Tsitsipas the great
LONDON, November 18
Stefanos Tsitsipas confirmed his meteoric rise into the highest echelon of men’s tennis by battling back to beat Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-7(6) 6-2 7-6(4) in a compelling title duel at the ATP Finals on Sunday.
The 21-year-old debutant, the youngest of the eight qualifiers for the elite season-ender at the O2 Arena, displayed resilience and flair in equal measure to become the youngest champion since Lleyton Hewitt in 2001.
Thiem edged an intense first set full of powerful baseline rallies but Tsitsipas, the first Greek player to qualify for the ATP’s blue-riband event, was undaunted and responded in style.
Nadal ends year as No. 1 for fifth time
Paris: Rafael Nadal was confirmed as the year-end world number one for the fifth time after the ATP released its season-closing rankings today. The Spaniard did not make it beyond the group stage of last week’s ATP Finals in London but Novak Djokovic’s failure to reach the semifinals meant Nadal closed the year with 9,985 points, 840 clear of the Serb. Nadal draws level with rivals Djokovic and Roger Federer, who have also finished the year in top spot five times, and moves one behind six-time end-of-year No. 1 Pete Sampras. Nadal and Djokovic have been this year’s two dominant players. afp
As Thiem’s level dipped, Tsitsipas surged into a 4-0 lead in the second set and then led 3-1 in the decider.
Twice French Open runners-up Thiem was not finished though and fought back to take the match into a tiebreak. World No. 6 Tsitsipas, the crowd favourite, led 4-1 but was pegged back to 4-4 before reeling off the last three points, sealing victory when Thiem ballooned a forehand wide.
It is the fourth successive year the tournament has had a first-time winner and incredibly it is just one year since Tsitsipas won the NextGen Finals title for the best up-and-coming players on the men’s Tour.
After a sensational week in London, Tsitsipas looks poised to lead the charge for the young guns in 2020.
3RD It is Tsitsipas’s third title of the season which surprisingly comes a year after he was crowned champion at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan
4TH It is the fourth successive year the tournament has had a first-time winner. He follows Andy Murray (2016), Grigor Dimitrov (2017) and Alexander Zverev (2018)
“I have no clue how I played so well in the second set,” Tsitsipas said on court. “I was nervous playing in such a big event. But I’m so relieved by the outstanding performance and the fight I showed today.” Thiem will rue the 40 unforced errors that undermined him on Sunday but back-to-back wins over Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic this week proved that, at 26, he is moving into his prime years, and not just on his favoured clay. — Reuters
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