Djokovic now holds 60 titles
January 10, 2016
Doha/Qatar — HEAD player Novak Djokovic began the new 2016 ATP season as he finished 2015: by winning a tournament. He did it in the best possible way with a 6-1, 6-2 title victory over Rafael Nadal to win the Qatar Open in Doha. This triumph will bring the Racquet Rebel to the Australian Open at the peak of confidence. Djokovic, who recommends the HEAD Graphene XT Speed, is well on his way to matching the 11 titles he won in a record-breaking 2015 season, where the 28-year-old claimed three of the four Grand Slam titles. “I played pretty much perfect tennis today. From the very beginning I managed to get every shot the way I wanted.”
Djokovic was playing in his 16th straight final and needed little extra effort to hammer his longtime Spanish rival Nadal in just over an hour; the victory lifted Djokovic to 24-23 in the tight career series and handed the HEAD player his ninth victory in his last 10 meetings with Nadal.
The Serb now stands as another record-setter for HEAD, becoming one of only 10 players to hold 60 ATP titles. He reached the final after beating fellow HEAD player Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-6(3) in the semis.
In New Zealand, HEAD’s fifth-seed Sloane Stephens did double duty on a weekend day of rain to emerge with a trophy at the ASB International event in Auckland. The American, who endorses the HEAD Graphene XT Radical, first had to finish off a semi-final against former No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, before taking on German Julia Goerges in the final after only a brief rest and emerging with a 7-5, 6-2 trophy victory.
“To win a tournament is amazing and I’m just really happy,” said the 22-year-old Racquet Rebel. “It has definitely been a tough week. I played some really tough players. This is the first time I’ve won two matches on the same day, so I was really pleased with the way I was able to hold myself together.”
In Brisbane, HEAD’s Bernard Tomic, who recommends the HEAD Graphene XT Radical has set a goal of rising from 18th into a top 10 ranking, reached the semi-finals at home for the second time, with the player coming up short in a battle with Milos Raonic, going down in a pair of tiebreak sets.