The lads’s professional tennis season got here to a wonderful end in the present day in Turin, Italy, because the world’s two greatest gamers—Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner—performed one another within the ultimate of the Nitto ATP Finals, with Sinner strolling away the winner after two fiercely contested units, 7-6, 7-5.
On the off likelihood you’re not aware of the ATP Finals: Whereas the event isn’t a serious, it’s most likely the closest factor to it—and, for a lot of gamers, the true check of tennis excellence. It’s restricted to solely the world’s eight greatest gamers, who play one another in a collection of round-robins earlier than the ultimate 4 gamers then play elimination matches. (NB: Whereas Novak Djokovic, at present ranked fourth, certified for the Finals, an aggravated shoulder brought about him to skip the event, giving ninth-ranked Lorenzo Musetti his first Finals berth.)
Sinner’s victory right here, his second in a row (and his thirty first consecutive win on indoor arduous courts), caps a season highlighted by wins on the Australian Open and Wimbledon; Alcaraz, for his half, ends the yr with the number-one rating, together with two Slams of his personal (the French and US Open), with the 2 of them mild years forward of everyone else.
And whereas their match on the ATP Finals didn’t maintain a candle to their five-set thriller on the French, it was neck-and-neck for the length. The 2 have now gained the final eight Grand Slam tournaments (solely Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who break up 11 between them, and Djokovic and Nadal, who break up 9, have longer streaks).
Right here’s hoping we’re nonetheless within the salad days of their rivalry. Alcaraz positive appears to assume so: “Hopefully you’ll be prepared for subsequent yr, as a result of I’ll be prepared,” he stated on the court docket simply after the match.
