Daniil Medvedev (world number 3), Andrei Rublev (5) and Alexander Zverev (8) They will be the rivals of Carlos Alcaraz in the green group in their training in the Nitto Finals ATP after the draw held this Thursday at the Alpitour in Turin. Novak Djokovic (1), who will debut this Sunday as champion, will play in the red group with Jannik Sinner (4), Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) and Holger Rune (7).
Alcarazsecond favorite, debuts in the tournament that brings together the eight best of the season, after not having been able to play last year due to injury, in search of a title that resists Spanish tennis. Manuel Orantesin 1966 in Houston and Alex Corretjain 1998 in Hannover, they remain the only two Spanish tennis players who have entered their names in the Masters record since it was played for the first time in Tokyo in 1970. They have fallen just short of the title Carlos Moya (1998), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003), David Ferrer (2007) and Rafael Nadal 2010 and 2013).
The Murcian tennis player is presented as the second favorite, after Djokovic, although at the end of the season, after the United States Open, his results have not been at the level of a spectacular year in which he has won 6 titles, including Wimbledon.
Negative streak
Alcaraz He has only won 5 games in the last three tournaments played, being eliminated in his first match in the Paris-Bercy Masters that he won Djokovic for the seventh time. A negative streak that makes his goal of being number 1 at the end of the season impossible. For this he would have to win the title and the Serbian tennis player would fall in the group stage without winning a single match, something that has not happened to the Serbian in this tournament since his debut in 2007.
In the green group matches, which begin on Monday, Alcaraz will face Medvedevwith whom he is tied with two victories; Rublev with whom he has never played yet and Zverev (3-3). The German tennis player won the title in 2018 and 2021, while Medvedev He achieved it in 2020.
Chasing records
Djokovicwho dominates in confrontations with the rivals of his group such as Sinner (3-0), Tsitisipas (11-2) and is tied with rune (2-2), at 36 years old, is the great candidate to be a teacher for the seventh time and beat the record of six titles that he shares with Roger Federer and finish the year for the eighth time as number 1, surpassing Pete Sampras also Pete Sampras who achieved it seven times. “I’m going for all the records. I’ve never had a problem saying it and that’s why people don’t like me,” he announced after increasing the Masters 1,000 record to 40 (Nadal, second, has 36) in Paris-Bercy last year. week.
The number 1 has won the Nitto ATP Finals six times (2008, 2012-13-14-15 and 2022) and has 64 victories in that tournament, double those achieved by the rest of the players who will try to beat him. This year Djokovic He arrives in Turin with six titles, including Australia, Roland Garros and the United States Open, with a total of 51 victories and only 5 defeats.