Tennis-Djokovic sees silver lining in Shanghai Masters defeat to Sinner

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Former world number one Novak Djokovic will take plenty of positives from his performance at the Shanghai Masters despite his defeat by Jannik Sinner on Sunday, as the Serb rediscovered his form after a disappointing U.S. Open campaign.

Djokovic, a 24-times Grand Slam champion, won his first Olympic gold medal at the Paris Games in August, but then suffered a third-round defeat at Flushing Meadows to Alexei Popyrin.

However, Djokovic looked in fine nick in Shanghai, playing with consistency throughout the tournament to reach his fifth final at the ATP Masters 1000 event, where he was beaten 7-6(4) 6-3 by world number one Sinner.

"I think there's quite a few positives that I can take. I think the level of my tennis was really good this tournament, probably best after the Olympics in terms of how I played, how I performed, how I fought," Djokovic told reporters.

"I did my best tonight. Under the circumstances, I felt maybe not a 100% fresh, but big credit to Jannik for playing the big points better than me, and that's what made the difference. He deserved to win, he was just too strong in important moments.

"I still think that in the final today I played pretty good, which gives me reason to believe that I can still play with these guys that are the best in the world. Hopefully I can maintain that level in the upcoming months, and also for the future."

Djokovic's defeat to Sinner also dashed his bid to add a 100th singles title to his trophy cabinet, which would have seen him become only the third man to achieve the feat after Jimmy Connors (109) and rival Roger Federer (103).

The 37-year-old played down the significance of that particular milestone, adding: "That's a bonus, if that can happen. I definitely wished for it to happen today, but it wasn't meant to be.

"I've got to keep striving to make it happen somewhere in the near future, hopefully. It's not a live-or-die type of goal for me.

"I think I've achieved all of my biggest goals in career. Right now it's really about Grand Slams and about seeing how far I can kind of push the bar for myself."

Djokovic is next in action in the Oct. 16-19 'Six Kings Slam', a tennis exhibition in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which will also feature Sinner, Rafa Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune.

(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Nashik, India, editing by Pritha Sarkar)