“Sinner has been the best player of the tournament so far” – Djokovic looks for revenge in Turin final
Sinner defeated Djokovic in the round-robin stage and has been undefeated at the ATP Finals this week
Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals in Turin
Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner have been the two best players on the tour in the second half of the 2023 season. The two will clash in the championship match of the ATP Finals in Turin on Sunday with the ambitions to add one of the biggest tournaments on the tennis calendar to their resume.
While Djokovic has won six of these season-ending championships, besides 24 Grand Slam titles, Sinner is gunning for the biggest of his young career yet. The 22-year-old has been in impeccable form in front of his home fans, winning all four of his matches this week, including a win over Djokovic in the round-robin stage.
That was Sinner’s first win over the 36-year-old world No 1 in four meetings and Djokovic was the first to admit that the Italian has been playing the best tennis of all players this week.
“He has been the best player of the tournament so far. Won four out of four matches and played some great tennis. Obviously riding on the big wave of support of his Italian crowd here,” Djokovic said after his straight sets win over world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals on Saturday. “Tomorrow is the finals. He’s going for his first trophy. I’m going for my seventh in the year-end World Tour Finals. I’ve been in these situations before. Hopefully experience can help a bit. But I don’t think it’s going to prevail because he’s been playing well, he’s going to have crowd on his side.”
“I think having already a match against Sinner in this kind of atmosphere helps me prepare better” – Djokovic
Djokovic will be gunning for revenge after the loss, his only this week, to Sinner, saying he knows what to expect from the clash and is also feeling confident after turning out his best performance of the week on Saturday.
“It (the loss) does add (incentive and motivation). I think it also serves as a great preparation tool, I guess, analyzing that match that we played few nights ago, understanding what needs to be done better in order to win from my side,” the Serb said. “I know what I expect. I think having already a match against him in this kind of atmosphere helps me prepare better. The performance of tonight really gives me good feelings ahead of tomorrow’s final because I played my best match of the tournament so far.”
