The Italian challenges the Serbian, beaten a few days ago in the group stage
Jannik Sinner against Novak Djokovic today in the final at the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin. The Italian, number 4 in the ranking, challenges the Serbian, world number 1 for the crown of ‘king of the masters’ of tennis. Sinner, 22 years old, at 6pm – live on Raiuno and Sky Sport – will be looking for consecration at the end of a year that has already given him 4 titles and a place among the greats. Djokovic, 36, aims to write another page in an unparalleled history.
Sinner reaches the final after the victory against the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 3 in the world, who lost after 2h30′ of battle with the score of 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1. Djokovic, however, asphalted Carlos Alcaraz: the Spaniard, world number 2, was demolished in 90 minutes with a score of 6-3, 6-2. The phenomenon from Belgrade demonstrated once again why he has won 97 titles, 24 Slams and 6 editions of the ATP Finals.
These numbers alone explain what feat Sinner is called upon to accomplish for the second time in a few days. The South Tyrolean broke the taboo a few days ago by defeating the Serbian in 3 sets in the match valid for the group stage. Now, we need to give an encore and beat again the one who, at least according to the palmares, is the best player in history.
What does Sinner have to do to win?
In the match won on Tuesday, Sinner had an excellent performance on serve and limited the effectiveness of the opponent’s response. In the semi-final against Medvedev, the blue served ‘badly’ especially in the second set before raising the level in the third set: against Djokovic, drops are not allowed because every missed pass risks becoming fatal.
The show offered by Nole against Alcaraz was a ‘clinic’: the world number 1 kept the pace in the first 6 games, then at the first chance he changed gear to close the first set. In the second set, Djokovic capitalized in the key moment and overcame the only real dangerous phase – with 2 break points canceled – before climbing towards the finish line.
“I’m playing at a very high level, my body is holding up very well but in my head I know that I can improve a lot, even tennis-wise I can improve, at the net, on serve, on the slice… I’m aware of what I need to improve”, says Sinner , aware of facing “a difficult match: I’m happy to be able to play here again on this pitch, the atmosphere is excellent”.
For Djokovic, another ‘day at the office’ awaits: “It’s nice to finish the match in two sets, I tried to be aggressive straight away, the match changed when I scored the break: at that point I felt more free, it was more or less a perfect match,” he says after class in Alcaraz.
Source-www.adnkronos.com