Ivan Ljubicic, in a recent interview with Sky Sport, expressed some interesting considerations on Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz. According to Roger Federer's former coach, Jannik Sinner is the absolute favorite at the ATP Finals, for the level expressed this year on hard-courts and for the form shown both at the Shanghai Rolex Masters and at The Six Kings Slam. Likewise, Ljubicic believes that the most dangerous rival for the Italian will not beCarlitos. The Spaniard's performances, in indoor conditions, have not convinced him.
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"Sinner is the big favorite at the ATP Finals in Turin, also because Alcaraz still has to convince me indoors. His level is very high outdoors, but when he plays indoors he suffers. In Turin he suffered a lot last year, especially from a mental point of view. Let's see if things will change. If we want to look for someone who is closer to Jannik, I would say Alexander Zverev. But Jannik, without a doubt, is the big favorite," he said.
Zverev has won the tournament that brings together the best eight players of the season twice in his career: the first in 2018 in London, beating Novak Djokovic in the final, the second in 2021 in Turin, beating Daniil Medvedev instead. The Croatian then moved on to Nole, who, a few days ago, had announced his absence from the Paris Rolex Masters.
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"Unfortunately, I will not be playing the Rolex Paris Masters this year. I apologize to everyone who was hoping to see me play there. I wish all the players, sponsors, organizers and fans a great tournament. I have so many great memories after winning the title seven times and I hope to come back next year," said the Serbian champion, thus further jeopardizing his qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
Djokovic, also considering his age, has chosen to focus only on certain tournaments and to manage the calendar even more carefully.
"What do I expect from Djokovic? I don't know and I don't think he knows either at the moment. This is a time when he's aiming to win important tournaments and not to climb the rankings. To climb the rankings you have to play more, but he's not physically and mentally ready for this now. In Shanghai, however, he showed us that when he decides to play, he's the one who can worry the best. I doubt he'll play the Finals, but next year he'll try again," said Ljubicic.
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Paolo Bertolucci, in the same interview with Sky Sport, also has some thoughts on Djokovic's future, analyzing: "He changed teams because he couldn't stand the pressure of such a heavy daily workload. What does one more or less title change for a player who has won what he has won? His goal is the Grand Slam tournaments. This year it was the Olympics and he won the gold medal. At this point he's almost given up. If he qualifies, he'll go to Turin, otherwise that's it."
