Novak Djokovic has once again lifted the China Open trophy, and this time the victory came not only through skill but also through perseverance, when the body no longer always obeys. In the final against Alex de Minaur, the Serb won the first set in a tie-break, and in the second the Australian retired due to injury — the result 7-6(3), 0-1. For the 39-year-old champion, this is the 102th title of his career and his seventh in Beijing, where he has remained unbeaten for 34 matches in a row.
Beijing long ago became for Djokovic not merely a tournament but a place of returning to himself. After an eleven-year break, he returned here in the status of a veteran who knows the value of every movement. In the quarterfinal, he lost the first set to Alexander Zverev but turned the tide, winning the next two. Such turns speak not of chance but of the ability to read the game and oneself in moments when young opponents count on their rival's fatigue.
The 2026 season proved difficult for Djokovic: health problems and physical limitations. Nevertheless, he finished it with a title — already for the 21th time in a row. This is not merely statistics but proof that in tennis, experience and psychology often outweigh raw power. As in chess, where the positional intuition of an experienced player outplays the aggression of a novice.
The final became a vivid illustration: de Minaur, who reached the decisive match after his opponent withdrew in the semifinal, was unable to continue. Djokovic, by contrast, maintained his concentration even in an incomplete encounter. Such moments show how important it is to be able to wait for one's chance and not lose focus when circumstances unfold differently.
The victory in Beijing is not only a personal triumph. It reminds us that in big-time sport a career does not end at 30 years old if the athlete maintains discipline and motivation. For the fans, it is a signal: age is not a sentence, and sometimes even an advantage, when thousands of matches lie behind you along with the ability to learn lessons from defeats.
Djokovic has once again proved that Beijing remains a happy place for him, where reality sometimes yields to the desire to lift the trophy. Ahead lie new challenges, but this streak of 34 victories is already written into history as an example of how experience and character allow one to remain at the top longer than expected.
