Semi-finals in Turin present clash of the generations as a new Big Four separate themselves from the pack
Daniil Medvedev will take on Jannik Sinner in the last four, while Djokovic meets 20-year-old world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz for a place in Sunday’s final
Jannik Sinner (Zuma/Panoramic)
Heading into semi-finals day, the 2023 ATP Finals could not be more perfectly poised.
The two last-four matches will see the world No 1 Novak Djokovic take on world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the evening session, after third seed Daniil Medvedev has played fourth-ranked Jannik Sinner.
It is only the fourth time in 33 years that the top-four players have all made the semi-finals at the year-ending event.
In the most appropriate of season climaxes, the finest four players in the world will go head-to-head in the last tournament of the season to try and land the biggest trophy on the ATP Tour. Three out of the four are arguably playing at or near to their peak, while home favourite Sinner most certainly is.
Semi-finals serve up the inter-generational clashes that have defined 2023
Beyond the scintillating prospect of a top-four duel for the title, there is also a generational subtext to these semi-finals.
36-year-old Djokovic will take on 20-year-old Alcaraz for the fourth and final time this year in what has been the rivalry of the season. Aside from the sheer brilliance they bring out of each other, what has been most intriguing about this match-up is that it is a truly inter-generational rivalry.
Alcaraz is the youngest ATP Finals semi-finalist since Rafael Nadal made the last four in 2006.
It’s rare for a player both as old as Djokovic and as young as Alcaraz to be having the success each are having, which is what makes their encounters such a unique spectacle.
“Right now we can call them Next Gen. I mean, they’re already here,” is how Medvedev put it in his post-match press conference following his group-stage loss to Alcaraz – a loss that meant he qualified second behind the Spaniard.
At 27 years of age, Medvedev currently sits in the middle generation, one below that of Djokovic, but still seven years Alcaraz’s senior.
On Saturday, he will take on Sinner for the third time in just over a month in what is fast becoming a fascinating rivalry of its own.
“They’re still super young. Jannik, Holger and Carlos at this moment at the top. For sure Ben Shelton, Arthur Fils, guys like this, they can also come there,” Medvedev continued.
“I think because they’re at the top, there is not much difference between me, even Novak, and them.
“The difference is that Novak has 24 Grand Slams. When they play one on one, as we saw, he can lose. So there is not much different.
“If I compare to myself, the difference is I started playing top tennis maybe at 23, I think I was. 2019. They started doing it at, like, 19. Pretty impressive. At 19 I was probably 600 in the world. That’s impressive.”
Big Four have separated themselves from the pack
As men’s tennis finds itself at the cross-roads of two, perhaps three, generations, the sport is enjoying some of the finest rivalries it has to offer.
Come Sunday evening, one player will have separated himself from the rest by lifting one of the most prestigious trophies in the sport.
But it almost feels as though an important statement has already been made by these four semi-finalists. Each one, in their own right, has had a stellar 2023 campaign, and by reaching the last four, they have stamped their authority not just on these ATP Finals, but on the rest of the tour as well.
It feels significant therefore, and eminently appropriate, that they should be the four players to sign off this season.
It is fairly safe to say, they will do so in some style.
