Novak Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner at the Nitto ATP Finals tennis tournament

In the second round of the Nitto ATP Finals, the final tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in Turin with a prize fund of $15 million, world ranking leader Novak Djokovic was defeated in three sets by the newcomer to the elite competition, Italian Jannik Sinner. Thus, the Serbian interrupted his streak of 19 victories in a row, which began back in August at a tournament in Cincinnati. The marathon confrontation, which lasted more than three hours, was observed by Kommersant correspondent Evgeny Fedyakov.

Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals started strangely and extremely unexpectedly. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who faced Holger Rune in the first match of the second round in the Green Group, refused to continue the fight after the end of the third game due to a back injury, losing 1:2. Similar stories happen from time to time at all tennis tournaments, but they are not typical for final competitions. After all, their organizers, who sell tickets for two sessions a day, are maximally interested in the public receiving a full-fledged spectacle, and for this purpose, throughout the entire group stage, for a separately stated fee of $152 thousand, they keep two reserves on hand, who are always ready to replace dropped out for medical reasons. That is, if Tsitsipas, who was harshly booed by the audience, simply did not come to the game, then instead of him Rune’s opponent would have been the Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who, having minimal chances of leaving the group, would still have tried his best to earn his dues for the victory in each individual match, 200 rating points and $390 thousand. But instead, all this wealth went to Runa almost without a fight, and Hurkacz and Taylor Fritz, as compensation for the audience, played a friendly set, which remained with the Pole.

Tsitsipas, of course, tried to explain himself at the press conference. He said that he really doesn’t like to withdraw from matches, and the doctors whom he visited “countless times” in recent days gave him the green light to participate in the tournament. However, the problems with movement on the court that had plagued the Greek over the past few days sharply worsened after entering the court, and he fully realized that he would not be able to continue. As a result, Rune, who lost to Novak Djokovic in three games in the first round, among other things, recorded a complete victory in 17 minutes with a 2:0 set ratio and thereby dramatically improved his tournament affairs.

And in the evening, to the delight of other, more fortunate fans, Novak Djokovic and the young idol of the Italian public, Jannik Sinner, whose portraits were hung all over Turin as part of tournament advertising, appeared on the Pala Alpitour court. The central match of the entire Green Group lived up to expectations. The six-time winner of the final tournament and his debutant demonstrated very high-quality tennis, and the plot matched it. An equal fight unfolded in the arena with mutual chances, in which Sinner, as usual, mainly relied on his powerful forehand, and Djokovic on the perfection of his combinations brought to automaticity. At the same time, both served at a very high level.

The fate of the first game was decided by the ending. Leading 40-0 in the eleventh game, Djokovic suddenly broke down and lost a total of nine points in a row. In the second set, none of the opponents came close to taking someone else’s serve, and in the tiebreaker, Sinner, having played one set point, failed to cope with the return. Despite this setback, the Italian did not think of giving up. In the sixth game, he broke again with a mind-blowing move. Djokovic immediately equalized the situation, for the fourth time in this tournament he brought the matter to a tie-break, but there Sinner turned out to be much more accurate. As a result – 7:5, 6:7 (5:7), 7:6 (7:2) in 3 hours 9 minutes, that is, Djokovic’s unbeaten streak of 19 matches, which began back in August at the Masters in Cincinnati , interrupted.

However, what is now much more important is that after two rounds, three people have a chance of reaching the semifinals: Sinner with two victories, as well as Rune and Djokovic, who have won one match each. In the third round, Djokovic plays Hurkacz, and Sinner plays Rune. That is, if the Serbian beats the Pole, and the Dane beats the Italian, the three athletes will have two victories each and additional indicators will have to be taken into account – the percentage of sets won and lost, and then, possibly, games.