This Sunday (2:00 p.m., Movistar +) the Inalpi Arena in Turin begins ATP Finals 2024paradigm of the inevitable changing of the guard in tennis, of the new world order, the new era to which the best generation of tennis players in history has given way in the twilight of their impressive career. For the first time in 23 years, in the tournament that brings together the eight players with the most points of the course, there will be no member of the Big Three: neither Roger Federer, already retired, nor Rafa Nadal, on the verge of goodbye, nor Novak Djokoviccurrent champion, who was classified, but voluntarily resigned from participating. You have to go back to 2001 to find an edition without representatives of this wonderful trio. That season was played by Kuerten, Agassi, Kafelnikov, Rafter, Grosjean, Ivanisevic, Hewitt, who was the winner, and Juan Caros Ferrero, coach of one of the great favorites of this campaign, Carlos Alcarazspearhead of the new batch in which it also stands out powerfully Jannik Sinner.
The world number one debuts on the first day (not before 8:30 p.m.), against Alex de Miñaur. Finalist in 2023 (he lost to Djokovic), he is very fit and is going for it, unaware of the possible sanction for doping that weighs on him, pending the appeal presented by WADA. “I would never have imagined winning so many things this year. Everything has happened. Now I think about how I started the season… For me, this is about always trying to improve as a player, as a person, as a human being. I am even more proud and happy with how I am evolving. Let’s hope that next year this process continues.”says the winner of the Australian Open, the US Open and five other tournaments.
He is 23 years old, almost two years older than Alcaraz (21), the youngest on a list of teachers who have an average of 25.3. Daniil Medvedev is the ‘veteran’, with 28, and the most successful of the rest, ahead of Zverev (27), Rublev (27), Fritz (27), Ruud (25) and De Miñaur (25). ANDThe Russian, who faces Taylor Fritz from 2:00 p.m., is the only Grand Slam winner (US Open 2021) apart from Alcaraz (4) and Sinner (2) and he was the leader of the ranking (in 2022) just like them. He also triumphed in the Finals (2020), like Zverev (2018 and 2021), a two-time finalist in majors. Ruud, who was three times, and Fritz, recent runner-up in New York, They give luster to this group represented in Italian Piedmont, which has its weakest elements in Rublev and the debutant De Miñaur.
“If you had asked me in 2018, when I was not in the tournament, I would have said: ‘Am I going to play it six times in a row? I would like to’. Wow! You have to win 1,000 Masters, do well in the Slamsand at that time I still didn’t. So I’m very happy about it.”Medvedev said at media day.
Zverev, the alternative
“In 2023 I did not feel competitive in the big events, I was far from winning them. Being able to compete and reach Grand Slam finals, win Masters 1,000, “It is a great satisfaction for me, because obviously there were question marks about whether I would ever do it again after the injury.”said Zverev, who lifted the trophy in Paris Bercy just a few days ago to present a serious candidacy for a Masters Cup that has been played seven times.
The German, who will face Rublev on Sunday, worked hard with training after the games at the Accor Arena, because he wants to catch up with Alcaraz and Sinner, rivals who, in his opinion, are doing things “a bit better” that he Sascha and Medvedev were, by age and category, the ones who battled the most against the Big Three. And now they suffer the tyranny of the Spanish, who will debut against Ruud, and the Italian. They have been left in a bit of no man’s land, in the midst of the change that has already arrived in the Finals.
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