ATP Finals

[stotty]

We are in the third set with Novak and Hubby. The crowd have shown zero love for Novak thus far. Nothing new there I guess. Not sure of the group standings but I assume Hubby winning a set puts Sinner into the semi's? And as Hubby can't go through I guess Novak needs Sinner to beat Rune for him to go through?

It really screws things up when a player drops out in the group stages.

[jimlosaltos]

Djokovic has to wait for the results of SInner-Rune-AH tonight, 9 PM presumably Turin time to see if he gets into the single-elimination round.
Sinner has to win for Djokovic to get in. I double Sinner would do this BUT, if he throws the match, he won't have to beat Novak twice to win the event. That's a negative side to the otherwise entertaining round robin format.

Djoko beat alternate Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-1 - despite Hurk hitting Twenty-Five (25) aces in 14 games. Doing complex math in my head, that's almost 1.8 aces per game.

Or 30-love without hitting a groundstroke. Problem is, Hurk only broke Djoko once and lost the tiebreak (Novak back to TB lockdown mode after SInner's disruption of the laws of the tennis universe.)

Hurk served at up to 141 mph and averaged -- averaged -- 132 MPH on serve, while getting 58% in. That's way down from his serve percentage in when he won Shanghai and one might say that's the difference in the match.

ATP: All three of Djokovic’s group-stage matches have gone three sets, meaning the defending champion has spent more than eight hours on court across three matches

[jimlosaltos]

Former World Groups Adriano Panatta on Djoko V Sinner:

"Have you ever seen Federer or Nadal behave like Djokovic did tonight [vs Sinner]?

He always tries to break up the pace of the match. First the bathroom, then the physio, he tries everything.
I don't like that attitude at all, thank goodness Sinner doesn't care, he sits there quietly”

[jimlosaltos]

Trivial. But, Had to share this from last night's very good Medy vs Zverev match.

Darren Cahill and Jannik Sinner in the dark stands, Jannik seemingly trying to go incognito in a hoody with the hook pulled up.

Cahill talked to his young charge nonstop while the camera was on them, briefly looked like he was annoyed to be spotted.

As Cahill lectured nonstop Sinner at first was pecking rapidly on his mobile phone, then turned up to give this eye roll look that, to me, says "Yeah, yeah granddad ... I hear you. Please stop. The boredom will kill me."

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[jimlosaltos]

Tank what? Sinner storms through first set, breaking Rune-AH in the first game.

Forehand is dominant average 131 km/hr vs 118 km/hr for the Norwegian.

Rune's team includes not only Boris Becker but Mike Janes, his "Performance Analysis", who is shown here using Tennis IQ's analytical software on a tablet. Interesting that he's in the coaches box on the road.

Searching, don't see much concrete details about what it provides but here's some generic stuff:

ATP, Tennis Data Innovations, and TennisViz are collaborating on a new performance analytics platform called Tennis IQ. Available to ATP singles players on desktop and mobile devices, Tennis IQ integrates historical and real-time match data – including interactive court graphics that display patterns of play and empirical metrics like Shot Quality – for users to analyze themselves and scout opponents.

Tennis Data Innovations was created in a joint venture between ATP and its media arm, ATP Media, in late 2020 to manage ATP’s data rights and commercialize tennis data. Last year, TDI partnered with IMG Arena on an Event Centre app for tennis. TennisViz uses AI software to capture ball and player tracking data.


Boris on your left, Mike James in baseball cap to the right with the tablet.

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[jimlosaltos]

Wondering why anyone would tank in a dead rubber?

Jannik Sinner was up a set, then pulled something in his lower back/ upper hip late in the second.

Broken at 15-40, I think it was and now looking at a long 3 setter. Suddenly, his fitness going into the semi is in question.

[stroke]

I have to admire what Sinner is doing. He did have some kind of back tweak, no Novak drama though, and he has moved on, fighting for the 3rd set. Quite the ball striking with these 2.

[stotty]

I have to admire what Sinner is doing. He did have some kind of back tweak, no Novak drama though, and he has moved on, fighting for the 3rd set. Quite the ball striking with these 2.

You just feel Rune might pull this off. Sinner struggles against Rune's unpredictability.

[stotty]

Sinner breaks to go 5_4 up in the third. No tanking whatsoever from Sinner. Seems a decent bloke. Be great if he could go on and win the whole thing.

[stroke]

To me this whole thing says so much about Sinner. Obviously he has the firepower one cannot teach, but his attitude is so spot on. I am certainly pulling for him to win this tournament.

[jimlosaltos]

I believe that Jannik Sinner come into the year never having beaten: Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, nor Novak Djokovic.

Now, he's beaten all three.

Can't check ATP site, which continues to have issues. So please correct me if I'm wrong.

[stotty]

I believe that Jannik Sinner come into the year never having beaten: Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, nor Novak Djokovic.

Now, he's beaten all three.

Can't check ATP site, which continues to have issues. So please correct me if I'm wrong.

I knew he had never beaten Novak but not sure about the other two. Not that it matters. He's developing quickly and is going to beat everyone in his path at some point. As stroke said, his attitude is terrific. You can't help but root for him.

I still miss Roger though. No one matches his shotmaking.

[stroke]

I knew he had never beaten Novak but not sure about the other two. Not that it matters. He's developing quickly and is going to beat everyone in his path at some point. As stroke said, his attitude is terrific. You can't help but root for him.

I still miss Roger though. No one matches his shotmaking.

Yes true, Roger will be studied forever. Sinner though does one thing, and one thing only, better than Fed. His rally bh is better, not the slice though. They being said, if the 3 were back in their prime, Sinner would be a Murray/Stan.

[jimlosaltos]

Finally, ATP site is running now, so I double checked.
Jannik Sinner indeed had never beaten any of these three players before this year: Medvedev, Djokovic, and Rune. Now, he's beaten all 3 for a combined 4 straight wins.


H2H

Sinner 1 Djokovic 3
Interestingly, Sinner's first win comes the only time they've met on a hard court.


Sinner 1, Rune 2
All three of their matches have gone the distance, if one includes a retirement at 2-5.


Sinner 2, Medvedev 6

All 8 of their matches have been on hard courts and prior to Sinner's pair of wins on this year, Sinner had only won 3 sets out of 15 they played. Sinner's two wins this year required him winning tiebreaks on 3 of their 5 sets.
#

[jimlosaltos]

Turin / Torino / Julia Augusta Taurinorum semis set.

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