP Finals Red Group, world number two Daniil Medvedev defeated ATP Finals debutant Hubert Hurkacz 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4.

Olympic champion Alexander Zverev also picked up the victory in his opener after Italy's Matteo Berrettini dropped out of the match with an injury early in the second set, leaving the German 7-6 1-0 up.