Rohan Bopanna is preparing for one of the most significant matches of his season Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals. While he will be fully focused on his latest doubles clash alongside Matthew Ebden at Turin’s Pala Alpitour, he may also look for inspiration from some fellow Indian sportsmen more than 6,500 kilometres away.

At the same time as Bopanna and Ebden’s Red Group meeting with Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, the Indian men’s national cricket team will be in action in Mumbai, where it takes on New Zealand in a World Cup semi-final. In a country where cricket is akin to a religion, it is a huge occasion, and one that Bopanna is all too aware of despite being so far away.

“I am following it, of course” Bopanna told ATPTour.com when asked about the World Cup, where host nation India has won all nine of its matches so far. “I love cricket. Unfortunately, I have not been able to watch it, because Italy right now is not really showing the cricket, unless I try and find a stream online or something!

“I think the way India is playing this year, it’s really looking extremely good. I think, overall, [the whole team] is performing. It’s not just that one or two players are doing well. The bowlers, the batsmen, everybody is coming together as a team, and I think we’ve got some fantastic home support.”

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_{^{Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna in action during their opening loss on Monday in Turin. Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}}

India’s cricket players are widely recognised figures at home. Star batsman Virat Kohli has one of the most-followed Instagram accounts in the world, with 263 million followers, and he is one of a handful of cricket stars with whom Bopanna shares a positive relationship.

“I’ve met [Kohli] a couple of times, and most of the cricket guys, apart from those who have just come in the team,” said Bopanna. “Even the guys who have retired, starting from [Rahul] Dravid and Sachin [Tendulkar], [Mahendra Singh] Dhoni, all these guys. Once they had a football match with some cricketers and other sportsmen mixed against some Bollywood celebrities, so it was fun. We got to meet everybody.

“Sachin also came to watch my match at Wimbledon this year, so it’s nice. We’re just a handful of sportsmen across the country who represent India at a global level, so I think everybody respects each other.”

As one of the leading lights of Indian tennis for more than two decades, Bopanna can certainly relate to the feeling of representing a nation of more than 1.4 billion people.

“I take it as a great positive energy, that you’re not just playing for yourself, you’re playing for so many people out there,” said the 43-year-old Bopanna, who is the oldest competitor in Nitto ATP Finals history. “It’s a great opportunity to inspire so many people [at this] juncture of their lives.

“It doesn’t have to be young kids. To be honest, this year, the amount of people above 40, who have reached out to me, who are not just playing tennis, and just said they’ve been inspired with this journey of these last 10 months. Its brought them a new aspect in terms of energy and doing some stuff and really believing themselves.”

_{^{Indian cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kolhi sat together at Wimbledon in 2015. Photo Credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images}}

Bopanna, who reached his career-high of No. 3 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings in 2013, is a two-time finalist at the Nitto ATP Finals, having reached that stage in 2012 (w/Mahesh Bhupathi) and 2015 (w/Florin Mergea) when the event was held in London. Now competing for the fourth time at the prestigious season finale, he is delighted to be carrying the hopes of his nation for the first time in Turin.

“2015 is the last time there was Indian representation [at the Nitto ATP Finals],” he said. “After that there hasn’t been someone for such a long time. I take it as a great challenge. I think similarly the cricketers do as well. Everybody feels the pressure, but I think it’s beautiful just to take that energy, because that support is nothing like anything you can witness anywhere else.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas apologised to the fans during his press conference on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he retired three games into his match with Holger Rune due to a back injury. The Greek has withdrawn from the season finale and will be replaced in Green Group by Hubert Hurkacz.

“My apologies to all the fans and the crowd that came to support me today and watch the match. I’m really gutted that I wasn’t able to finish the match. It’s a shame also not to give that spot to someone else to at least try and do something with it,” Tsitsipas said. “My doctors and the countless visits that I had in the past few days suggested that I play, gave me the green light to go and try it for myself.

“Unfortunately, I felt terrible on the court. I did what I could do in the best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn’t work out for me.”

Tsitsipas held his lone service game against Rune and earned two break points against the Dane. But at the first changeover, he retired.

“I hate retiring from matches,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m not the kind of person that likes leaving mid match. It kills me not to be able to finish this tournament, the one that I’ve prepped for for so long, made sure that I’m completely fit to perform at my best and show my capacities as a player.”

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion provided further insight into his physical struggles, revealing he has not spent a lot of time on court the past few days.

“I had a little bit of trouble with my movement. It’s mainly affected when I move. It’s difficult to compete in the match without having to move. This is tennis. This is not darts,” Tsitsipas said. “For me, it’s important to be fit and feel good with my back. The pain was very big. I’ve gone through pain during matches in the past, and I endured pain, but this was clearly too much to handle.

“I had to take the difficult decision to do what I did. I felt it at the second game of the match. I actually felt it in the warm-up with my serve. Warming up on my serve, I felt very irritated and lots of pain hitting me on my back. I kind of knew at that time that I might not be able to go all the way.”

Two years ago in Turin, Tsitsipas withdrew from the Nitto ATP Finals following his first match of round-robin play. This year he lost his opener against Jannik Sinner and then attempted to take the court against Rune, but was unable to finish the match. Hurkacz will play World No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Thursday.

“It’s very unfortunate. I’ve had two editions here in Turin where I had to withdraw from the tournament. Never happened to me before that I had to withdraw. Very, very few occasions that I can recall on that matter,” Tsitsipas said. “It definitely hurts me a lot because this is the tournament that means the most to me, including the Grand Slams. I’m not able to compete the way I want to compete.”

Holger Rune hired former World No. 1 Boris Becker as his coach last month. Since then, Rune has rejuvenated his season following a mid-year slump. With a semi-final appearance in Basel backed up by a quarter-final run in Paris, Rune is now making his Nitto ATP Finals debut with Becker in his corner.

One notable trait in their young partnership is how often Becker rises to his feet while watching his player compete.

“Might be for the blood flow for the legs,” Rune joked in his post-match press conference. “I just think when he wants to do the coaching, he stands up. He can express more, his way of coaching me. So I think that’s why. I haven’t asked him why he does it.

“When I worked with Patrick [Mouratoglou], he also did it a lot. I think it’s just a character thing that some do, some don’t do. I like the way my box behaves. It’s cool to have him, Lapo [Becherini] (strength & conditioning coach), Mike [James] (data analyst) and my mom to be here with me.”

Rune improved to 1-1 in Green Group on Tuesday when Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire after just three games. The World No. 8 Rune, who suffered a three-set defeat to Novak Djokovic earlier this week, is soaking in his Turin debut.

“I think the Nitto ATP Finals is the biggest ATP event we have. I think it’s a super, super exciting event because I compare it a little bit to Formula 1, because they have these smaller events with less players,” Rune said. “It’s very intense. It’s less matches. Top against top. Obviously you have one day of rest every time, so it’s nice for the body also.”

The Dane’s next challenge will be to extend his 2-0 Lexus ATPHead2Head record against Italian Jannik Sinner.

“He can do whatever he wants on the court. He can hit a great forehand, great backhand, great volley. Great movement, serve, everything,” Rune said. “Obviously it’s more tough here in Italy to play him. That’s what it is. I’m just going to prepare.”

Rune also added that he was prepared for a normal match against Tsitsipas, who was physically unable to continue after 15 minutes.

“Unfortunate to end this way,” Rune said. “I was just ready to compete and build on the level that I did on Sunday. Was expecting a different match obviously, but another tough one.”

Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin kept alive their Nitto ATP Finals hopes on Tuesday when they moved past Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 6-4 to improve to 1-1 in Green Group play.

The fourth seeds lost to Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in their opening match but responded well against Gonzalez and Molteni, firing eight aces and winning 94 per cent (30/32) of their first-serve points to triumph after 77 minutes.

Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin joined forces for the first time at the start of this season and enjoyed a standout year. The Mexican-French team won five tour-level trophies, including ATP Masters 1000 crowns in Miami and Paris.

Gonzalez, 40, is the first Mexican to qualify for the year-end event since Jorge Lozano in 1989, while Roger-Vasselin, 39, is appearing at the Nitto ATP Finals for the third time. Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin will play Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in their final round-robin match on Thursday.

Gonzalez and Molteni are now 0-2 in Green Group. The Argentines won five title this season, highlighted by their Masters 1000 triumph in Cincinnati.

Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are two of the closest friends on the ATP Tour, so much so that Rublev is godfather to Medvedev’s daughter. But across their nine Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings, they have also become familiar foes on the court.

Medvedev, who leads the series 7-2 following his straight-sets win on Monday at the Nitto ATP Finals, says he is able to put their relationship to one side in between the lines.

“To be honest, on court, I don’t know how it is for him — for me on court, doesn’t exist, friends, enemies. I just try to win the match. I don’t think about anything else.

“But when the last point is finished, it’s like I feel sorry for him, he lost the match. But it’s the same for him. If he beats me, I mean, last year was brutal when he beat me [in Turin]. So I felt for one or two days he was kind of shy to talk to me, taking care.

“It’s the same. You always try to look at him and see if tomorrow we can talk like normal. I’m going to say to him good luck, go for it the next matches, and he’s probably going to say the same.”

So how long does Medvedev need to cool off after a defeat? 

“Depends the person. Me, usually — depends the match — but in general I need probably one hour, around this. Depends the match. Sometimes two. Sometimes 30 minutes. I kind of laugh about it. For sure I will be disappointed, but I can talk to people, laugh about it.

“I think Andrey needs a little bit more time, but that’s just the way he is.”

Medvedev’s next matchup will be against Alexander Zverev on Wednesday, when Rublev will meet Carlos Alcaraz. Medvedev and Zverev are both 1-0 after the German defeated Alcaraz in three sets earlier on Monday.

While the result was an upset by seeding, Medvedev was not surprised by the scoreline considering both players’ recent form.

“If you would ask me two, three months ago, for sure [I would be surprised],” he said. “Tennis is a very, very tricky sport. At this moment, for whatever reason, we feel that Carlos plays just a little bit slower. He doesn’t have the same confidence he had throughout the whole year. This can happen to everyone. This even happen to Novak when he was younger. The question is, how fast is he going to recover? Is it going to be this tournament or next year?

“When he lost the second set, they showed the speed of the strokes, groundstrokes. Sascha was like 10 kilometers [per hour] higher than Carlos. This is very surprising. In general when I saw the match, in the beginning we felt that Carlos is not playing his best. Sascha also. So I’m not surprised at all.

“In the end it turned out to be a great fight and a great match. No surprises. Sascha can play well also, serve well. It’s going to be interesting to play him for the 18th time.”

If that number sounds like an exaggeration, it is not. Medvedev leads his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Zverev 10-7, including wins in four of their five meetings this season.

Andrey Rublev played a brilliant opening set against Daniil Medvedev but was second best in the key moments in an eventual 6-4, 6-2 defeat on Monday night at the Nitto ATP Finals. While the fifth seed was pleased with his level during the first set, he was left to rue the few untimely errors that cost him.

“The feeling was that as soon as we had a rally, I was playing well and I had great chances,” said Rublev, who missed out on seven break points in his last two return games of the opening set. “I was not able to use my serve really well to open the court. When he had important moments, I think almost all the break points he saved with a good serve.

“I had some chances, a drive volley that I missed. I had an opportunity [at] 5-4, 0/30, I had quite an easy drive forehand, and I didn’t hit it clean, and the rally continued. He played really well. Also the [service game] that I lost in the first set, I missed two easy balls. One was a backhand in the middle of the court, then break point. Those things in the end make a huge difference.”

The defeat dropped Rublev to 2-7 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Medvedev, but he is becoming more accustomed to facing the unique challenge his close friend presents on the court.

“I would say the more I play with him, the better I feel, because I start to get used to those things and get less crazy compared our first matches,” Rublev said. “The more I play with him, the more it gets normal for me that it’s coming [back] one extra ball, one extra ball. But in the end, today was quite easy for him.”

While Rublev managed to defeat Medvedev in a third-set tie-break last year in Turin, he can only hope to take lessons in defeat this time.

“In general I feel that we always have some close matches,” he said. “The more I play, even if the score is different, from the baseline I feel every time better and better against him.

“The question is more about the mental part in those important moments, to keep focussed, to use those chances when I have these balls, drive forehands, whatever, volleys. When he gives you these extra balls, be focussed to finish these points.”

The Green Group action resumes on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune seek their first win of this year’s season finale in a crucial afternoon clash. In the evening session, defending champion Novak Djokovic and home favourite Jannik Sinner seek to maintain their perfect starts in Turin.

[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs. [8] Holger Rune (DEN)

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas reiterated his desire to stay in Turin past the group stage after his opening defeat to Jannik Sinner. The Greek will have to do something he has never done before to avoid sliding to 0-2 in Green Group, however: defeat Rune.

The 20-year-old Dane prevailed in both his previous Lexus Head2Head meetings with Tsitsipas, at Roland Garros and in Stockholm in 2022. While both players have struggled to produce their best level consistently across the second half of this year, Tsitsipas is expecting Rune to bring his best to the Pala Alpitour on Tuesday.

“Every single opponent is at their best right now,” said the Greek on Sunday. “I’m not entering the court thinking that I might get a chance or an opportunity or having someone under-play of what their potential is.

“Holger has been pretty good against me in some of the encounters and matches that we’ve had against each other. I believe that he’s a tough competitor and someone that fights really hard on the court. Whether he’s up or down, he will not give up.”

Rune will be buoyed by the way he pushed six-time champion Novak Djokovic in his opening match, despite ultimately losing a three-hour, four-minute thriller. The Nitto ATP Finals debutant was aggressive on return in fast conditions throughout his match against the World No. 1 and will hope he can do the same on Tuesday against the big-serving Tsitsipas.

The eighth-seeded Rune will also hope to draw on memories of his previous wins against Tsitsipas as he eyes his maiden Nitto ATP Finals match win.

“I have good memories with him on the court,” Rune told ATP Media at the pre-tournament media day in Turin. “The first time at Roland Garros, the second time in Stockholm. I think he’s very hungry now. He’s been saying [that] a lot, and you know that he’s ready to go out there and compete. So I’m expecting a tough battle from him. He’s a great player and he’s been tough for many years.”

Tsitsipas holds more experience than Rune at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he is competing for the fifth consecutive year. He has not moved past the group stage since his title run in 2019, however, and arguably appeared less comfortable in his straight-sets defeat to Sinner on Sunday than Rune did against Djokovic.

The round-robin format at the Nitto ATP Finals means progressing to the semi-finals after two defeats is possible, but who can reignite their campaign Monday with a confidence-boosting victory?

[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. [4] Jannik Sinner (ITA)

Hugely popular in Italy and a speaker of the local language, Novak Djokovic is used to channelling plenty of fans’ support in Turin.

That is not likely to be the case on Tuesday night, when the World No. 1 steps out to take on home favourite Jannik Sinner inside the Pala Alpitour. Both players enter their fourth Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting fresh from an opening win in Green Group, and both could seal a semi-final spot with victory.

Sinner will advance if he downs Djokovic in straight sets, or with a three-set triumph combined with Tsitsipas beating Rune earlier in the day. The 22-year-old Italian is searching for his first tour-level win against the six-time Nitto ATP Finals champion Djokovic and will hope to embrace home support, including from his fan club ‘The Carota Boys’, as well as he did in easing past Tsitsipas in his opening match.

“The atmosphere was really, really nice,” Sinner said after his opening win. “It’s huge pleasure for me to play here in Turin, in Italy. Obviously, a little bit more pressure, but I managed it really well today, so I’m happy.”

Sinner’s ability to strike cleanly from anywhere along the baseline was key to his victory against Tsitsipas. He powered 22 winners during his 58th win of the season, and he will look to strike as consistently on Tuesday to put Djokovic’s renowned defence to the test.

That not even be enough to clinch a maiden win against Djokovic, however. The 36-year-old Serbian showcased typical resilience at tough moments to outlast Rune, extend his tour-level winning streak to 19 matches and secure the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone honour for a record-extending eighth time.

“I was very eager to win tonight’s match, get that monkey off my back,” said Djokovic after his win against the Dane. “I won Paris, which put me in a much better position rankings-wise, and I knew coming into Turin I only needed to win one match. A big goal is achieved, everything else now is a bonus.”

Djokovic, who can only confirm his semi-final spot with a win if Rune defeats Tsitsipas earlier on Tuesday, has never played Sinner indoors. Can he quell the Italian’s momentum inside the Pala Alpitour for his 48th Nitto ATP Finals match win?

Dodig/Krajicek Seek To Build On Fast Start

Top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek consolidated first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings with a straight-sets win in their opening match in Green Group. The Croatian-American duo looks to back that victory up on Tuesday evening when they meet fifth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

In the afternoon doubles action, Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin take on Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni. Both pairs are chasing their maiden Nitto ATP Finals match win.

Feliciano Lopez was recognised for his standout career on Monday in Turin.

The Spaniard retired in June, then aged 41, after losing in the quarter-finals of the Mallorca Championships. The lefty won two matches at the ATP 250 to close out his career on a high.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Player Representative Pablo Andujar and former World No. 5 Rainer Schuettler were among those who paid tribute to Lopez.

“I feel very proud of my career. I think I have achieved much more than I expected when I started playing professionally,” Lopez told ATPTour.com. “It’s been great being here again, seeing everyone and I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been working with me for the past 20 years helping me in every single way. And also, it’s been very nice that they give us a last goodbye with this presentation that I had a few hours ago with Andrea, with [ATP Senior Vice President of Player Relations] Fernando [Sanchez]. It’s been great.”

Lopez entertained fans around the world for more than two decades with his aggressive, net-crashing game. The lefty became known for his booming serve and fearless game. He won 766 tour-level matches between singles and doubles, 13 combined titles and more than $18 million in prize money.

The Spaniard is one of only five players who have hit 10,000 aces according to Infosys ATP Stats. Lopez is fourth on record with 10,261. He played in a record 79 consecutive Grand Slam men’s singles main draws beginning with 2002 Roland Garros.

In 2019, Lopez became tournament director of the Mutua Madrid Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event.

“I feel also very lucky that I will continue seeing almost everyone because I’m going to be working for Madrid,” Lopez said. “Hopefully we’re going to see each other again for the next years. Overall I’ve been very happy, and I think I met really nice people along the way, which is great. So it’s not goodbye, it’s see you later because I’m going to be seeing almost everyone the next five to 10 years. It’s been great so far, I’m very grateful for that.”