The 39-year-old beat the path to the trophy through Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur, the Australian retiring in the final at 7-6 (3), 1-0. Djokovic is 34-0 in Beijing. He is also the first man to win a tour-level title in 21 consecutive seasons, two decades after his first, as a 19-year-old in Amersfoort in 2006.
“I’m very proud of the achievement here,” he said. “It came at the best possible time as a confidence booster, as a proof that I can still play on the highest level.”
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Federer finished on 103, his last of them in Basel in 2019, when he was 38. That was the fourth title of a season in which he had already won Dubai, Miami and Halle at 37. Djokovic has now passed the age at which Federer won his final trophy and is still adding to the count. Their head-to-head finished 27-23 to the Serb. The title list has not.
Jimmy Connors remains clear on 109. Djokovic is seven behind him. Ivan Lendl is fourth on 94 and Rafael Nadal fifth on 92. The records Djokovic already owns sit outside that table: 24 men’s Grand Slam titles, 40 ATP Masters 1000 trophies and seven Nitto ATP Finals.
Open Era title leaders
| Rank | Player | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Connors | 109 |
| 2 | Roger Federer | 103 |
| 3 | Novak Djokovic | 102 |
| 4 | Ivan Lendl | 94 |
| 5 | Rafael Nadal | 92 |
Beijing was his first visit since 2015, and the first title of a season that had stalled after the Australian Open final. One more trophy ties Federer. Eight more would pass Connors. At 39, he is still counting.