2021 may be a season that we remember fondly over the years. Finally, a member of the Next Gen beat one of the Big 3 in a Grand Slam final and we had a new winner of a great, preventing Novak Djokovic from achieving the Calendar Grand Slam. A year in which we have seen a young talent like Carlos Alcaraz explode, who has filled us with enthusiasm for what he did at the US Open, which was possibly the best Grand Slam in many years. With all this, we already put the icing on the cake with Nitto ATP Finals 2021 from Turin.
First year at this venue, after twelve years at London’s magnificent O2 Arena. The bar is very high, so let’s see how the Italians fare in this new adventure. Let’s analyze how the year of the 8 Masters who will be present in Turin next week has been (the tournament is held from November 14 to 21)
1- Novak Djokovic: Just one game away from glory
Although he has only played 54 games to reach this tournament, Nole’s year has been one of the best a tennis player has ever had in history. He was only one game away from winning the big four in the same season. Medvedev closed the door on him when he was already bordering on glory. Only six defeats in a season where the Serbian has been incontestable almost from start to finish. Only in Tokyo and New York did he have a little misstep.
At times, Djokovic touched perfection and was able to beat Rafa Nadal at Roland Garros (for the second time) in one of the best matches that are remembered on this surface, another example of the level that the Serbian has reached, who started the land tour with certain doubts and ended up crowning it in style.
Five titles (Australia, Belgrade 2, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Paris-Bercy), along with two other finals (Rome and US Open), with that 48-6 balance, Novak arrives in Turin as a great favorite for the title and with the objective of winning it again, being 2015 the last edition where he reigned. With the number 1 secured by the end of the season, everything that comes will be a plus.
2- Daniil Medvedev: An unforgettable year
The Russian started the year giving war, reaching the final of the Australian Open and running as the rival that was going to give Djokovic the most war this season. There, he was widely outmatched by the Serbian, but from what happened that night in Melbourne, he learned to turn everything around with a spectacular game plan and beat Nole in an incredible final.
Daniil has shown himself to be a very complete player this year, being capable of winning titles on various surfaces and doing extraordinarily well at Roland Garros, where he reached the quarter-finals after not having won a single match in the previous four editions. He has even had options to fight Djokovic for number 1 and he seems to be the most advanced student of the entire Next Gen and the one with the best chance of repeating success in a Slam.
He arrives in Turin on a mission to defend his title from last year. With a record of 54-12 this season, he added the titles of Marseille, Mallorca, Canada and US Open, as well as the final in Australia and Paris-Bercy. Will we see a duel between him and Novak again?
3- Alexander Zverev: Year of growth and maturity
If we could highlight something about the German season, it would be his maturity. In a year where he has been a father, he has put problems aside a bit off court And he has had a stage in the circuit where he was the most fit tennis player of the moment, taking the Gold in the Tokyo Olympics and the title in Cincinnati.
He only had the thorn to take a step forward in the Slams. It is true that he has made two semi-finals (Paris and New York), but due to his quality, Sascha should already be more regular and step on more finals, as Medvedev has done this year. At Roland Garros, against Tsitsipas, perhaps he could have done more in a game that he lost in an incomprehensible way. It may be a matter of time and in 2022 we will see him take that little step.
Great season, as we say, from Sascha. 55-14 is your win-loss balance. He added five titles (Acapulco, Madrid, Tokyo, Cincinnati and Vienna) in the five finals he played. You know what it’s like to win at ATP Finals, so you have to be very attentive to their performance.
4- Stefanos Tsitsipas: From more to less in the season
It started the year like a shot. He came back to Nadal in Melbourne two sets to zero against, although he was one step away from getting into the final. Then, in Paris, he played his first final of a great, and got two sets to zero against Djokovic, but there, he again showed certain problems of regularity. This may be the big problem in the Greek’s career. He is capable of playing at a very high level, but it is difficult for him to maintain that level always and the same thing wins a top in an important tournament, who loses the following week in the first round against a Top 70.
Since he played in the final in Paris, his level has dropped and the second half of the year has certainly been disappointing. It has been difficult for him to find his game and the confidence he had in the first months of competition. Now, the feeling he gives off is that he is capable of the best and the worst. A coin in the air. He arrives in Turin with the desire to repeat success, as in 2019.
55-18 has been the balance of his season, with two titles (Monte Carlo and Lyon), playing three more finals (Acapulco, Barcelona and Roland Garros). Of the 8 of the ATP Finals, he is the one that has played the most games in 2021. We will see how he does in Turin, although due to sensations, he is far behind many of his teammates.
5- Andrey Rublev: Still to break the shell
We always take Russian into account in any tournament that is played. This same year, he was able to beat Rafa Nadal in Monte Carlo in a real game. But Rublev is haunted by the same shadow as always, when the important games arrive in big tournaments, he does not finish taking the necessary step to continue advancing. Yes, he is seen with another face in ATP 500 tournaments, but in Masters 1000 and Grand Slams, he still needs to grow.
This year, in the majors, he only crossed to the quarter-finals (Australia) once and perhaps more was expected of him in Paris, where he lost in his debut. Even so, the regularity he has in the rest of the tournaments has allowed him to reach Turin in fifth place in the Ranking.
48-20 is his balance of the year, with only one title, Rotterdam. He played another three finals, (Monte Carlo, Halle and Cincinnati) but could not win the title. Perhaps in 2022 we will finally see him lift a higher category title. We’ll see how it goes at the ATP Finals, after staying in the group stage last year.
6- Matteo Berrettini: A hard bone on grass
Because of the tennis that the Italian has, we were all waiting for him for the grass tour, but he surprised us all on clay, with a final in Madrid, a title in Belgrade and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, where he made things very difficult for Djokovic. It shows that Matteo is not only a man of fast courts and offensive play.
Then, when the grass arrived, he showed himself as a rival to consider for future editions of Wimbledon. He played his first Grand Slam final against Novak. He was physically touched, but he was able to fight. He still looks green to lift a title in this category, but he will undoubtedly be someone to watch closely next season.
With a 41-11 record this year, he has lifted two titles (Belgrade, Queen’s) and has played two more finals (Madrid and Wimbledon). In 2019 he already played this tournament and was inexperienced. We’ll see how he does now, as a more mature player.
7- Casper Ruud: Great year of the Norwegian
It is probably one of the big news this year. Not many imagined that Ruud would be able to improve his hard tennis for improvements as a player. He was branded as a clay-only tennis player, and this year he has left great numbers in hard court tournaments, which have made him enter the Top 10 and reach Turin.
It is true that he has not reached the quarter-finals in any Grand Slam, but he has added five ATP 250 titles and has reached the quarter-finals in three M1000 and two ATP 500. That regularity has allowed him to add a good amount of points to get into among the eight best of the season. It will debut in Turin, so it will be necessary to see if it pays for its inexperience or continues to surprise.
His record is 53-15 this season, with the five titles we have mentioned (Geneva, Bastad, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel, San Diego). He is looking forward to doing great things in Turin after qualifying last week.
8- Hubert Hurkacz: The revelation of the season
It is likely that, if they had told us in January that the Pole was going to be in Turin, almost none of us would have believed it. Surprising winner at the Miami Masters 1000, he left an incredible two weeks at Wimbledon, reaching the semi-finals. It is true that, far from these two tournaments, his best results in large tournaments are a semi-finals in Paris-Bercy and two quarter-finals (Indian Wells and Canada), but when he competed at a high level, he was able to stand up to anyone. .
The great revelation of the year, he beat other tennis players such as Sinner or Aliassime, to get among the eight best of the season. He arrives in Turin with enough weapons to be one of the tennis players to avoid in the Round Robin group, since he arrives in a very good state of confidence.
36-20 is his record this season, with three titles (Delray beach, Miami and Metz) in three disputed finals. He may also want to be the reveal of the tournament at these 2021 Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
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