Carlos Alcaraz kept alive his semi-final hopes at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday when he moved past Andrey Rublev 7-5, 6-2 to earn his first win at the prestigious year-end event.

The 20-year-old bounced back from an opening Red Group defeat against Alexander Zverev with an aggressive display against Rublev. The Spaniard outlasted the fifth seed in a series of destructive baseline exchanges, redlining the ball to improve to 10-5 against Top 10 opponents in 2023.

With his 74-minute win, Alcaraz snapped a three-match losing streak. The World No. 2 fell against Grigor Dimitrov in Shanghai, Roman Safiullin in Paris and Zverev in Turin. He is now 64-11 on the season.

“It was a totally different match and level from me. This is the level I have to play if I want to give myself a chance in this amazing tournament,” Alcaraz said. “Yesterday was a good day for me in practise to find the level I needed to show today and I think I did pretty well. I am very happy with my level.”

Alcaraz, who is the youngest player in the eight-man singles field, is making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals after missing last year’s edition due to injury. He is chasing his seventh trophy of the season and first since Wimbledon and will meet Daniil Medvedev in his final round-robin match on Friday.

“I need to relax. It is really, really fast the court,” Alcaraz said. “I need to hit first. You need to be more aggressive than your opponent. I think that is key if you want to have chances in this tournament.”

Alcaraz was not at his best in his opening match against Zverev but was dialled in from ball one on the quick courts inside the Pala Alpitour against Rublev. The Spaniard dropped just one point on his first serve in the opening set, while he committed just four unforced errors. He gained the crucial break in the 11th game of the first set before holding to lead.

In a good rhythm, the 20-year-old pushed on in the second set, exploiting Rublev’s defence with his powerful groundstrokes to force the 26-year-old into errors. Alcaraz also moved freely around the court, hitting a couple of stunning passing winners on the stretch. He sealed victory on his first match point.

Rublev, who won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo earlier this year, now holds a 0-2 record in Red Group play after losing to Daniil Medvedev in his first match. The 2022 semi-finalist meets Zverev in his final round-robin match.

Rohan Bopanna became the oldest player in tournament history to win a match at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday when he teamed with Matthew Ebden to down Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler 6-4, 6-4.

The 43-year-old Bopanna and Ebden lost just one point on their first serve and saved the one break point they faced to triumph after 72 minutes in Turin.

With their victory, the third seeds improved to 1-1 in Red Group play, keeping alive their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals after losing their opening match to defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury.

Bopanna and Ebden will face Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in their final round-robin match on Friday.

The Indian-Australian pair first teamed at the start of this season and enjoyed an impressive year together, winning tour-level trophies in Doha and Indian Wells. Bopanna is making his fourth appearance at the year-end event, while Ebden is debuting.

Australian Open champions Hijikata and Kubler are now 0-2 in Red Group play. They will meet Ram and Salisbury in their last match of the round-robin stage.

It’s Awards season, which means we need your help to determine this year’s Fans’ Favourite winners!

Which tennis players entertained you during the 2023 ATP Tour season? Show your support by selecting your favourite singles player and doubles team from the dropdowns below and submit your vote.

Voting for the 2023 Fans’ Favourite Awards closes at 11:59pm GMT on Friday, 1 December.

If you have already cast your vote, you have the option to change your selection through the dropdown menu during the voting period, but your last submission will be the only one recorded. 

Stay tuned over the coming weeks as we celebrate players and tournaments in the 2023 ATP Awards!

Note: Fans’ Favourite candidates are active players in the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and Top 25 teams in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Team Rankings as of 6 November 2023. The Top 100 includes players with protected ATP Rankings who have played at least one tour-level match in 2023. Candidates with protected rankings are noted in the list with (PR). 

Following his 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) defeat to Jannik Sinner on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, Novak Djokovic greeted the Italian home favourite with a warm embrace at the net. His goodwill continued in his post-match press conference, where he was full of praise for his opponent’s play.

“You have to just congratulate him. He just played a fantastic match,” the Serbian said. “That’s what I told him at the net. I think in the most important moments, he played his best game and he absolutely deserved to win.”

Djokovic was especially complimentary of Sinner’s aggressive play during the crucial moments, with the Italian connecting on a flurry of big ground strokes during the close of the first and third sets.

“I think the main difference is that in the important points, he was going for it, he was more courageous,” said the World No. 1. “He deserved to win because in important moments I wasn’t aggressive enough, I wasn’t decisive enough. I gave him the opportunity to take the control over the points.”

While Djokovic could find little fault with his own game overall, he did take a lesson from the defeat.

“I think I learned that in some moments I have to be a bit more decisive. I wasn’t today. That’s OK,” he said. “Some you win, some you lose. Most of my career I was winning these kind of matches. Some I lost, like the one tonight.”

Djokovic’s task was made doubly difficult by the Italian crowd’s constant support for Sinner, as well as the 22 year-old’s desire to notch his first win in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. But Djokovic is used to playing with a proverbial target on his back.

“They want to take the scalp. Jannik did that tonight,” he said. “It’s normal to lose some of the matches like this, but I have to be content with the fight, the fighting spirit. I managed to make a comeback from a set down, a break down in the third set, playing in really challenging and difficult conditions on the court today.

“I’m proud of the fight that I put in. It just wasn’t enough for the win.”

With heavy backing from the Italian crowd at the Nitto ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner earned a dramatic victory against Novak Djokovic for his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win in four tries against the Serbian. The 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) result improved Sinner to 2-0 this week in Turin and put him in command of the Red Group — though his qualification for the knockout semi-final stage is not yet confirmed.

Djokovic spent much of the three-hour, nine-minute matchup battling back from behind, but he had no answer for Sinner’s lightning start to the decisive tie-break. Long after he won nine straight points to snatch the opening set, breaking from 40/0 before a love hold, Sinner surged ahead in the final tie-break with five consecutive points, hitting huge ground strokes in the face of extreme pressure to build what proved to be an unassailable lead.

“It’s part of the process. I feel that I’m a little bit more confident in certain moments in a match,” Sinner said of his performance in the clutch moments. “I think I was really brave and intelligent in important moments, especially the third set. I felt like we were both serving really well so there were not so many exchanges, but when the exchanges were played we both played really well.

“That was a really high-level match.”

In an eventful third set, Sinner led 4-2 — ripping a forehand return winner to break — but was pegged back immediately as Djokovic broke serve for the first time in the match. There would be no comeback in the tie-break, as Sinner sent the crowd to fever pitch with victory before receiving a warm embrace from his opponent at net.

In the pair’s first hard-court meeting, Sinner’s brilliant ball-striking ended Djokovic’s 19-match winning streak, which dated back to his Cincinnati title run. The Italian’s career-best season now includes 59 match wins — the most by an Italian in the Open Era — and a 10-5 record against the Top 10. Sinner also improved to 15-1 indoors for 2023 by earning his second victory against a reigning World No. 1; he also beat then-No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the Miami semis earlier this season.

“It means a lot to me,” Sinner said of beating Djokovic for the first time. “When you win against the World No. 1, who has won 24 Grand Slams, it’s obviously in the top [of my career results]… I felt like it was a really tactical match and I managed to win, so I’m very happy.”

In addition to stellar serving from both players, who combined for 35 aces, Sinner also found joy with his variety when he wasn’t hitting at full tilt. He often mixed in drop shots to keep Djokovic guessing, and when the Serbian approached the net on his own terms, Sinner’s uncanny ability on the stretch led to several stunning passing-shot winners.

Djokovic, who applauded his opponents play on several occasions, dropped to 1-1 in Turin with the defeat but still remains in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals. He will close out his round-robin campaign against Hubert Hurkacz on Thursday, with the Pole coming in as an alternate to Stefanos Tsitsipas (back injury). Sinner will meet Holger Rune as he seeks to finish 3-0 in the group.

With a unique atmosphere on the court and renowned food and culture off it, Italy is a firm favourite with plenty of ATP Tour stars.

Yet which aspects of the southern European country most appeal to the players in Turin this week for the Nitto ATP Finals? Be it food, films, or Formula 1, ATPTour.com sat down with some of the doubles teams in Green Group to find out…

What is your favourite on-court memory in Italy?
Ivan Dodig: To be honest I like one special word in Italy, when we are on court, how they are cheering for the players. They say, ‘Dai, dai, dai’. It’s like we say in Croatia, ‘Idemo’. It’s famous, whenever we go around Italy, I always hear that, especially when Italian players are playing.

Austin Krajicek: Last year in Florence we played a 250 leading up to here and the crowd support there was amazing. We played a couple of Italian teams in a row, and although the crowd was significantly against us, to hear how loud the stadium was when we lost a point and how pin drop quiet it was when we won a point was a pretty cool experience. It’s cool to be in those atmospheres.

Edouard Roger-Vasselin: Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I think the first time I brought my girlfriend at that time, who is my wife now, and we went to a Challenger in Italy together. I think it was the first time she came with me to a Challenger, and I made the final. It’s a good memory because it was one of the first times I made the final in a Challenger and my girlfriend was there, so we enjoyed the Italian style, the Italian culture the Italian food, obviously. It was a good memory.

Santiago Gonzalez: The last time I played in Rome. We played on Court Pietrangeli. It was amazing. I love the place… Actually Rome is one of my favourite cities for walking around everywhere.

What is your favourite off-court aspect of being in Italy?
Andres Molteni: I like Italy a lot. I have Italian blood, an Italian passport as well. My grandparents came from here, so we have a union, I think, between us and Italy.

Dodig: Pasta. Pizza. Mozzarella. Burrata. Repeat.

Maximo Gonzalez: I always enjoy being here. It’s one of my favourite places, one of my favourite countries. In Argentina we have some Italian blood. I have many good memories.

If you had the choice would you visit the Colosseum in Rome or climb Mount Vesuvius?
Krajicek: I think I would do the climbing. I’m a bit more of a get-active guy and I’ve seen the Colosseum a couple of times.

S. Gonzalez: I entered the Colosseum like 10 times already, so I would go for a new experience.

Which film would you rather watch, The Godfather or The Italian Job?

S. Gonzalez: The Italian Job. That’s a good one. It’s in Turin as well. I like that one, because The Godfather was a little too slow for me. It’s a great movie, but I prefer The Italian Job.

Molteni: I don’t know, I only saw parts of those movies!

Would you rather watch a Serie A football match or the historic Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Dodig: Monza. I’m a big F1 fan and for me it’s all about Monza, even though I’m a soccer fan.

Roger-Vasselin: The F1 Grand Prix for me. I never experienced this, and it is on my to-do list at some point in time. I haven’t been in any Italian football stadium, but [I have been] in France, in England, in Spain. Definitely F1 is something I want to do.

S. Gonzalez: I just went three days ago to A.C. Milan vs. PSG. So already I have that mark checked and would go to the F1.

Favourite pizza topping? Is there any topping you won’t touch?
Dodig: My favourite Is here in Turin. Pizza with mortadella, pistachios on top and olive oil. The best ever. I figured it out two years ago and I’m always looking forward to having it, especially here in Turin.

Roger-Vasselin: I don’t want pineapple. No way. Especially here [in Turin] I love the truffle on top of the pizza, on top of everything. I love it. Our wives are going to buy some from Alba, which is like an hour from here or 30 minutes from here. Their job of the week to bring some truffle back home.

M. Gonzalez: Mozzarella. Just margherita with cheese. That’s my favourite here.

Which Italian dish can you cook best?
Krajicek: An Italian dish? I mean, I would struggle a little bit. We live in Texas, so grilling is more of our thing. I like to focus on meat a little bit. I could probably figure out some sort of pasta but it’s not going to be even remotely the same as here, that’s for sure. I’m going out to eat Italian.

Roger-Vasselin: Last Christmas I bought an oven to do some pizza. So I’ve been trying to make some pizzas at home and we are improving. I will say I’m not that bad at making some pizza.

Novak Djokovic might be the only athlete on the planet compared to both Spiderman and a brick wall.

The Serbian star contorts his body to reach balls in impossible positions and often sends it to the other side of the court as if he never moved at all. Djokovic’s combination of speed, flexibility and anticipation make him a nightmare for opponents to deal with.

The six-time Nitto ATP Finals champion is 36, but he does not move like it said former World No. 4 Greg Rusedski.

“I think people take a lot for granted of Novak and his career just because of being around during Federer and Nadal’s era,” said Rusedski, who is in Turin commentating on the season finale for Amazon Prime. “I feel like Federer brought movement in tennis to one level and Djokovic has brought it to another level. And we’ve never seen a 36-year-old, at least in my generation or time I’ve been watching tennis, that has moved as well as Novak on a tennis court.”

It is not just experts who rave about Djokovic’s movement — his peers do, too. Holger Rune battled Djokovic for more than three hours on Sunday at the Pala Alpitour and in the aftermath of his loss, thought about his opponent’s game.

“For me he’s reading the game extremely well – better than anyone, I think. Also, I was reflecting a lot obviously on that match because it hurt to lose that one,” Rune told ATPTour.com in a press conference. “I feel like against many players out there you can hit a great shot and you can be in a good position. Against him, you hit a great shot, it comes back deep.

“I think it’s not just his ball quality, it’s also how well he reads the game, to be able to hit shots like that. I think I did manage to make him uncomfortable also in his movement, but it’s definitely a hard thing to do. I think he’s really, really good at pushing himself, also.”

^{Photo Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images}
Part of what allows Djokovic to push himself is the effort he puts into his body off the court. Fans often receive a small glimpse into the hard work he dedicates to his body. Particularly interesting is some of the stretches he does for flexibility. The Serbian lifts his leg atop a member of his team’s shoulder with ease, making it more understandable how he is able to slide on hard courts as easily as he does.

Two-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev has played Djokovic 12 times since the start of 2017 and has taken a front-row seat to the 36-year-old’s extended dominance.

“I think he’s a player that takes care of his body the best out of everybody,” Zverev said. “I think he goes through his rituals pretty much every single day. He takes care of himself, and that’s his number one priority above everything else. I think he’s done extremely well doing that over the past few years.

“I think he’s 36 years old, but he looks like he’s 26, 27. He might be in even better shape than he was 10 years ago. It doesn’t really even seem that he looks like he’s going to stop.”

Djokovic has redefined success for players of his age. In 2020, he became the oldest ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone in history (since 1973) aged 33. The Serbian has since achieved the feat twice more, including this year aged 36.

Rusedski compared Djokovic’s late-career success to that of NFL legend Tom Brady’s. The Briton pointed out that one big difference is that Brady never had to move as much as Djokovic.

“They’re fanatical about their diets, their nutrition, their training, and so forth,” Rusedski said. “What makes Novak so special, what makes it so incredible, tennis is all about movement. The Top 10 players in the world are always the fastest players on the planet.

“The only reason Roger is not playing anymore is because of his knees and the speed. He hits the ball just as well, and most of us who have been Top 10 in the world do [and there] are some great players. But if you can’t get there, and you’re slower, you’re half a step slow, you disappear very, very quickly at this level. So for him to do that consistently is quite incredible.”

Djokovic might not be the most balletic player nor the absolute quickest. But for a 36-year-old, he is dominating the sport by moving like nobody else in the game.

“They look at the elegance of Federer. And Federer is aesthetically beautiful to watch, he’s like a ballerina,” Rusedski said. “But Djokovic’s movement, if you just cut the upper body off and just look from the waist down, the things he can do, there’s nobody in the business who does it better.

“Yes, Alcaraz might be faster at this stage, but he’s not as efficient. And efficiency of movement is the key with the speed and the combination and the control. And that’s what makes him so special.”

It promises to be a ferocious encounter. Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev, having lost their openers at the Nitto ATP Finals against Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev, respectively, will square off on Wednesday in a crucial match for their hopes to progress to the semi-finals of the season’s grand finale.

“Tomorrow is a new match,” Fernando Vicente, Rublev’s coach, told ATPTour.com. “I imagine both of them [Andrey and Carlos] will be thinking that they can win the next two matches, with desire and determination. As we all know, there is a round-robin format here, so everyone is still in it… We are hopeful we can win.”

Despite the fact that they have shared practice sessions on the ATP Tour, Rublev and Alcaraz have never played each other — tomorrow will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head match.

“They both play a different style of tennis,” explained Vicente. “In our case, I think Andrey has to play his own game, what he normally does. There isn’t much to say in that regard. He will have to dominate from the baseline and be aggressive, as he plays when he’s on form.

“We all know that Carlos has a lot of variety in his game, he can serve-volley, he can return-volley, he hits great drop shots… We’re already expecting all of that, we’re expecting a complicated, difficult match between two top players. We’ll have to see what happens mentally, how each of them is, but little else.”

Can the Pala Alpitour court in Turin benefit one player over the other?

“Andrey likes to have rallies,” said Vicente. “If you ask him, he’ll say he really likes to play on clay because that’s where he feels the best and where the many hours of work show. He likes feeling that they are playing long points,” he continued. “The court is fast. I think it really helps Andrey’s game because the ball is quick. With his flat style, it’s also difficult to cope with his pace a lot of the time. It’s not his favourite court, but we’ll see. Maybe we can say that perhaps it favours Andrey because of the type of court.”

Rublev may have another significant advantage: Unlike Alcaraz, who is playing in his first Nitto ATP Finals, the World No. 5 has played in the event three times already and he reached the semi-finals last year (l. to Casper Ruud). Does that help?

“On the one hand, I’d say it does, but also it doesn’t,” pondered his coach. “At the end of the day, experience shows in every match. There are people who reach three finals, or four, or five, but it doesn’t matter; if they don’t win any, it’s a double-edged sword.

“The fact that he has played more won’t be decisive. Carlos is an extraordinary player, he has played in Grand Slam finals, so I don’t think experience will be decisive in this case,” he insisted. “It will all be decided on their frames of mind, whoever is the bravest, and whoever does what has to be done. Every day is a new match.”

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the first confirmed semi-finalists at the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals.

The Spanish-Argentine duo defeated top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday evening in Turin to book their spot in the last four. They clinched a single break in each set to improve to 2-0 for the week at the Pala Alpitour and ensure their progress to the semi-finals at the prestigious season finale for the third time as a team (2020-21, 2023).

Granollers and Zeballos clinically converted both break points they earned to notch their 36th tour-level win of the year and improve to 6-7 as a team at the Nitto ATP Finals. Now 2-0 in Green Group, the fifth seeds are assured of a semi-final spot regardless of what happens in their third match against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Dodig and Krajicek were not without their chances in the first tour-level meeting on a hard court between the two teams. They carved out four break points in the first set, but were unable to convert any as Granollers and Zeballos held firm at key moments throughout the 87-minute encounter.

The Croatian-American duo Dodig and Krajieck, who lead the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings with a 39-14 record, enter their final match against Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Friday with a 1-1 record for the week. The match will be a shootout for second place in the group, with Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin also 1-1 after they beat Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.