World number 1, tennis player Jannik Sinner, 23, entered his country’s history as the first Italian to win the ATP Finals this Sunday (17), in Turin. With the support of the fans, Sinner beat the American Taylor Fritz, 27, by 2 sets to 0 (double 6/4), in the title decision.
Held since 1970, the tournament brings together the top eight in the ATP (Professional Tennis Players Association) rankings and marks the end of the men’s tennis season.
Last year, Sinner came close to lifting the trophy, but was surpassed by Serbian Novak Djokovic, the competition’s biggest champion with seven titles.
Undefeated champion, the number 1 in the world will receive a prize of US$ 4.9 million (R$ 28 million).
The North American will leave Italy with fourth place in the world rankings guaranteed, after eliminating German Alexander Zverev, second in the rankings and who was trying for his third title, in the semifinals.
This Sunday, the match started very balanced, with Fritz leading the score in the first set. The Italian only managed to stay ahead (4-3) in a hard-fought game that lasted just over seven minutes.
In the second set, Fritz started ahead again until Sinner broke his opponent’s serve to make it 3-2 and take the lead. In the next game, the Italian stunned the American with his parallel and increased the advantage.
The ATP Finals final between Sinner and Fritz was also a repeat of the US Open decision in September this year. In the middle of American territory, the Italian was not intimidated by the fans focused on Fritz and won the title with a victory by 3 sets to 0 (6/3, 6/4 and 7/5).
Just like in the ATP Finals, he is the first male tennis player from Italy to win the US Open. In addition to the US Open, Sinner won another Grand Slam this season, the Australian Open, equaling with Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, who won Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Another favorite for the title at the ATP Finals, Alcaraz suffered from a bad cold and did not make it past the group stage, with defeats to Zverev and Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Sinner, in excellent form on the court, is going through a process to prove his innocence after testing positive for the use of the substance clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid, in two tests — during and after the Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, in March this year .
In his defense, he argues that a physiotherapist used a clostebol spray to treat a wound on his own skin. And the Italian, then, would have become contaminated after his skin came into contact with the physiotherapist in a massage session. Sinner even fired physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi and Umberto Ferrara.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) was convinced by the player’s defense and decided not to suspend him. Sinner, at most, lost the 400 points and prize money he got in Indian Wells.
In September, Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS/CAS), requesting a suspension of up to two years for Sinner. Wada said in a statement on the case that the finding of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under applicable rules.
The court, which is the last instance of Sports Justice, is expected to judge the appeal at the beginning of next year — there is no scheduled date yet. In Turin, Sinner said he is optimistic about the outcome of the case.
“It’s not a position I’d like to be in, but I’ll work with my entire team, as I did before, and then we’ll see what happens. I’m very optimistic about the result,” said the tennis player when asked about the case before the semi-final.
