“Tennis players never save strength during this tournament” – Kommersant FM
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Daniil Medvedev beat Andrey Rublev at the start of the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The meeting of the best Russian tennis players ended with a score of 6:4, 6:2. But Rublev’s defeat still leaves him a chance to reach the final bracket of the draw. The intricacies of the final tournament were studied by Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov.
The final tournament is seriously different from all ATP tennis competitions. There are only eight people participating here, the best in the world at the moment. In this case, a group system is used, like in football. So even in case of defeat at the group stage, the athlete still has a chance of success.
Money is a separate story: the amounts that tennis players can earn here are undreamed of even in Grand Slam tournaments. For example, the winner of Wimbledon, Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, received €2.7 million. The tennis player who wins in Turin can earn €4.8 million.
True, you can count on this amount if you win all five matches. But in general, the organizers do not skimp: in Turin, even reserve players who usually do not appear on the court at all receive €150 thousand.
Those who made it into the main draw, even without winning a single victory, will in any case receive about €350 thousand. In addition to funding, the final tournament differs from any other in that tennis players here never save their strength. The winner of the 2009 Nitto ATP Finals, Nikolay Davydenko, spoke about this: “There’s not much excitement anymore, you’re trying to show the best possible tennis, you’re trying not to save energy for the future. Athletes bring the best out of themselves.”
Another Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev became the best in 2020. Now he is trying to take this peak again. Andrei Rublev also plays with him on the courts of Turin. Unfortunately, the Russians ended up in the same group, but thanks to the draw system, both can reach the semi-finals, despite the head-to-head confrontation at the start.
The tennis players still have matches against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and German Alexander Zverev. But our compatriots can handle these opponents, says Honored Coach of Russia Boris Sobkin: “They are quite competitive.
I estimate the chances of all eight to be approximately the same, albeit with some variation. But I don’t think anyone, including Djokovic, has a very serious gap in their winning prospects.”
In addition, the main favorite of the tournament, Novak Djokovic, is not in the red group, where the Russians play. The Serb started the tournament with a victory over the Dane Holger Rune. But Djokovic can only meet one of the Russian tennis players in decisive knockout matches.
It is worth saying that the interest in the final tournament in Italy is incredible. It’s difficult to get to any match. All tickets for the Medvedev-Rublev meeting were sold out, said Kommersant tennis columnist Evgeny Fedyakov, who now works in Turin:
“Both matches on November 13 were sold out. As for our players, there is a very friendly atmosphere here. In addition, many have noted that there are no North Americans this year. But all this is already passing in the background, this is not the main thing, after all, the main thing is tennis.”
Unfortunately, it is impossible to see the final tournament on Russian TV channels for obvious reasons, but it won’t be difficult to find the broadcast on the Internet, for example, in VK thematic groups. The final of the tournament will take place on Sunday, November 19.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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