Jannik Sinner had to miss the last Masters 1000 of the season in Paris-Bercy, because of a stomach virus that hit him on the eve of the tournament. World #1 was not 100% ready to compete and chose not to take any chances when the Nitto ATP Finals started one week before.
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The Italian ace is the most expected player in Turin, not only because he will play in his country, but also because he is the top favorite to lift the trophy. The 2-time Grand Slam champion is expressing his best indoor tennis and was not far from victory already last year, when he lost in the final to 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic after a wonderful week.
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has made further improvements in the last twelve months, as attested by his excellent results in 2024. Jannik has been virtually unstoppable this season, with two Major titles won, three Masters 1000 and only six losses suffered throughout the year.
The top favorite in Turin
The ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga are his last two goals before resting and thinking about 2025. A few days ago, it became official news that Sinner will carry out winter preparation in Dubai together with Marco Panichi (in the past years he had gone to Spain).
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The world number 1 has won many times this year, even when he didnt play his best tennis. The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has shown that he has an extraordinary mental strength, considering that he had to face a long process related to the doping case. The Italian ace was acquitted by ITIA before the start of the US Open, but against every prediction WADA decided to appeal and start a new trial. According to the latest rumors, Jannik should know his fate after the 2025 Australian Open.
In a recent interview with Sky Sport Italy, Sinner talked about this tough situation: I am convinced that nothing happens by chance, and perhaps this chance was precisely to understand who is your friend and who is not. And I separated these two matters. I understood that there are many players who I didnt think were my friends, and there is a fairly large number who I thought were friends and instead they are not. And in the end, I dont say that this did me any good, but it made me understand a lot of things.
He continued: The real difficult moment in my opinion was when the news came out. And it came out in a very delicate phase because it came before a Grand Slam. I had already wanted to train since Wednesday, the news came out on Tuesday and we decided it was better not to. We went on Thursday, in the evening, because so many people would have left. We got there and we had all the rooms on us, it was very hard. I looked at the other players to understand what they really thought. I asked myself a lot of questions, it was difficult to prepare for a Grand Slam like that.
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Sinner practiced with Stepanek
In the meantime, Jannik has overcome the intestinal virus and has had a small practice session with former Czech ace Radek Stepanek in Monte Carlo before flying to Turin. From tomorrow, the two-time Grand Slam champion will be playing at the Nitto ATP Finals. The premature defeat of Carlos Alcaraz in Paris-Bercy and the final reached by Alexander Zverev will have important repercussions on ATP Finals.
The German champion has surpassed the Spanish and became number 2 in the world, with the result that Carlitos could face Sinner already in the group stage in Turin. Despite winning two Grand Slam titles, the Spanish tennis player has had several ups and downs during the season and some surprising defeats, the latest being in the French tournament of Paris-Bercy.
Carlos was the big favorite after Sinners retirement and instead he came out immediately in the challenge against local idol Ugo Humbert, who beat Alcaraz in three amazing sets. The French tournament sees the overtaking in the standings of Zverev who reached the final and overtook Alcaraz. The Spanishtennis player is now number 3 in the world and thus risks to get a rather surprising record.
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As the journalist Jos Morgado Alcaraz reports, he may become the first tennis player not to finish the season in the Top 2 despite winning two Grand Slam titles. A surprising fact and that highlights the difficulties in other tournaments of the Spaniard, who will have to work hard to achieve the same consistency as Sinner during the season.
