It's sad that Novak Djokovic at 36 is still best of the field... now is the time for...

Falling into conversation this month with a former ATP Tour top-10 player, the subject came on to the current strength around the top of the men’s game.

What was the view of this (non-British) player, who had a successful career either side of this century’s turn, about the prevailing standards of today’s elite outside Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz?

The exact term used in his reply was not suitable for print, and let us just say it was far from positive.

He added that Rafael Nadal may be looking on during his lengthy convalescence, encouraged that he can come back in his valedictory year and do serious damage, even with the 37-year-old Spaniard well beyond the peak of his physical powers.

Most of the tour has returned to China after the Covid-induced hiatus, and Djokovic has decided to sit out this swing.

While this is a difficult state of affairs for the tour commercially – imagine trying to maximise TV rights and sponsorships when your best player rarely turns up – there is no question it has been working for the world No 1.

So there are titles to be scooped up by the rest of the locker room during Djokovic’s latest absence, before he returns to action in November at the Paris Masters.

While acknowledging Djokovic’s brilliance, my former top-10 friend also made the point that the Serb will soon be nearer to 37 than 36, and that there really ought to be more genuine challengers to his superiority than there are now.

However, the figures suggest that, if anything, he is getting further away from a chasing pack that is only becoming more intimidated by his aura.

Djokovic’s record against fellow top-10 players over the last 12 months stands at 19-3. The most celebrated of the defeats came in the Wimbledon final by Alcaraz, a result he reversed at the next time of asking in Cincinnati.

The others were against Holger Rune at the Italian Open, and Daniil Medvedev in February’s Dubai semi-finals.