Winner Djokovic slams bonus stories

NOVAK Djokovic pocketed a £1 million bonus just for turning up yesterday before making light of recent shoulder pains to beat Croatian Ivan Dodig 6-4, 6-3 in the second round of the Paris Masters.

An ATP rule designed to entice top players to take part in top events states that, as world No 1, Djokovic is entitled to a £1.25m bonus if he plays in all eight Masters tournaments. The bonus drops to £1m if he misses one – and nothing if he misses two events.

Having skipped the Shanghai Masters through injury, the Serbian suffered a recurrence of a shoulder problem in his semi-final defeat in Basel against Japan’s Kei Nishikori last week.

Djokovic, who said he spent his time between Basle and Paris recovering from the injury, dismissed talk that he had turned up in Paris just to cash in the cheque.

“It was really somehow funny for me to see how people are coming up with that story. I even heard that I would get on the court and play a game just to get this money. This is ridiculous, “ he said after the match.

“I need more matches before [the ATP World Tour finals in] London. I think it’s obvious that I’m still not at the top of my game. But I’m taking things quite slowly, knowing that the form will improve each day that I play. I believe in that. I have been working quite hard in the last couple of weeks after my injury, and I think things are going in the right direction.”

Switzerland’s Roger Federer, seeded three, barely broke sweat in a 6-2, 6-3 win over local wildcard Adrian Mannarino to reach the third round, where he faces French favourite Richard Gasquet today. Serbian 11th seed Janko Tipsarevic kept alive his slim hopes of making it to the London finals by thrashing American Alex Bogomolov Jr 6-1, 6-0.