Key events
Sinner 2-2 de Minaur * (*denotes current server)
de Minaur slams down an ACE to go 15-0 up. The crowd come to life as Sinner forces his opponent to punch long to take it to 15-30. A battle of the backhand slices sees Sinner get two break points of his own. Sublime! A cross court passing shot whistles past the approaching de Minaur and lands an inch inside the tramline. Sinner breaks back immediately and gives it the old ‘Henmania’ mini fist pump.
*Sinner 1-2 de Minaur
Rallies elongating, there’s been plenty of debate about the weight of the balls this year and how they are conducive to even longer rallies. Time for Sinner to feel some pressure as de Minaur gets him to 30-30 and then forces the error to carve out the first break point of the night! He’s got it, Sinner approaches the net but plonks a backhand into the tramline. de Minaur has an early break! Game on.
Sinner 1-1 de Minaur*
de Minaur feels the heat of Sinner’s groundstrokes straight away and fluffs a backhand slice long. Nervy stuff from the Aussie who wriggles off the 30-30 hook with an ace and then breathes a sigh of relief as Sinner slams a backhand into the net cord. He’s on the board.
First Set: *Sinner 1-0 de Minaur *Denotes server
Sinner rattles off his first game to love with a couple of big serves and short rallies. A confident start from the home man. Over to you Alex…
We’ll have some warm ups and then it’ll be game time. 23 year old Sinner is cranking up his lissom limbs in a blue polo shirt and white baseball hat. 25 year old de Minaur is in blue too but he’s got a navy cap on backwards as is his wont. The Aussie is a good three inches shorter than the 6ft3in Sinner who is about to put his impressive wingspan to good use by serving first. Let’s play!
The fantastically named Renaud Lichtenstein is umpiring this evening’s match and there’s a dance show with some heavy strobing taking place on court. The tv screens now show a bouncing tennis ball complete with heart beat sound effect booming around the stadium. It’s all very razzle dazzle.
Here are the players! They head out on court separately, de Minaur is warmly received and Sinner strolls on to court, across a massive picture of his own face to huge cheers and applause.
The smartest dressed painter and decorators in Turin:
The stadium is bathed in the sort of blue light that makes it look like a CSI unit are on the hunt for some incriminating forensics. I’m half expecting Taggart to poke his head out and give a rollocking to a chap in a white boiler suit. The players are due out any moment.
How it works: There are two groups of four in the round robin style tournament, with the semi-finals and final taking place next Saturday and Sunday.
Sinner’s group includes Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, American Taylor Fritz and Australian debutant Alex de Minaur.
Fritz got the better of a hot-headed and racket totalling Medvedev in straight sets earlier on:
The other group will see 2024 French Open and Wimbledon champ Carlos Alcaraz up against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, Norway’s Casper Ruud and Russia’s Andrey Rublev.
I’ve been enjoying the Paul Mescal-ification of the pre promo. Look at these fellas. Work it. That’s before we get to the short shorts.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the Inalpi Arena in Turin (by way of a sofa in south London) and the ATP World Tour Finals. We’ve got a week of top notch tennis in store as the eight best singles players in the world go squeaky sneakered toe to squeaky sneakered toe in northern Italy.
Novak Djokovic pulled out of the tournament last week with a decidedly vague “ongoing injury” and so there will be a new name on the trophy this year. Last year’s beaten finalist Jannik Sinner is the favourite to have his name etched into the silverware, the Italian numero uno and local favourite has dominated the men’s game this year, scooping both the Australian and US Open titles with his thrillingly pure ball striking and penchant for the big moment.
The curly fringed Italian’s year has not been without controversy though, an ongoing doping dispute still lingers and threatens to take the shine off a gilded twelve months that has already seen him confirmed as the number one ranked player in the men’s game come the end of the year.
Tonight’s opponent is Aussie Alex de Minaur, prince of the punishing rally and a dogged defender of the baseline who is capable of pilfering points against anyone on his day. He’ll need to be at his best to take down Sinner this evening, their ATP head to head reads seven to zilch in favour of the Italian.
We’ll get into all that and more over the next few hours, drop me a line at the email on the left tramline of this page if you are tuning in, I’ll be glad of your thwick thwocking thoughts and theories.
The match is due to start at 7.30pm GMT (ish).
