'Djoker' stakes strong claim to best season

Men's tennis has not been short of astonishing feats in recent years but Novak Djokovic is eclipsing even the great Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal as his record-breaking season reaches a crescendo.

Two titles in two weeks in China, including the Shanghai Masters, show there is no slowing down for the world No 1, who has climbed above the competition this year and keeps rising higher.

Record points and prize money and three of the four Grand Slams, plus an aura of surreal calm, mark one of tennis's best ever seasons - and all emerging from the most unlikely of beginnings.