For the first time since 2016, the final of the tournament of champions pitted the top two in the rankings, and Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner did not disappoint and put on a show befitting their status. The local idol was once again a prophet in his own land and retained the crown of master, with a score of 7-6(4) and 7-5, in 2 hours and 15 minutes
Jannik became only the ninth player to repeat as ATP Finals champion and only the third to win without dropping a set. Ivan Lendl (1982, 1985-86) and John McEnroe (1983) had done it before
Sinner is an impregnable tennis player on indoor hard courts where he has not knelt for 728 days. He has won his last 31 matches and, in fact, he does not even lose his serve. He completed 45 service games successfully until Alcaraz broke him at 1-0 in the second set
Under normal circumstances, it would have been the beginning of the comeback for the Spaniard. But the procession was going on inside and he was already wearing a compression bandage around his right hamstring. “I feel it tight,” he told the physio.
The world number one had to call for the physiotherapist after 51 minutes. The score was 5-4. The Spaniard held on until the tiebreak, which went the Italian’s way
He had been able to neutralize a set point at 6-5. It was with a second serve at 187 kilometers per hour. His opponent’s backhand return went straight out
On Carlitos’ bench there were faces of concern. The same feeling was felt in Bologna among the members of the Spanish Davis Cup team who were following the match on television. Without their leader, Spain’s chances of winning the Davis Cup are greatly reducedSinner had that point of relaxation enough to lose the first two games of the continuation. He had the peace of mind of having a tennis margin and, above all, the physical ability to turn it around
From 3-1 down, the master from San Candido went to 4-3 up. The life that Alcaraz had left was spent in keeping the match even until the twelfth game with forehands at 163 kilometers per hour
Another crash on the track
The final had been marred by yet another collapse of a fan in the stands at the Inalpi Arena. There have been four such incidents throughout the tournament, two of which ended up losing their lives
The interruption for the fan to be attended to lasted 11 minutes, during which time the two protagonists had time to talk to the referee, with their bench and also with each other
“Let it out,” said Samuel Lopez, one of the Spaniard’s coaches, when his opponent had turned the score around in the second set. “Talk positive,” continued Juan Carlos Ferrero. A long backhand sealed the sentence
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