The Italian Jannik Sinner, 23, and the American Taylor Fritz, 27, face each other this Sunday (17), at 2 pm (Brasília time), in search of their first ATP Finals title in Turin, Italy. The tournament brings together eight of the season’s top tennis players.
The match will be broadcast live on ESPN and Disney+.
Number 1 in the world, Sinner is undefeated in the competition and enjoys the excitement of the Italian fans at each performance. Favorite over Fritz, he could be the first player from Italy to win the ATP Finals, which has been held since 1970 and marks the end of the men’s tennis season.
If the Italian is the undefeated champion this Sunday, he will receive a prize of US$4.9 million (R$28 million). In Fritz’s case, the title bonus will be US$4.5 million (R$26 million), because the American lost a match in the group stage of the event.
Last year, Sinner was close to this feat, however, he lost the title decision after being overtaken by Serbian Novak Djokovic, the biggest champion in this competition with seven titles. The American fell in the final semifinal of that edition.
This Saturday in the semifinals, Sinner easily beat Norwegian Casper Ruud by 2 sets to 0 (6/1 and 6/2), while Fritz beat German Alexander Zverev by 2 sets to 1 (6/3, 3/6 and 7/ 6).
In four duels between Sinner Fritz, the leader of the ranking got the better of three. Unlike the Italian, the American, top 5 in the world, will make his first ATP Finals final.
Despite Sinner’s favoritism, Fritz arrives at the decision with the status of having dispatched Zverev, second in the world rankings and who was trying for his third title – he had previously won the 2018 and 2021 editions.
It was the fourth time this year alone that Fritz defeated Zverev. In Turin, the American was cool when Zverev came closest to winning the third set and won the tie-break 7-3, this Saturday.
With the victory against Zverev, Fritz is the first North American to reach the final of the ATP Finals since 2006, when James Blake was defeated in the tournament decision by Swiss Roger Federer. In fact, the last time a tennis player from the United States lifted the cup was Pete Sampras, in 1999.
Spanish Carlos Alcaraz, third in the ranking and favorite to reach this Sunday’s final, won only his first match in Turin, against Russian Andrey Rublev, but was eliminated by Ruud.
The Spaniard suffered from a severe cold this week and even abandoned training after only being on the court for five minutes.
