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Djokovic targets year-ending hat-trick

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AFP Paris
Paris Masters champion Novak Djokovic is braced for a triple quickfire challenge of winning the World Tour Finals, the Davis Cup and finishing the year as world number one.

The 26-year-old produced some of his best tennis to defeat Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5 in Sunday's final in the French capital as he won not only his third ATP title in a row, but extended his winning streak to 17 matches.

The Australian Open champion, and six-time Grand Slam title winner, is pooled with his Paris semi-final victim Roger Federer as well as Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro and Frenchman Richard Gasquet at the World Tour Finals in London, but has only 48 hours to recover before his opening match against the Swiss legend.
 

Djokovic claimed his 40th ATP title on Sunday in his eighth final of a year which has seen him win over 60 matches to put him on the heels of Rafael Nadal for the world number one spot.

"I am definitely playing the best tennis this year, including the start of the year with the Australian Open and Dubai that I had a great run," said Djokovic.

"You know, summer was up and down, and now again I'm playing on a very high level and have lots of confidence in myself, in my game," said the Serb, who added the Paris title to previous wins at Melbourne, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Beijing and Shanghai as well as reaching the final at Wimbledon and the US Open.

"You know, physically it's very demanding, but it's not just me that is tired and has played many matches. All of the top players have had long seasons, and you just have to try to find the strength, find a way to recuperate, recover.

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First Published: Nov 04 2013 | 12:01 PM IST

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