The story of Jannik Sinner watching last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals from the stands has been well-documented, but the Italian hasn’t experienced the championship match in Milan, even as a spectator.

That will change this year as the 18-year-old wild card continued his dream run on Friday, scoring a 2-4, 4-1, 4-2, 4-2 semi-final win over Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic. Sinner fired 24 winners and won 71 per cent of his service points en route to advancing in 75 minutes. The win had an extra layer of emotion because it took place on the same day his coach, Riccardo Piatti, celebrated turning 61.

“It’s unbelievable. I didn’t feel so well in the beginning and he was playing very good, very aggressive. I’ve never had this kind of feeling, so I’m very happy,” Sinner said. “I think I’ve done a great job.”

Sinner will take on top seed Alex de Minaur for the title. The Aussie holds an 8-1 record at this event and has reached back-to-back finals in Milan, but Sinner is confident he can bring his best tennis for one more match.

“He played an unbelievable season,” Sinner said of his opponent. “He’s won three [ATP Tour] tournaments. I’ll just try my best.” 

Kecmanovic admitted before the match that he expected the Milan crowd to pull for Sinner, but he didn’t give them a chance to get involved in the opening set. The Serbian dictated the baseline rallies as Sinner struggled to find the timing on his serve. A backhand error from the Italian at 1-1 gave Kecmanovic an early break and he rode the slight advantage to an early lead.

After words of encouragement at the changeover from Piatti, Sinner came out swinging in the second set. He added more depth to his shots and was rewarded with a break at 1-2, yelling in approval after a Kecmanovic backhand landed long. The crowd at the Allianz Cloud rose to its feet after Sinner comfortably held in the next game to level the match. 

The Italian continued his momentum in the third set and opened with an immediate break to love, then rallied from 0/40 in the next game with a stream of forehand winners and big serves. Sinner continued to prevail in the critical moments of the match, winning five of six deciding points on the night, including on his serve at 3-2 to take a commanding advantage.

Growing in confidence with each game, Sinner charged the net and knocked off a backhand volley to break at 1-1 in the fourth set. Kecmanovic bravely saved three match points on his serve at 1-3, but a forehand volley from Sinner in the next game wrapped up play.

The world’s best eight doubles teams, led by 2019 year-end No. 1s Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, gathered on Friday evening on court at The O2 in London for the official group portrait ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins on Sunday. Afterwards, the doubles players took part in a pro-am with a number of tennis writers.

Cabal and Farah, who have already clinched the year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Team Ranking and have a 5-2 record in tour-level finals in 2019, lead Group Max Mirnyi, alongside third seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, sixth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau – the 2015 champions, and eighth seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, the second seeds, headline Group Jonas Bjorkman, which includes fourth seeds are Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, the fifth seeds, and eighth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek.

Read Doubles Features From 2019 Programme
Cabal/Farah: A Final Flourish
Kubot/Melo: Polar Opposites Set To Show Creative Flair
Krawietz/Mies: Making Their Mark
Ram/Salisbury: A New Team, A Local Boy
Klaasen/Venus: A New Perspective
Rojer/Tecau: Experience Counts For Former Champions
Herbert/Mahut: History Men Ready For London Challenge
Dodig/Polasek: Comeback Or Not, Team Set For Final Push

Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman won the 2006 season finale doubles title in Shanghai. Additionally, Mirnyi lifted the 2011 trophy with Daniel Nestor at The O2 in London, while Bjorkman partnered fellow Swede Jan Apell to the 1994 crown in Jakarta.

Entering the Rolex Paris Masters, Novak Djokovic trailed Rafael Nadal by 1,280 points in the ATP Race To London, with the possibility of his year-end No. 1 dream slipping away on the indoor courts of Bercy. But instead, the Serbian claimed his 34th ATP Masters 1000 title, and he arrives at the Nitto ATP Finals with a chance to snatch year-end No. 1 from Rafael Nadal in London.

“It is up for grabs for both of us. This tournament is going to decide [it]. He’s in a better position, but after winning Paris-Bercy I put myself in a pretty good position,” Djokovic said. “Obviously it doesn’t depend only on me, it depends on how he does in the tournament. But I’ll try to focus on my matches and obviously right from the beginning, out of the blocks, you have to start with a real intensity and quality of tennis because it’s the elite eight players of the world. There’s no smoothing your way into the tournament, you have to be very sharp from the start.”

Djokovic will have to reach the final with at least two round-robin wins to give himself a chance at matching Pete Sampras’ record of six year-end No. 1 finishes. Nadal, who owns a 640-point lead, controls his own destiny as he tries to match Djokovic, Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors, who are tied in second on the all-time list by finishing year-end No. 1 on five occasions.

The Serbian will give himself the best chance by winning all three of his Group Bjorn Borg matches and triumphing at the Nitto ATP Finals for the sixth time, which would tie Federer’s record.

“It’s a great motivation of course. I love this sport. I care about of course doing as best as I can, as anybody else, and trying to make the history of tennis is a huge honour and privilege. So I find myself in the very privileged position to this year fight for a sixth title at the [Nitto ATP] Finals, which would equal Roger,” Djokovic said. “But we all have different paths, we all have different journeys and I’m trying to embrace my journey and get the best out of it.”

Djokovic has enjoyed more success at The O2 than anyone, winning four of his five season finale trophies since the tournament moved to London in 2009. The only other player who has triumphed here more than once is Federer, who has done so twice.

“I think it’s a fantastic stage to host the [Nitto ATP] Finals. The attendance is great from day one, the tournament has had so much success in the past decade that it has been here,” Djokovic said. “So I look forward to it.”

The 32-year-old says that although this event is important in itself in his hopes of matching Sampras’ mark, it has been an entire season of work — not just by him, but by his coaching staff and family — to help propel him into this situation, one that he cherishes.

“I think it’s probably in my personal opinion one of the two biggest achievements that you can have as a professional competitive tennis player, winning a Grand Slam and being No. 1 of the world at the end of the season. At this stage of my career obviously in terms of goals and achievements, obviously that’s right at the top,” Djokovic said. “But in order for me to be in the position to battle for that year-end No.1, I understand that I have to be healthy and schedule well and Roger was talking about the family; I don’t know how he does it with four children, I struggle with two. It’s a hell of an effort.

“But we all love tennis and dedicate ourselves, our lives and of course to this sport. But at the same time, it has to be balanced with off-court stuff, and children and family and we have to have the support of close ones in order to actually have a chance and have a go for year-end No. 1.”

Someone who has helped Djokovic this year is former World No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic, who joined the Serbian’s team at Wimbledon this year. Djokovic first met ivanisevic when he was 12, just before the Croat won the 2001 Wimbledon title, and now they are working together towards common goals.

“He was in my shoes, he knows what it feels like to compete at the highest level, to win a Slam. He’s in a very good relationship with Marian, I think that’s important that there is a synergy and understanding,” Djokovic said. “They bring a lot of wisdom, but simplicity through information that is very valuable for me to perform my best on the court.”

Djokovic doesn’t mind seeing new faces at the season finale, with three debutants — third seed Daniil Medvedev, sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and eighth seed Matteo Berrettini — ready to chase the crown.

“It’s a great message for the sport. It was inevitable that it was going to happen that we were going to have a really successful next generation coming in,” Djokovic said. “I think Roger, Rafa and I are still glad that we are kind of in the mix. How long that’s going to go for? Of course it’s not going to go forever.”

But Djokovic is not ready for the Big Three to relinquish the throne yet. And he hopes that leads to a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals title and sixth year-end No. 1 finish.

“We’re pushed by new generations that we have to improve on the tennis court. So I do have frequent conversations with my coaches about my game in general, what are the things that make me feel good, what are the things that can be improved, and that changes depending on the year, depending on the surface, and it’s exciting,” Djokovic said. “There is always something to work on.”

Top seed Alex de Minaur and second seed Frances Tiafoe have spoken highly of each other all week at the Next Gen ATP Finals, but their fist pumps and roars after winners in Friday’s semi-final made it clear that their friendship would be put aside for the night.

After 73 minutes of high-quality tennis, it was the Aussie who moved past Tiafoe 4-2, 4-1, 0-4, 4-2 and reached the Milan final for the second consecutive year. De Minaur hit 25 winners to just 15 unforced errors and improved to 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry.

“It’s difficult, but easier in some ways [to play a friend]. It’s easy because you know that no matter what happens on the court, you’re still going to be the best of friends. In the same manner, you’ve got to remember that you’re opponents,” De Minaur said. “I’ve got to get in the zone, fired up and motivated, but it worked out today.

“It’s never easy playing someone like Frances. He has immense firepower and he’s never going to give up. I didn’t have my best third set, but I was able to bounce back and come up clutch in that last game.”

Read More: De Minaur Thriving On & Off Court In Milan

De Minaur improved to 8-1 in Milan with his win over Tiafoe. The 20-year-old arrived at a career-high No. 18 in the ATP Rankings after clinching his first three ATP Tour titles this season in Sydney (d. Seppi), Atlanta (d. Fritz) and Zhuhai (d. Mannarino). He also reached the final two weeks ago in Basel (l. to Federer).

Awaiting him in the championship match is the winner of Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and Italian Jannik Sinner. De Minaur has never played Sinner, but he beat Kecmanovic on Wednesday in their lone FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

“I’m just going to prepare for tomorrow like every match,” De Minaur said. “I’m happy to still be here and looking forward to the final.”

Read More: 5 Things To Know About De Minaur

A big forehand from De Minaur gave him the first break of the night at 1-1 in the opening set. The top seed was in firm control early on, overpowering Tiafoe from the baseline and picking the right moments to move forward. De Minaur continued his dominance with a four-game run in the second set, winning 14 of the last 19 points for a commanding advantage.

Tiafoe utilised the in-match coaching option before the third set and Zack Evenden urged him to give an “unconditional” effort. The advice worked and Tiafoe yelled in delight after scoring a break in the opening game. The second seed landed all 12 of his first serves and won 75 per cent of his return points (9/12) to shut out De Minaur in a nearly flawless set. 

But as he had in two of his matches this week, De Minaur regrouped brilliantly after dropping a set. He stayed even with his opponent in the fourth set and made his move in the final game. With Tiafoe serving at 2-3, the top seed cracked a backhand winner at 30/30 to set up match point. He converted his chance when a forehand error from the American wrapped up the match.

As recently as January, Daniil Medvedev was the best-kept secret in tennis. Little fuss was made when he reached the final in Brisbane in the opening week of the season, taking out Andy Murray along the way. And not too many people took notice when, two weeks later on a balmy night in Melbourne, the Russian pushed Novak Djokovic to four hard sets in the fourth round of the Australian Open.

With Medvedev now a debutant at next week’s Nitto ATP Finals, perhaps we all should have been more alert to his talents at the start of the season. And noted just how much work Djokovic, a supreme baseliner, was having to do to beat his young challenger. Medvedev came close to matching Djokovic’s machine-like qualities.

Back in January, Medvedev seemed like just another promising member of the chasing pack. Stefanos Tsitsipas, with his victory over Roger Federer at the Australian Open, appeared to be the most significant name to watch from the next generation. For years, the big question in men’s tennis has been: who is going to emerge to get in among the Big Three of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic? By the end of the US Open in early September, it looked like we had our answer: the 6’6” Muscovite with outstanding movement who is a nightmare to put away.

Even before Medvedev played his first match of the US Open, he was no longer the secret he had been in January. On a roll in the weeks after Wimbledon, he reached three consecutive finals in Washington, D.C., Montreal and Cincinnati, winning the last of those for his first ATP Masters 1000 title. By reaching his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, he became only the third man in the Open Era, after Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi, to feature in the final of those four tournaments in the same season.

More On Medvedev
Medvedev Embracing Life In The Spotlight
Medvedev’s Magical Run
Medvedev’s Ride From Doubting Top 10 Potential To Seeking No. 1

Medvedev gave Nadal an almighty fright in New York, coming from two sets down to take the match to a fifth set. He backed that up by winning the St. Petersburg title in late September, in what was his fifth final from five tournaments. Then, in Shanghai in October, Medvedev extended that run to six finals in six consecutive tournaments, and won his second ATP Masters 1000 title.

The evidence was mounting up that, after playing a very heavy schedule, this was the player coming through from the peloton to take on the leaders. “It’s amazing,” Medvedev said of becoming the first man after the Big Three to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. “That shows what a great year I’m having, that the work I’ve been doing is paying off. But I don’t want to stop.”

On his run to the US Open final, Medvedev established himself as something of a character. First, he goaded the crowds in the early rounds by thanking them for booing him, saying it gave him extra energy. Flushing Meadows can be a difficult audience to please, but there was a remarkably swift transformation before the fortnight was out. By then, New York had taken to him. Medvedev employed his dry Russian humour, combined with some admirable humility, to win the crowds over.

When a montage of Nadal’s 19 Grand Slam triumphs was played on the big screen after the final, Medvedev could not help wondering what would have happened if he had pulled off an amazing comeback victory. “When I was looking on the screen and they were showing No. 1, No. 2… No. 19, I was like, ‘if I would win, what would they show?’” he said before a suitably charmed Arthur Ashe Stadium.

During the US Open, Medvedev looked back at his journey towards the top. “I will not say that I’m a kind person or a good person. I can only say I’m a really calm person in life. I actually have no idea why the demons go out when I play tennis. Especially when I was a junior, I had a lot of problems with my attitude. I was not getting defaulted, but to have a game penalty was easy,” he said.

“I was working hard because every time I do something wrong on the court, I’m sitting with myself thinking: ‘I’m not like this in normal life. Why does it happen? I don’t want it to happen like this.’ I want to be a better person than I was a few days [at the US Open]. To be honest, my wife helps me a lot. I was sitting after these matches and I was like: ‘I don’t want to lose these matches because I get crazy or because I lose some concentration because of the fans’.”

It is not that Medvedev lacks brains. An avid reader and chess player, he attended an academic school specialising in maths and physics before concentrating on becoming a tennis player. The fondness for working things out comes through in his tennis, as he showed against Nadal. He looks like a natural problem solver on court, with a willingness to change his game if the situation demands it.

Underpinning Medvedev’s results are some very modern attributes. He moves exceptionally well for a tall man and his wingspan allows him to chase down balls and deliver his hard, flat groundstrokes with relentless accuracy.

In fact, Medvedev had thought it was only a matter of time before he broke through. “Before [this year’s US Open] my best Slam result was the fourth round. I felt like it’s just so tough to win a five-set match. I knew I was going the right way, I just had to fight for every set, for every point,” he said. “I think it’s just experience because I lost two really tough five-setters [this year] – at Roland Garros, leading two sets to love, having a break in the fifth, and at Wimbledon, with a break in the fifth. I lost them, but it’s a great experience to know how to not let this happen again.”

Next week at the Nitto ATP Finals, Medvedev has the opportunity to win his biggest title yet. But it should be remembered that getting to the top is one thing and staying there is another – the phenomenal success of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer has made it look way easier than it is in reality. Medvedev’s task now is to show that he has the application to take the extra steps and to win when the pressure is at its greatest. The signs are that he is becoming better equipped to do so.

London has turned on a spectacular, crisp morning under sunny skies for a 9.30am ferry ride for this year’s singles field journeying together to The O2.

Top seeds Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic led all eight Nitto ATP Finals competitors on a ride to The O2, where the players will participate in media day and practice ahead of Sunday’s start of the season finale.

Nadal and Djokovic will battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking, while Roger Federer will chase a record-extending seventh title at the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament.

This year’s event features four players 23 and under: defending champion Alexander Zverev (22), and three players making their debuts, Daniil Medvedev (23), Stefanos Tsitsipas (21) and Matteo Berrettini (23). Additionally, Dominic Thiem will compete for the fourth consecutive year.

Fans of men’s professional tennis can dive deeper than ever before into the ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour following the release of the ATP’s new official mobile app.

Developed in partnership with Infosys and available today for IOS and Android devices, ‘ATP Tour’ delivers official live scores, stats, news and video and a personalised feed featuring fans’ favourite players and tournaments.

Additionally, through customised notifications, fans will be alerted when their players begin or complete a match and immediately when fresh news and video content about their favourite players has been published. The app has been designed with the support of the London-based design arm of Infosys, Brilliant Basics.

Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman & President, said: “We’re delighted to announce the launch of the new ATP Tour app. The app will enable tennis fans worldwide to follow the Tour and their favourite players more closely than ever before as we continue to leverage technology to increase engagement with the Tour’s growing fan base.”

Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said “It’s the 5th year of our relationship with the ATP, and we are very excited to continue this digital transformation journey with them. This new app is built with best-in class principles of digital and design and has been created with fans front and centre. It ties in with our overall commitment to the sport, combining our passion for tennis and technology to reimagine the sport for players and fans alike.”

Highlights of the new app include…

• Official point-by-point live scoring of all ATP Tour and ATP Challenger Tour tournaments

• A personalised news feed providing immediate access to the latest content on favourite players and tournaments

• Detailed player bio, data and match statistics

• Daily schedules, draws and results from all ATP Tour and Challenger Tour tournaments

• Official ATP Race & Rankings tables

• Latest news, videos and features on the game’s most exciting players and tournaments

• Detailed FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry information

• Full ATP Tour & Challenger Tour calendar

Frances Tiafoe would have preferred his Next Gen ATP Finals meeting with Alex de Minaur happen on Saturday, the day of the 2019 final. But the second-seeded American is still pleased to have a chance at the 2018 runner-up in Milan.

Tiafoe, who failed to make it out of the group stage last year, will try to reach his first Next Gen ATP Finals title match against De Minaur, the top seed who has yet to drop a match at the Allianz Cloud.

The Aussie finished group play unbeaten for the second consecutive year on Thursday, beating Casper Ruud of Norway 4-1, 4-0, 4-2 to make the semi-finals unscathed. The 20-year-old will look to improve to 2-0 against Tiafoe after beating him in four sets at the 2018 US Open.

“I get up for any sort of match any time I step out on court. These conditions make it a bit tougher in the sense that things can change directions really quickly, so I feel like you’ve got to be constantly focused. That’s something that helps me, in a way, to stay in the moment,” De Minaur said. “A lot of work has been done for me to achieve that, but it’s a work in progress and I’m happy to be through to the semi-finals.”

Tiafoe, who goes by the nickname “Big Foe”, came up big during his win-or-go-home match against Mikael Ymer on Thursday, winning 4-2, 4-2, 4-2 against the sixth-seeded Swede.

“I just like being in Milan and playing in Milan. Fans are unbelievable here. They really get behind me. I feel like I play great tennis here. I’m just happy to be in the semis,” Tiafoe said.

In Friday’s second semi-final, Italian wild card Jannik Sinner, the eighth seed, will try to keep the home fans happy and reach the final. The 18-year-old suffered his first loss in Milan on Thursday against Frenchman Ugo Humbert 4-3(5), 3-4(3), 4-2, 4-2, but Sinner had already clinched his semi-final spot before their matchup.

He is the first Italian to make the semi-finals in the tournament’s three-year history. Sinner will meet Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, who secured his semi-final spot with a straight-sets win against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Thursday.

“I watched his matches,” Kecmanovic said of Sinner. “It’s definitely going to be tough playing against everybody here in the crowd, but I have been playing good. I’m feeling good.”

SCHEDULE, FRIDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2019
ALLIANZ CLOUD COURT start 7:00 pm
[1] A. de Minaur (AUS) vs [2] F. Tiafoe (USA)

Not Before 9:00 pm
[8] [WC] J. Sinner (ITA) vs [5] M. Kecmanovic (SRB)