Seven days ago, when Djokovic defeated Holger Rune to cement the year-end No 1 ranking for a record-extending eighth time, the direction of travel seemed clear for the defending champion. Though he played down his ambitions, insisting he had got what he came for and anything else would be a bonus, there was also the small matter of a possible record seventh title to consider. This, surely, was a story we’d read before.

Yet as Djokovic struggled to navigate the group stage, it seemed his motivation had waned. Taken the distance in all three of his matches, the 36-year-old came through against Rune and Hubert Hurkacz but suffered a first ever defeat to Jannik Sinner, leaving his semi-final prospects in the balance. Ironically, it fell to Sinner to keep him in contention, the Italian world No 4 clinching a tight win over Rune to ensure Djokovic advanced from Green Group in second place. 

From there, though, the Serb was a player transformed. Having produced one of his best performances of the season to claim an emphatic win over Carlos Alcaraz on Saturday, he continued in the same imperious vein in Sunday’s rematch with Sinner, avenging his midweek loss with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 victory. With his latest triumph of what has been another stellar season, Djokovic moved clear of Roger Federer as the most successful player in the history of the eight-man event, while laying down a marker for next season against two of the three young pretenders to his throne, along with Rune.

“I think the match against Alcaraz last night and the one tonight [were] probably the two best matches, under the circumstances, that I’ve played this season, against two players that are in fantastic form,” said Djokovic after claiming his seventh title of the season. “The quality of Alcaraz and Sinner, we all know.

“Playing Sinner tonight in front of his home crowd, and the way I finished the tournament and finished the season, is amazing. I’m very, very proud of the performance.  

“After I clinched the year[-end] No 1 with the first win over Rune, I was not mentally present fully in the tournament. After that I [had a] kind of half in, half out feeling. That reflected in my level of tennis and my performance, and the way I felt on the court.

“Obviously, thanks to Sinner for allowing me to be in the semi-finals. When I was there, I thought, ‘Now, OK, I’m going to try and step it up.’ And I did. I played two really high-level matches.”

It is not the first time this season that Djokovic has overcome adversity to produce his best tennis at the sharp end of a big tournament. The Serb was hobbled by a hamstring injury in the early rounds of the Australian Open, struggled to find any kind of form before Roland Garros, and almost came a cropper against Laslo Djere, his fellow countryman, in the second round of the US Open. On each occasion, he rebounded to win the tournament, a narrow loss to Alcaraz in an epic Wimbledon final the only blot on his record in the majors.

So Goran Ivanisevic, the 24-time grand slam champion’s coach, spoke for many when he suggested that, once his man survived the group stage, there was a certain inevitability about the success of Djokovic’s latest assault on the record books. 

“I knew as soon as he got into the semi-final, he was going to win the tournament,” said Ivanisevic. “The mentality changed. The new Novak Djokovic arrived on the court from Saturday. When the real Novak Djokovic arrives on the court, then the moment is [that] nobody can play with him.”

The question of how to alter that seemingly immutable reality is one that will occupy his rivals deeply in the eight weeks between now and next year’s Australian Open. On Saturday night, Alcaraz left Turin talking of the need to improve if he is to beat “the best player in the world”. Twenty-four hours later, Sinner spoke in similar terms. 

“Tennis is interesting because, as you can see, every day is different, no?” said the 22-year-old. “Some days I won against him. Here, the same conditions again and you lose.  But I think generally, today, I saw that I still have to improve, for sure. I believe that he makes me a better player, like all the other players have done who I lost to. I now have to work on this.

“He’s an inspiration, because he worked throughout the whole years before, when he was younger, in the right way to get to this point. That’s also one of my goals.”

Despite the chastening nature of his defeat, Sinner remains on a stellar trajectory. His smooth, forceful ground game has long marked him out as special, but his partnership with Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, the coaches he introduced to his team last year after parting ways with his childhood mentor Riccardo Piatti, has yielded improvements in virtually every aspect of the game. Sinner’s serve has become a more potent and accurate weapon. His net game has been a revelation. The addition of drop shots to his repertoire has expanded his tactical options, while his movement, mentality and strength have all come on in leap and bounds.

With Djokovic in peerless form, however, those virtues were as nothing. Statistics do not always reflect the nature of a match, but here they were hard to ignore. A serving masterclass yielded 13 aces, with Djokovic winning 91% of the points on his first delivery and an outstanding 64% on the second. His forehand eclipsed Sinner’s for speed, and yet for all the venom that produced an overall haul of 20 winners, the Serb made just five unforced errors, less than half Sinner’s total. That metronomic consistency extended to Djokovic’s returning, the depth and penetration of which enabled him to win more than half Sinner’s second serve points. 

The last thing a player of Djokovic’s experience needs is a dress rehearsal, and yet that is exactly what he got when he faced Sinner on Tuesday night. He spoke ominously beforehand of his defeat to the Italian being a “good preparation tool” for the final, and those words rang true as he not only made light of the ferociously partisan crowd, but used it to his advantage to claim the first break. 

With Sinner serving at deuce in the fourth game, Djokovic made the most of a disturbance in the stands, pausing theatrically three times to gaze up at the commotion. Boos and whistles rained down from the stands, but the delay seemed calculated by the Serb, giving Sinner plenty of time to ponder the loss of a 40-15 lead. Djokovic duly extracted two errors from the Italian to break for 3-1, and from that point the crowd was never a factor again. Djokovic’s dominance was such that, from 5-3 in the first set, he won 14 straight points to go a set and a break up, effectively putting the contest beyond Sinner’s reach.

“I think I prepared myself very well for the match, for the atmosphere,” said Djokovic. “I knew that the place is going to go wild, it’s going to be very loud, the whole stadium supporting him. I knew that. 

“But one thing is to know and expect, another thing is to actually experience. So I think the match that we had in the group stage really helped me prepare myself mentally and emotionally for what was coming up.

“I delivered when I needed to, I stayed tough, and I had the better mentality. When I clinched the year[-end] No 1 with the first win over Rune, I kind of felt satisfied with that, and I was not really fully into my remaining matches of the group. But luckily for me I got the chance to be in the semis, and when I got that I kind of switched on and delivered my A game.”

As Djokovic has shown time and again, it is a level that few can live with. 

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Alcaraz had just dominated one of the most extraordinary rallies of the week, whipping up a blizzard of scorching groundstrokes that had Djokovic charging from corner to corner, chasing lost causes, digging out balls often beyond the reach of men half his age. Finally, the Spaniard could sustain the bombardment no longer; a forehand flew long, and with it went whatever vestigial hope remained of a first ATP Finals title.

“It was an unbelievable point,” said Alcaraz after falling to a 6-3, 6-2 defeat. “I would say I couldn’t play better this point. Even then, I lost it. It’s a little bit frustrating for me to play my best tennis in that point [and lose it].”

Alcaraz is not the first to experience that sensation against Djokovic, and he is unlikely to be the last. It was just the kind of thrilling exchange most expected from the latest instalment of a rivalry that illuminated the sport this summer, a passage of play that put one in mind of Andy Roddick’s famous quip about throwing the kitchen sink at Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final, only for the Swiss to retreat to the bathroom and get the tub. In truth, though, there were precious few such moments. 

This was not another edge-of-the-seat barnstormer in the mould of the Wimbledon and Cincinnati finals or the first two sets the pair played at Roland Garros, before Alcaraz was stricken with cramp. This was Djokovic at his clinical best, a player transformed from the one who was taken to a deciding set in each of his three group matches, losing to Jannik Sinner and advancing to the last four only after the Italian defeated Holger Rune. Alcaraz, whose victory over the Serbian world No 1 at the All England Club was hailed by some as a changing of the guard, never knew what hit him. It was, as Djokovic told the Italian crowd afterwards, “una prestazione perfetta” – a perfect performance.

“One of the best matches of the year in these circumstances, playing probably the biggest rival I had this year,” said Djokovic. “We had some epic matches. Actually, all three matches we played this year were marathon matches that went the distance. 

“I think everyone expected, including probably both of us, that we’re going to have a long night, a big fight, a long match. I just managed to, I guess, step it up. When I broke his serve at 4-3 in the first set, [I] played a really flawless match until the end.  

“[I] played great tennis, high level, put a lot of pressure on his service games, made him play. I served really well when I needed to. Best match of the week, one of the best matches of the year. Couldn’t be coming at a better time for me, considering that I maybe wasn’t playing my best tennis in the first three matches of the group stages. Tonight I played close to my very, very best.”

With a landmark seventh title firmly in his sights – he currently shares the record with Federer – Djokovic will now cross swords with Sinner for the second time in a week. The Italian, who saw off Daniil Medvedev in three sets in the first semi-final, has enjoyed raucous support from the home crowd in Turin, and he will need the locals to be at their partisan best again if he is to win what would be the biggest title of his career. Djokovic is hopeful he can make experience tell.

“He has been the best player of the tournament so far, won four out of four matches and played some great tennis,” said Djokovic, who described his midweek loss to Sinner as “a great preparation tool”.   

“Obviously, [he is] riding on the big wave of support of his Italian crowd here. Tomorrow is the finals. He’s going for his first trophy, I’m going for my seventh in the year-end finals. I’ve been in these situations before. Hopefully, experience can help a bit. But I don’t think it’s going to prevail, because he’s been playing well, he’s going to have crowd on his side. 

“I know what I expect. I think having already a match against him in this kind of atmosphere helps me prepare better. The performance of tonight really gives me good feelings ahead of tomorrow’s final, because I played my best match of the tournament so far.”

Alcaraz, meanwhile, can only ponder what might have been, although any such musings are likely to be brief. The Spaniard had a chance to get the jump on Djokovic in the opening game, where he made a typically flamboyant start only to see his hopes skewered by some clutch serving from the Serb. The immaculate length of Djokovic’s returns maintained unrelenting pressure on Alcaraz’s own delivery, and a trio of missed backhands in the eighth game spelled the beginning of the end. 

Djokovic served out the set to love and, when he broke again three games into the second set, there would be no way back for Alcaraz, whose last throw of the dice came when he held two break points in the sixth game. Having seen the first snuffed out by another fine serve, Alcaraz dug in on the second, throwing everything he had at his rival only for Djokovic to conjure a stunning forehand pass on the 23rd shot of a lung-busting rally. 

“[Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach] was telling me that I have to stay strong mentally, I have to stay strong there,” said Alcaraz. “But I couldn’t. I couldn’t.”

Few can when Djokovic is in this mood. Sinner can expect to have his work cut out.

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Instead, an absorbing battle of wits with Daniil Medvedev turned on a pair of fleeting lapses by the Russian world No 3, who double-faulted just twice in two and a half hours but paid a high price on both occasions as Sinner, to the delight of a frenzied home crowd, claimed a 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 victory.

In a week when the 22-year-old Italian has produced some of the finest tennis of his life, those two moments were all the opportunity Sinner required to turn the screw. 

The first, which came when Medvedev double-faulted on game point and then gifted his opponent an early lead with a pair of forehand errors, determined the outcome of the opening set. 

The second, which arrived early in the third set, following a brilliant fightback by the former champion, not only handed Sinner a lead he would not relinquish, but also precipitated a meltdown from Medvedev, who dispatched his racket into the digital advertising hoarding before taking issue with a spectator. There would be no way back for the 27-year-old, Sinner pressing home the advantage with some of his boldest tennis of the week. 

If the devil was in the detail, however, it was nonetheless a match that Sinner won, rather than one Medvedev lost. Imperious on serve, irrepressible from the baseline and deadly at the net, where he won 17 of 20 points, Sinner once again performed with a conviction and quality that suggests he is ready to compete for the biggest prizes in the sport. The first Italian to reach the title round at the season finale and the man of the moment in his home country and beyond, Sinner has now won not only his past 10 matches, but also his most recent meetings with Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, one of whom he will face in Sunday’s final. 

“It feels great,” said Sinner, who was roared on by the impassioned locals, just as he has been all week. “The atmosphere has been awesome again. Sharing this moment with Italian fans means a lot to me. We’re playing here in Italy. Obviously, [it] means a lot for me and also my team.”

“It was a really tough match. I was struggling in the beginning. He was pushing a lot, he was much more aggressive. I think every set had his own story at some point.”

In the early stages of the opening set, the narrative was largely tactical. A notable feature of Sinner’s landmark first win against Djokovic in midweek was his ability to discomfit the Serb in the frequent backhand-to-backhand exchanges. Clearly determined not to be snared in the same trap, Medvedev sought to alter the angle of attack by taking his forehand down the line wherever possible. Though undermined by a break in the fourth game, the strategy reaped dividends: six of Sinner’s 13 unforced errors came in the opening set, and it was a testament to the Italian’s tactical intelligence that he emerged on top.

Sinner’s astute approach was showcased in the seventh game, which he opened with the fourth of 10 aces, a 129mph delivery down the middle. In a contest where the vast majority of his serves to the deuce court were directed wide, it was an adroit change of direction, one Medvedev was evidently not expecting. Sinner followed up by outmanoeuvring Medvedev behind his second serve – a vastly improved area of his game – before reverting to a viciously sliced wide delivery to force a return error. He eventually closed out the game by drawing Medvedev forward with a drop shot and then flicking a topspin lob over his stranded rival.

“I felt that he was better than me in the first set, in terms of having a little bit more rhythm,” said Medvedev. “I was playing not bad. I had a break point. But I felt him just this tiny bit better than me.”

That changed in the second set where Medvedev, responding to a sharp uptick from Sinner in the longer rallies, began to play with increasing aggression off the ground. With the Italian breathing heavily for the first time, Medvedev stormed through the climactic tiebreak, making every first serve before converting the second of three set points courtesy of a shanked forehand from Sinner.

Tactical nuances faded into insignificance after Medvedev dropped serve in the second game of the decider, however, the Russian’s game unravelling rapidly after he received a code violation for hurling his racket in frustration before directing a few choice words at someone in the crowd. 

“I lost my head a little bit,” acknowledged Medvedev. “Double-fault on the break point. For sure they cheer a little bit the double-fault, but that is normal. He got the break, so I lost it. That was kind of the only game where I lost my head.”

Sinner now stands within one more win of what would be a historic victory.

“If I play against Carlos or if I play against Novak, they’re going to change a couple of things,” said Sinner. “I have to be aware. I have to be very careful and intelligent to understand what’s going on, on the court. Let’s see what’s coming, no?” 

Italy awaits with bated breath.

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Four days after Alexander Zverev consigned him to a third straight defeat, his poorest run of form since March 2021, Alcaraz produced his finest performance of the week in Turin to claim a 6-4, 6-4 win over Daniil Medvedev and clinch top spot in Red Group. The victory, which completes a turnaround that began against Andrey Rublev on Wednesday night, means the Spaniard will face Djokovic, the Green Group runner-up, in the fifth instalment of what has already become a titanic rivalry.

Having gained a measure of payback for his semi-final defeat to Medvedev at the US Open, where he was the defending champion, Alcaraz will now try to avenge his gut-wrenching loss to Djokovic in August’s Cincinnati Open final, where he held a match point before the Serb prevailed in a final-set tiebreak after almost four hours. That defeat was his second in three matches this summer against the 24-time grand slam champion, who prevailed in four sets at the French Open, where Alcaraz was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the occasion, before the Spaniard won a Wimbledon final for the ages the following month.

“I’m stronger mentally right now, comparing to Paris,” said Alcaraz. “I’ve spoken about dealing with the pressure, dealing with tough, tough moments. In Paris, I didn’t deal with the pressure. I learned about that situation. Then came Wimbledon, came Cincinnati. It was a really, really good match. 

“I think facing someone like Novak, you have to stay strong mentally and deal with the pressure that he puts on you in every ball, in every point. I think I learned a lot about that.  I think I’m ready to face him tomorrow.”

Earlier in the week, Medvedev mischievously suggested that Alcaraz has lately been playing “a little bit slower” and without “the same confidence he had throughout the year”. It was a fair comment, yet it will hardly have dampened Alcaraz’s motivation, and it was a very different player who took to the court against the Russian on Friday. 

Alcaraz, who is making his debut at the season-ending showpiece, went about his business with relish from the outset. Having fended off the only two break points he would face all afternoon in the third game, the 20-year-old fashioned a breakthrough of his own in the seventh with some typically bold play. A spectacular running forehand winner set the tone, before a sumptuous backhand return, taken on the rise and fired down the line, confirmed a love break. With the Spaniard untouchable on his own delivery, a double-fault on break point in the ninth game of the second set sealed Medvedev’s fate.

“In important moments, I was not good enough and he was a little bit better than me,” said Medvedev, who advances in second place and will face Jannik Sinner in the first of Saturday’s semi-finals.

“He played one unreal game in first set on my serve. Second set, I played a bad game on my serve. Honestly, tough to say much.”

In the final group match, Zverev ran out a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Rublev.

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Taken the distance by Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in his final group match at the ATP Finals, Djokovic’s hopes of advancing to the semi-finals rested on Jannik Sinner, the very man who had left him in a parlous position in the first place. Sinner’s landmark first win over Djokovic on Tuesday night meant that if the 22-year-old Italian defeated Holger Rune in the day’s second singles match, he would be confirmed as the winner of Green Group, in turn ushering Djokovic through to the semi-finals in second place. A win for Rune, meanwhile, would see the Dane progress at Djokovic’s expense. 

Guaranteed to advance either way, just how much would Sinner give in pursuit of a victory that would potentially give the world No 1 a chance to avenge his first defeat since the Wimbledon final? Even Djokovic seemed unsure.

“What kind of battle do I expect tonight?” mused the Serb following his 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-1 win over Hurkacz. “I don’t know. I don’t know what Jannik is thinking about. 

“Obviously, knowing he has qualified even before he enters the court, I think it’s a big relief. Knowing him, he’s going to try to win every match that he plays. He’s playing great.”

On a day when an uncharacteristic mid-match lull saw him drop 13 points in a row to Hurkacz, Djokovic’s analysis proved more reliable than his game. In a contest that even Sinner, a man not given to hyperbole, described as “a little bit of a rollercoaster”, the fourth seed gave everything. Sinner came out swinging freely to take the first set, struggled with a back injury in the face of a strong fightback from Rune in the second, and then rose to the challenge magnificently down the stretch, pulling off a brilliant drop volley to break in the penultimate game before serving out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory. 

“It was important for me to reset after this good win against Novak, starting from zero again, being ready for a tough fight against Holger,” said Sinner, who had drawn a blank in his previous two meetings with Rune. “I never won against him. It’s nice that I won at least once against him.

“He’s an incredible player, serving really good. I started off really well. From the second set, he served better. It was obviously much, much tougher to break him. I think it was a good win, positive win.”

Any fears Sinner might leave something in reserve were allayed from the moment he conjured a winning pass to break in the opening game. Rarely can the first three minutes of a tennis match have stirred greater emotion. Sinner has enjoyed rollicking support from the home crowd this week, and as the locals rose to acclaim their hero, and the now-familiar chants of “Ole, ole, ole, Sin-ner, Sin-ner” cascaded down from the stands, the die was cast. With the better part of 12,000 souls hanging on his every stroke, only victory would do for the Italian. Sinner could not have given less than 100% even if he had wanted to. 

In truth, there was never any danger of a tactical surrender. A model professional, Sinner has worked tirelessly to expand his repertoire, and the fruits of his labours were once again evident. Immaculate off the ground, as he almost invariably is, Sinner also enjoyed an 84% success rate behind his vastly improved first serve and won 20 of 23 net points. His progress in those two key areas, combined with his lithe, powerful movement and the quality of his return game, has lifted the Italian to a new level. 

As he shrugged off a sore back – and saved a break point that would have left Rune serving for the match – Sinner’s dogged determination to sustain the momentum he has established since the US Open was plain. 

“One motion I made, I felt a little, little click,” he said following his ninth straight win. “It went away. It’s all good with my body.”

Ironically, if anyone failed to turn up, it was Rune. That was certainly the case in the opening set, where the Dane fell well below the standards he has set since hiring Boris Becker as his coach last month. Yet the Dane recovered impressively, seizing the chance to level the match when Sinner’s physical problems began to bite, and he competed ferociously in the decider. 

“I’ve always lost the first set when I played Jannik,” said Rune. “I was not so stressed about it, because I know I can fight back. But obviously he played very free. This match, he had absolutely nothing to lose. That probably put down his nerves a little bit.”

Rune showed remarkable composure to stay in the hunt after Aurélie Tourte, the French chair umpire, harshly declined to grant him a challenge early in the final set, handing Sinner a break point. Television replays showed Rune’s serve had landed long, but Sinner returned it crosscourt and Rune, who instinctively tracked the ball, challenged only after netting a half-hearted response. Tourte ruled that, having missed the shot, no appeal could be allowed.

A protracted debate proved fruitless for Rune, who was barracked by the crowd and responded with a sarcastic thumbs up, à la Djokovic. In the end, it didn’t matter: the 20-year-old saved the break point with one ace, and went on to hold with another. 

Djokovic would have approved. He doubtless approved of the final outcome, too.

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Barely 24 hours after Stefanos Tsitsipas withdrew from the season-ending championships with a back problem, a first meeting between Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev brought a painful reminder that the rigours of an 11-month season are not always measured purely in strains, sprains and muscle tears. The burden is mental and emotional, too, and there comes a point when the cumulative effects of week-in, week-out pressure and expectation begin to cast a pall on even the very best.

Rublev, a heart-on-sleeve character in whom the attendant frustrations are often particularly visible, certainly ranks among the best. Against Alcaraz, however, the 26-year-old Russian appeared to reach a tipping point. Suffering from illness and beaten in his opening match in Turin by Daniil Medvedev, his close friend and compatriot, Rublev could no longer simply grit his teeth and plough on after falling behind by a set and a break. Instead, he vented his anger on himself by repeatedly thwacking his racket into his left knee. After six swift blows, blood trickled down Rublev’s knee and his challenge drained away with it, the Muscovite sliding to a 7-5, 6-2 defeat. 

It is not the first time Rublev has inflicted such pain on himself, and although the physical damage appeared only skin deep – “It’s OK, nothing happened,” he said afterwards – his mental anguish was clear as he sat with a towel over his head at the final changeover. A semi-finalist in Turin last year, his tournament is over with a match to go this time out. 

“It’s not easy because you always want to finish in a good way,” said Rublev, who will face Alexander Zverev on Friday. “Sometimes you get disappointed when it’s not happening. Today, I got disappointed and couldn’t manage.”

Alcaraz too has been struggling to manage as the season limps to a close. He has searched in vain for his best level since losing to Daniil Medvedev in the US Open semi-finals two months ago and, after losing his opener against Zverev on Monday, the Spaniard went into this match on a three-match winless streak, his worst run in more than two and a half years. But while the free-flowing, instinctive play that carried Alcaraz to six titles in the first half of the season has proved elusive, the Wimbledon champion‘s determination to garner something from his debut appearance at the finals was evident. 

“Beating Rublev, a great player, it gives you a lot of confidence,” said Alcaraz, who created a platform for victory with a brilliant serving exhibition, dropping just two points on his first delivery, and pounded 19 winners to just two unforced errors. 

“Obviously it’s a little bit more special to win after losing in the first match. It was really, really tough for me.  

“You could see I’ve been struggling with my level the last few months, few tournaments. Playing this match [with] this quality, at this level, it’s really helpful for me coming into the third one. I’m really happy to show this level and realise that my level is still there, giving myself a chance in this tournament. “    

Having secured a maiden victory in Turin, Alcaraz will face Medvedev on Friday with his semi-final hopes still alive after the Russian third seed defeated Zverev 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 in the evening match. Medvedev’s 11th win in 18 meetings with the German came after Zverev botched a backhand volley that would have given him a 5-1 lead in the first-set tiebreak. Worse was to come for the two-time champion, who went on to squander two set points as his forehand deserted him. 

“Tight match,” said Medvedev. “I’m happy that I managed to win it, no matter in a way the points and how it went. I felt like lately I could have lost some matches like this, some tiebreaks. I’m happy this time I managed to win it. It’s always great for the confidence.”

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As might be expected against a man who has just clinched the year-end top ranking for an unprecedented eighth time, Sinner’s path to a potentially transformative 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2) victory was fraught with challenges and setbacks. 

A set to the good after capitalising on a rare wobble from Djokovic towards the end of the first set, the Italian was twice pegged back with the finish line in sight, first after taking an early lead in the second-set tiebreak, then when he led by a break in the decider. But with his mental resilience matched by the quality and conviction of his shot-making, the 22-year-old remained imperturbable.

That was more than could be said for Djokovic, who spent much of the evening sarcastically applauding the jeers of a fiercely partisan crowd, not least after he was distracted while serving late in the first set, prompting a double-fault that paved the way for a vital break. Down the stretch he even turned conductor, orchestrating a chorus of derision with a flourish of his arms during a changeover. 

Curiously, however, there was little of the belligerence that characterised the Serb’s fractious run to the Paris Masters title earlier this month. Djokovic has maintained from the moment he arrived in Turin that his chief goal was to secure the year-end No 1 ranking. Having done that with a three-set win over Holger Rune in his opening match, the 36-year-old cut a somewhat becalmed figure against Sinner, his frequent smiles hinting at an uncharacteristic insouciance. While his tennis was anything but nonchalant, neither was this Djokovic at maximum mental intensity. Sinner took full advantage, storming through the climactic tiebreak to seal his second win of the season over a reigning No 1, following his victory over Carlos Alcaraz at the Miami Open, in three hours and nine minutes.

“Putting together all circumstances, playing here in Turin against the No 1 in the world, he won 24 grand slams, with such an atmosphere and everything, I think it’s in the top, top [performances of his season],” said Sinner, who will face Holger Rune in his final match. 

“Even if I would have lost today, the match was really good. Also for my mind [it] was really important to go close this match, so in my mind I know I can really trying to win against him also for the next matches.”

There lies the rub for Djokovic, who will face a player infused with newfound confidence should the pair cross swords again in the knockout phase. The suspicion lingers that the Serb will be a very different proposition in that eventuality. Yet, in current form, Sinner need fear no one.

Since reaching his first major semi-final this summer at Wimbledon, where he pushed Djokovic hard in a straight-sets defeat, the Italian has remained on a firmly upward trajectory. As last month’s title wins in Beijing and Vienna demonstrated, Sinner has improved virtually every aspect of his game since bringing on board the coaching expertise of Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill last year. Against Djokovic, who had won each of their three previous meetings, his quality was apparent in every key area. 

Sinner not only limited the game’s finest returner to only three break points, dropping just one of his 18 service games, but also applied constant pressure with the length and penetration of his returns. From the baseline, meanwhile, the Italian kept Djokovic on his toes with some fine drop shots and achieved the rare distinction of regularly outdoing the Serb in the frequent backhand-to-backhand exchanges. 

The latter ability was never more crucial for Sinner than when he found himself delivering a second serve at 5-5, 15-30 in the decider. It had all the makings of a signature Djokovic moment; instead, the Serb hit two crosscourt backhands short before screwing a third wide. Sinner’s remarkable composure – against the world’s best player, and with the eyes of an expectant nation upon him – did the rest. 

“I was in the rally and should have stepped in and didn’t, and he did,” said Djokovic, who will face Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz in his final group match after Stefanos Tsitsipas withdrew from the tournament with a back injury. 

“You have to just congratulate him. He just played a fantastic match. That’s what I told him at the net. I think in the most important moments, he played his best game and he absolutely deserved to win.

“Obviously, in these kind of matches, very few opportunities are presented. If you don’t use them, then the other player will. That was the case, basically. 

“I think I learned that in some moments I have to be a bit more decisive. I wasn’t today. That’s OK. Some you win, some you lose. Most of my career I was winning these kind of matches. Some I lost, like the one tonight.  

“I don’t think I’ve done too many things wrong in terms of my game. He just was more decisive and courageous in the moments when he needed to be. He made some amazing points, played exactly the shots he needed to play. You just have to put the hat down.”

Tsitsipas earlier played just three games against Rune before succumbing to a back problem that has been bothering him for several days. The Greek sixth seed, who was in evident discomfort as Rune held for 2-1, withdrew after taking medical advice during the changeover. 

“Unfortunately, I felt terrible on the court,” said Tsitsipas. “I did what I could do in the best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn’t work out for me. 

“The pain was very big. I’ve gone through pain during matches in the past, and I endured pain, but this was clearly too much to handle. I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did.”

The post Sinner strikes at ATP Finals to end Djokovic’s winning streak appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

Alcaraz has come so far, so fast, that it is easy to forget he is still only 20 years old. The greater surprise is not that he fell to a 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 6-4 defeat against Zverev, a two-time winner at the season-ending showpiece, but that he has hitherto been able to avoid the fluctuations in form and consistency that so often afflict young champions. 

The fact remains, though, that less than a fortnight after an early defeat at the Paris Masters delivered a terminal blow to his hopes of clinching the year-end No 1 ranking, Alcaraz may face a battle even to retain second spot. Daniil Medvedev, who later sealed a 6-4, 6-2 win over his close friend and Russian compatriot Andrey Rublev, is coming up fast on the rails, and could potentially overtake the Wimbledon champion with a repeat of the undefeated title run he compiled three years ago in London.

There is a lot of tennis to be played before then, of course, and Alcaraz may yet escape Red Group. Yet he has looked far from his usual self these past few weeks. Defeated by Grigor Dimitrov at the Shanghai Masters, the Spaniard subsequently pulled out of the Swiss Indoors with injury, then suffered a shock defeat to Roman Safiullin in his opening match at the Paris Masters. It is all a far cry from the early months of the season, when Alcaraz returned from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Australian Open to win six titles in five months.

Alcaraz dismissed suggestions that his early defeat in Paris left him underprepared for the season finale, instead blaming his latest setback on missed opportunities. The Murcian converted just one of his six break points, struggling to cope with Zverev’s thunderous serving on a court that proved a little too quick for his liking.

“This surface is the fastest on the year, that’s for sure,” said Alcaraz. “I don’t know why they put this kind of surface at the end of the year, because all the tournaments that we have played on hard courts are so slow, then we come here to the Masters and they put this court, so fast.”

Throughout his meteoric rise, Alcaraz has demonstrated a knack for making tennis look easy. As Medvedev pointed out, however, it is a “very, very tricky sport”, and the Spaniard’s recent travails have not gone unnoticed in the locker room. Medvedev elaborated on perceived aura of vulnerability surrounding the two-time grand slam winner as the season draws to a close.

“At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower,” said Medvedev, who slammed down 10 aces to avenge last year’s group-stage defeat to Rublev. “He doesn’t have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year. This can happen to everyone. This even happened to Novak when he was younger. 

“The question is, how fast is he going to recover? Is it going to be this tournament or next year? When he lost the second set, they showed the speed of the strokes, groundstrokes. Sascha was like 10 kilometres higher than Carlos. This is very surprising.”

Equally surprising was Alcaraz’s inability to drive home his advantage after finally breaking Zverev’s first-set resistance in a tiebreak. The German fought tooth and claw to stay in the opener, saving three set points at 5-4, and after seeing his efforts go unrewarded, the 26-year-old faced a moment of real crisis when he nudged a backhand wide to go break point down in the opening game of the second set. Alcaraz replied in kind, however, driving the ball long in a moment symptomatic of the inconsistency that marred an entertaining but patchy performance. 

There was a late scare for Zverev, who slipped and fell while chasing a forehand late in the decider, his pain evident as he writhed on the court clutching his left ankle. It inevitably brought back memories of the horrific injury he suffered in the French Open semi-finals last year, when he tore ligaments in his right ankle, but Zverev played down concerns that he had sustained serious damage.

“I didn’t twist my ankle,” he said. “I just slipped, in a way. I slipped through and maybe pinched my Achilles, my capsule a little bit. It was just that. Hopefully, it’s nothing too major and I can continue playing.”

The post Alcaraz undone by Zverev on ATP Finals debut appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

He likes a record, does Djokovic, and the 36-year-old will be fully aware that a seventh title at the season-ending championships would take him clear of Roger Federer as the most successful player in the history of the elite eight-man event. Why make do with one milestone when two are there for the taking?

Nonetheless, as Djokovic clinched a hard-earned 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (1-7), 6-3 victory over Holger Rune, crouching low with his head bowed towards the court, any scepticism about his chief ambition in northern Italy was banished. It was clear what the win meant to the Serb, who will become the first man in history to hold the top ranking for more than 400 weeks after the tournament.

To put the enormity of that accomplishment into perspective, the only other man to surpass 300 weeks at No 1 is Federer. Third on the all-time list is Pete Sampras, who reigned for a total of 286 weeks and finished the year on the top of the rankings six times, a record that has now been comfortably eclipsed by Djokovic. Increasingly, even the greatest champions are receding in the Serb’s rear-view mirror. 

“It’s huge,” Djokovic acknowledged after prevailing, shortly after midnight, in a shade over three hours.

“It means a lot, obviously. I knew coming into the tournament here I needed only one win to clinch the year-end No 1. I really wanted that to happen already tonight. I didn’t want to prolong the situation and complicate this particular goal. I’m really glad that I managed to do that.  

“It always has been a huge objective and huge goal of mine to be No 1 in the world. Other than grand slams, that’s what counts the most. To finish off the year as No 1 in the world at this stage of my life and career is something really amazing.

“Anything that happens from this moment onwards in this tournament is a bonus for me.”

If Djokovic is as serene as that statement would suggest – and at this stage, we probably ought to take him at his word – it is likely to spell bad news for the rest of the field. In defeating Rune for the second time in 10 days, the Serb earned his 14th top-10 win of the season, equalling a statistical landmark set by Federer for a player over the age of 35. As he has shown time and again, Djokovic knows better than anyone what it takes to win at this level, and once again he was able to eclipse the hunger and vitality of a significantly younger man.

This was nonetheless a much closer battle than their quarter-final meeting at the Paris Masters, Rune’s quality and determination ensuring Djokovic was unable to capitalise on his opportunities with the same ruthless efficiency he exhibited in Bercy. Having sealed a tight first set with a thunderbolt forehand return, the 24-time grand slam champion not only suffered the rare indignity of losing a “really terrible” second-set tiebreak, but also crushed a pair of rackets underfoot after Rune recovered from a break down early in the decider. In five meetings, the Danish world No 10 has never failed to take a set against Djokovic, for whom this was a victory rooted in resilience and resourcefulness.

“We have had great matches always when we played,” said Rune, who is ending the year strongly after a post-Wimbledon slump. “Unfortunately I couldn’t do it today, but that’s how it is. I have to look forward and take the things out of the match I was happy with, take the things out of the match that I wasn’t happy with, and go back to the practice [court] and try to make them better.”

The sternest challenge to Djokovic in Green Group may yet come from Jannik Sinner, the Italian world No 4, who earlier delighted his adoring public with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece. One break in each set was enough for the 22-year-old, who sealed victory with his ninth ace of an evening on which he did not face a single break point. “The crowd support was crazy,” said Sinner, who revelled in an atmosphere that he likened to a football stadium. 

“I knew a little bit what to expect before the match because of two years ago when I entered in the court,” said Sinner, who qualified by right this year after filling in for the injured Matteo Berrettini as first alternate in 2021. “But I felt like today was a little bit different.  

“My baggage of experience and how I am as a player in [the] two years [since], some things have changed, so the mindset is a little bit different. I think generally the crowd today was really, really nice. They were pushing me, not only when I won the point but also when I lost the point. The ability to handle this kind of thing, not playing only for me but also for the fans and everything, I think it’s a great balance.”

For Tsitsipas, it was a sobering start to an event where he was crowned champion four years ago. The Greek afterwards denied rumours that he has been struggling with injury.

“I’m healthy,” said Tsitsipas. “I’m ready to compete.”With Djokovic awaiting in his final group match on Thursday, ahead of a Tuesday night meeting with Sinner, he will need to be.

The post Djokovic secures year-end No 1 with ATP Finals win over Rune appeared first on Love Game Tennis.

“We were in uncharted territory now,” she intones in a voiceover, “making up history as we went along.”

Much the same may be said of Novak Djokovic, a man whose limb-contorting defensive play has often been likened to the film’s villainous T-1000 cyborg, a shape-shifting android capable of dissolving into liquid metal before reconstituting itself. For Djokovic, there is nothing novel in the idea of making up history on the hoof. On the contrary, it is part of his routine – one he hopes to continue at the ATP Finals in Turin.

Where Djokovic goes, records invariably follow. At last year’s ATP Finals, the Serbian strongman equalled Roger Federer’s landmark haul of six titles, becoming the oldest champion in the event’s history. Should he prevail again this time, Djokovic will not only pull clear of the retired Swiss to claim the record outright, but also put the gloss on an unprecedented eighth year-end No 1 ranking, a distinction that will be guaranteed if he overcomes Holger Rune in his opener on Sunday night. That victory would in turn ensure that the 36-year-old goes on to become the first man ever to hold the top ranking for more than 400 weeks. 

Nor does it end there. Should Djokovic qualify for next year’s finals, he would equal another milestone, matching Federer’s record of 17 appearances at the season-ending championships. By that time, he may well have added another notch or four to his tally of grand slam titles, which currently stands level with Margaret Court at 24, and expanded his record total of 40 Masters 1000 titles, the most recent of which came last week in Paris. 

Even after a season in which he fell just one win short of a calendar grand slam for the second time in three years, Djokovic is determined to keep cutting a swathe through the record books. What drives his relentless ambition?

“I love competing, I love the sport,” said the 36-year-old. “That’s my greatest motivation really, because I’ve made a lot of records, I’ve broken a lot of records and it’s great. Even if I leave professional tennis now and reflect on everything I’ve done, I can be extremely satisfied. 

“So I don’t have pressure to keep on competing, but I still have desire and still have the level. I’m playing at a very high level, so records are there obviously as a huge inspiration as well, no doubt, and history of the sport. I still want to create my own history and history of tennis and see how far I can go.”

With milestones falling like dominoes, can anyone stop the world No 1 in Turin? Rune, the Danish world No 10, has won two of his four meetings with Djokovic and pushed the top seed to a decider in Paris last week. Yet, for all the encouraging signs of resurgence from the 20-year-old following the recruitment of Boris Becker as his coach, it remains to be seen whether a maiden appearance at the season finale will bring a return to the form that carried him to the French Open and Wimbledon quarter-finals. The comedown from those summer highs was steep, Rune suffering seven defeats in eight matches before he finally stopped the rot with a semi-final run in Basel last month. Qualification for Turin ultimately became an end in its own right for the Dane and, after edging out Hubert Hurkacz by just 215 points in the race for eighth spot, it is asking a lot to regroup and go again at this late stage in the season.

“It’s been a big goal for me,” said Rune of clinching his place in Turin. “Being in the season and in the moment, you don’t think so much about it, but as we got closer and the race was very close for me with other players, it was a goal that I really wanted to achieve. I wanted it badly and I got it, so I’m very happy and satisfied with that.”

Green Group is completed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose debut victory in London four years ago remains his most notable title to date, and Jannik Sinner, the home favourite, who has qualified by right for the first time after replacing his injured compatriot Matteo Berrettini with two group matches remaining in 2021. Sinner has yet to register a win against Djokovic, while Tsitsipas has beaten the Serb just twice in 13 matches. The pair will open proceedings on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m coming in with a very positive mindset here,” said Sinner, who reached a first grand slam semi-final this summer at Wimbledon and is up to a career-high ranking of fourth after title wins in Beijing and Vienna last month. 

“I’ve had a great year. The last part of the season I played really well, especially the indoor tournaments, and I’m happy to be here. I will try to take a lot of positive energy with the crowd and everything. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I also have to enjoy this moment. I know what I’m capable of, obviously.”

Few have a better insight those capabilities than Carlos Alcaraz, the Spanish second seed and Red Group favourite, who may be quietly relieved to find himself at arm’s length from a player who has won on four of the seven occasions they have met. 

For all the brilliance of a season that has brought six titles, including a first Wimbledon crown, Alcaraz has ample food for thought ahead of his maiden appearance at an event he missed last season with an abdominal tear. The 20-year-old’s hopes of challenging Djokovic for the year-end No 1 ranking were dashed last month by a combination of the back and foot injuries that forced him to withdraw from Basel, and a shock early exit to Roman Safiullin, a Russian ranked 39 in the world, at the Paris Masters. As ever, Alcaraz has been quick to find a silver lining. 

“The defeat in Paris, which was quite painful, made me realise that I have to work harder,” said the Spaniard, who has not won a tournament since Wimbledon. “That’s what I’ve done. You always have to look for the positive in things. I’ve had several days to train to come here in optimum form. I’ve worked hard, on both fitness and tennis. I feel really good.” 

Alcaraz will need to translate those good feelings into good tennis from the get-go if he is to build the momentum he will need to stop Djokovic. He has already contested a pair of epic finals against the Serb this year, first at Wimbledon and then in Cincinnati, and few would say no to a fifth instalment of a rivalry that currently stands all square at two apiece. 

First, though, Alcaraz will need to find a way past two former champions in Daniil Medvedev, his US Open conqueror, and Germany’s Alexander Zverev, whom he will face in his opening match on Monday. Also lying in wait is Andrey Rublev, the Russian world No 5, with whom Alcaraz has never previously crossed swords. Navigating a path out of the group will be far from easy, but the Murcian insists he is ready.

“I’m expecting the Carlos from early this year, despite the results I’ve had in recent tournaments,” said the Spaniard.

Alcaraz is certainly likely to need that version of himself against Medvedev, who will be eager to erase the memory of last year, when he lost each of his three group matches in a final-set tiebreak. The smart money suggests the Russian world No 3 will succeed: few know the course and distance better than Medvedev, who was crowned champion in 2020 and lost the following year’s final to Zverev. Like Alcaraz, the 27-year-old promises to be ready.   

“From the first match, you play against a top 10 player, which never happens on tour other than here,” said Medvedev. “You have to play your best from the first match if you want to try to win the whole thing.”

Nobody does that quite like Djokovic, however, and Alcaraz, Sinner and company will be all too aware that the six-time champion remains the man to beat.   

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