To win on the ATP Tour, you must survive endless battles for endurance within a war of attrition. In a season that lasts almost year, endless baseline rallies can lead to more exhausting matches and longer matches.
There was additional concern that after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, this year’s schedule might take an even greater toll as players get back into shape.
“Our season is too long given the physicality of today’s tennis,” the third-ranked Alexander Zverev said in late October. “We don’t really have time to let our injuries heal.”
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were both sidelined this year by injuries. Dominic Thiem, fourth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas, was forced to retire last week with an arm injury. Tsitsipas claimed he was unable to compete for the Nitto ATP Finals in the year-end due to injury.
The finals, which moves this year to Turin, Italy, from London, is what the game’s elite have been grinding to reach. The tournament has the game’s top eight players split into two groups of four that confront each other in a round-robin format before two from each half advance to the semifinals.
Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst, said the move to Turin should not impact the style of play because, like London’s O2 Arena where the event was played last year, it is indoors with a hard court made by GreenSet, which has produced relatively slow, low-bouncing surfaces.
“So we could have more long rallies,” he said. He said that the week between the Paris Masters Finals, and the ATP Finals should be beneficial for the players if there were longer points. (This final doesn’t even end the season. The Davis Cup Finals are coming a few more days later.
Paul Annacone was a coach for Pete Sampras and Federer. He is also a Tennis Channel analyst. “They understand the magnitude of this event, featuring the best of best, so they’ll do whatever they can to win.”
After a hard season, the players agreed that they would be able to recover from fatigue. Zverev, Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev also said they would not change tactics with bigger serves or ground strokes, more drop shots or a race to get to the net — just for the sake of ending points quickly.
“I’ll play the way I play,” Zverev said, who at the United States Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic won a 53-shot rally in a game where the other five points averaged nearly 20 shots each.
Tsitsipas claimed that his game did not change due to the season, so players strategies would not change. “If there’s some sort of difference it will be very small.”
Rublev stated that Tsitsipas was a player who could charge the net and win on drop shots. He was more suited to changing his game if necessary, while he was more set in his ways. “I’m an aggressive player, and I like to be the one to lead the rally, to dictate the point,” Rublev said. “This is the goal for all the matches.”
Matteo Berrettini, ranked number. 7, the only Italian in the final, and the highest ranking in the world.
“Berrettini has a huge serve and a huge forehand, so he can keep points short,” Annacone said. “And this is a new event for Italy, featuring one of their top young superstars, so I expect the crowd to sound like a concert of Italian fanatics. Berrettini could be right there with the top players.”
Annacone said Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and Zverev had a strong chance of winning. They had shown their stamina by playing great tennis since the summer.
Annacone said Zverev demonstrated his endurance during the U.S. Open rallies. Medvedev thrived in counterpunching, and could wear tired opponents down. Tsitsipas & Rublev, however, have suffered in the second half the season and are less likely to make it through this gantlet.
Djokovic, world No. Djokovic, the current world No. 1 is still the favorite. While second-ranked Medvedev beat him in the finals of the U.S. Open on a hard court, and indoors in last year’s ATP Finals, Djokovic has not lost an ATP match in the last two years to any of the other competitors. (Zverev beat him at the Olympics.
Annacone stated that Djokovic took time off after the U.S. Open. This means that he may be more fresh than his rivals.
“It will come down to who is freshest and healthiest,” he said, “and can find their form that week.”
Source: NY Times
