A day after assuring his year-end world No 1 rank, Novak Djokovic clinched his 37th ATP Masters 1000 title (the most since the series of nine events was established in 1990) on Sunday by defeating Daniil Medvedev in Paris to go past Rafael Nadal’s tally of 36.

The Serbian superstar won the Paris Masters final 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, his sixth title at the event.

The many records of Novak Djokovic: 

Masters 1000 titles: 37, going past Rafael Nadal’s 36

Season-ending world number one: 7 (new record)

Weeks spent as world number one: 345 (record). It will be 346 come Monday.

Grand Slam titles: 20 (record) tied with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal

Season-ending Masters/ATP Finals titles: 5, along with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. Roger Federer holds the record with six.

ATP titles: 85, behind Jimmy Connors (109, record), Roger Federer (103), Ivan Lendl (94) and Rafael Nadal (99)

Djokovic was crowned season-ending world number one for a record seventh time on Saturday.

The 34-year-old Serbian had jointly held the record of six with Pete Sampras but took sole possession when he beat Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) to reach the Paris Masters final.

Djokovic had taken a seven-week break after his dreams of a Grand Slam were dashed by Medvedev in the US Open final in September. But he has returned to action in fine fashion to add another chapter to a glorious 2021 season.

In an entertaining contest, befitting a duel between the top two in the world, Djokovic again had to come back from a set down after needing three sets to defeat Hubert Hurkacz in the semi-finals.

It was only the second time the top two in Paris had clashed in the final.

Sunday’s crowd got better value for their money as back in 1990 Boris Becker retired injured at 3-3 in the first set against then number one Stefan Edberg.

The pivotal game came as Djokovic served to level the match, saving two break points before securing the second set on his third set point after 11 minutes.

Djokovic pressed home the advantage, breaking Medvedev twice in the deciding set to move to 5-2 with the Russian showing his frustration by firing a ball into the crowd and having words with the umpire as he sat down.

It appeared to briefly fire him up as he got a break back in the next game but his serve once again let him down and it was Djokovic who raised his arms in celebration.

(With AFP inputs)