Inevitable, tennis is already in another era. The 2024 Masters Cup is presented as the new reality: for the first time since 2001, no tennis player named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic will appear in this last tournament of the year. The retirement of the Swiss in 2022 (six Cups) and the definitive farewell in just a few days of the Balearic Islands in the Davis Cup (from November 19 to 24) is joined by the loss due to injury of the Serbian (seven Cups), who closes his career here. less successful course, but more proud: with that Olympic gold, the goal of a lifetime, finally around his neck.
This new reality of twenty-somethings, lowered in age due to the absence of the big three, is strongly led by the new kings, Carlos Alcaraz (21 years old) and Jannik Sinner (23 years old), with an entourage of candidates: Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud and Alex de Miñaur. All willing to succeed in this exclusive tournament (from 10 to 17), which makes the tennis player even more special because the attention is unique, reduced in number and multiplied in attention. While in the rest of the course they share resources with 120 other teammates in the same box, here there are more personalized changing rooms and care, almost five million euros are offered for the winner, and it is considered in the curriculum almost like a Grand Slam title. And there is, therefore, honor in this bite, since not all the best have been able to stand at this point in the year to be crowned. From this present, it is Zverev and Medvedev who know what the shower of confetti is: the German champion in 2018 and 2021, and in 2020 the Russian.
For what they have shown in this course, with the big prizes distributed among them, Alcaraz (52 wins, 11 losses, four titles: Masters 1,000 in Indian Wells, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Beijing) and Sinner (65 wins, six losses, seven trophies: Australian Open, Rotterdam, Miami, Halle, Cincinnati, US Open and Shanghai) are the ones with the most options that have been created, and the ones that, of course, raise the most passion in this Inalpi Arena. The others provide less pedigree. The one who comes closest, Zverevwith the Masters 1,000 in Rome and Paris. They also have two titles Rublev (Madrid and Hong Kong), Fritz (Delray Beach y Eastbourne), Ruud (Barcelona and Geneva) and De Minaur (Acapulco and Hertogenbosch); vacuum remains Medvedev. But just as exclusive this tournament is convoluted: with a group stage that pushes to the semifinals or sinks while waiting for other people’s results; in which every victory, every set and every game counts in case of a tie; in which the track is electric just like the blue that surrounds everything; with a surface that multiplies revolutions, enhances direct hits and reduces patience; with a pavilion that lights up with a covered roof and each applause resounds like lightning. Like those who accompanied Alcaraz yesterday in his double after-dinner training with Fritz, and, above all, those who gave an enthusiastic stand to the idol Sinner.
The Italian has endured the final stretch of the course well: three titles and a final in the last four tournaments. Although he still has the sword of Damocles on his head for that claim by the World Anti-Doping Agency regarding the resolution of his clostebol doping case, a double positive in March from which he was successful with an excuse of contamination by a cream and without having been separated from the circuit during the investigation, which is what colleagues who have gone through the same thing criticize the most.
He, for his part, dropped out of the 1,000 Masters in Paris, due to a virus, and is eager to be crowned at home and in the year of his splendor among the shadows. «There are many things that make this tournament a very special one. The atmosphere is incredible. I am Italian and we play in Italy. Something that has not happened this year, since I missed Rome due to injury. It was a very hard moment, that’s why I’m more excited and happy to be here now. “I hope to put on a good show with my tennis.” The one from San Candido, the first Italian to end the year as number 1, appears this Sunday (not before 8:30 p.m., Movistar+) to try to get one more position than the one he achieved last year, defeated in the final by Djokovic, against Alex de Miñaur, the debutant in this exclusive tournament (25 years old and 8 in the world). Before (around 2:00 p.m.) Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz will raise the curtain on this Masters Cup of the new tennis century. The Russian has not been able to lift any trophy in this course, and the American, the ATP 250 in Delray Beach and Eastbourne.
For Alcaraz, the tennis party begins on Monday, at 2:00 p.m., against Casper Ruud. He is not fresh, like everyone else, but he is being tested thoroughly. Major training sessions with all his rivals: Medvedev, Fritz, Zverev… with whom he faces on Wednesday and whom everyone points out as the strongest rival to fight for a good place in the semifinals with the intention of postponing the clash with Sinner to Sunday . The final that everyone wants in this New Masters Cup.
Today there is also a Spanish presence with the debut of Marcel Granollers in the doubles tournament, with his partner Horacio Zeballos. The duo debuts against Heliovaara and Patten (6:00 p.m.).
