Novak Djokovic’s performance against Stefanos Tsitsipas was a warning to Rafael Nadal and his rivals at the ATP Finals.
That is the view of Amazon Prime pundit Daniela Hantuchova.
Tsitsipas has enjoyed an impressive season, reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final, a career-high of fifth in world and recording wins over Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Last month, Tsitsipas came from a set down to beat Djokovic at the Shanghai Masters.
But in the quarter-finals in Paris, the young Greek had no answer to Djokovic’s brilliance.
Djokovic raced to 5-0 in the first set before eventually taking it 6-1 and in the second set, he broke Tsitsipas two more times to complete the win in just 58 minutes.
With the ATP Finals beginning on November 10, Djokovic is coming into form at just the right time.
And former WTA star Hantuchova believes Djokovic’s display was a statement to the rest of the field.
Hantuchova said: “This is not only the message for Rafa but for the rest of the guys that are coming to London for the ATP Finals.
“It is all about the locker room respect. I think showing a performance like that he is going to be walking around for the rest of the tournament this week and in London with his head held high.
“Sending a message just like the beginning of the year when he was playing brilliant tennis.”
Victory for Djokovic kept up his faint hopes of finishing as the year-end No 1 over Rafael Nadal but Greg Rusedski says he needs help from other players.
“If Novak is going to end up as world No 1 at the end of the season, he’s going to need some guys to do some favours for him,” Rusedski said.
“If Rafa gets to the final here and loses to Novak and Novak wins the title, that’s 600 points.
“So Rafa still going into the 02 will have an advantage of 680 points. Then there’s the round robin.
“He’s got to hope Nadal’s in a tough section with guys he doesn’t like playing. There’s still a lot of things that have to go Novak’s way if he’s going to end up No 1.”