Tennis: Novak Djokovic makes history in Cincinnati

Former world number one Novak Djokovic has achieved a historic result on Sunday in Cincinnati as he defeated Roger Federer for the title. Djokovic is now the first player to win all nine Masters 1,000 tournaments, the only one missing was Cincinnati and the victory came after he lost in the final five times. Three of the five lost finals were to Roger Federer, who has won multiple Masters 1000 titles himself but never managed to win the crown on clay in Monte Carlo. Novak Djokovic has won 13 Grand Slam titles, 31 Masters 1000 titles and has 70 ATP titles overall. The Cincinnati final ended in straight sets, both won 6-4 by Djokovic. "It's a very special moment for me. It's the first time I get to stand here as the champion - I've lost five finals before, most of them to this great man - Roger, thank you for finally letting me win one in Cincinnati," Djokovic said on the arena before the crowd after lifting the trophy. "I'd like to thank my family for their support, especially through these hard times - it's been a bit of a roller coaster with injury, time off and surgery. It all seems unreal to be back at this level, winning Wimbledon and now this." Djokovic had surgery on his right elbow in February and struggled to return to his usual level of play after that. His results were disappointing until the grass-court season, when a final in Queens was followed by a title-winning performance at Wimbledon. Last week Djokovic lost to Tsitsipas in the third round of the Toronto Masters. Federer said: "Congratulations to Novak for your amazing effort not just this week, but throughout your whole career, it is an amazing achievement. It's been a great week, tough on the players but we had a fun time." Novak Djokovic moves up to sixth place in the ATP rankings and seems ready for the last Grand Slam tournament of the season, the US Open. The American tournament starts next week and world number one Rafael Nadal will take part as well after having pulled out of the tournament in Cincinnati in order to rest properly after having won the title in Toronto. Novak Djokovic is 11/4 at Bet365 to win the US Open title, while Rafael Nadal is 4/1 to win it.