Day 3 sees the second of three round-robin matches for half the field.
With his three-set victory on Sunday night over Holger Rune, Novak Djokovic clinched the year-end No.1 ranking for a record-extending eighth time. And now he strives for a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals crown. But on Tuesday, the Italian No.1 Jannik Sinner stands in his way of taking the group lead.
By contrast, Rune will square off against Stefanos Tsitsipas, as both look to earn their first round-robin victory, and keep their hopes of advancement alive.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing matchup, while highlighting the other matches on the schedule. Tuesday’s play begins at 12:00pm local time.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Jannik Sinner (4) – Not Before 9:00pm
This is a 16th ATP Finals appearance for Djokovic, as he has only failed to qualify once out of the last 17 years, when he missed the second half of the 2017 season due to injury. He is now 47-17 at this event, and has advanced out of round-robin play 11 out of 15 times. Novak survived an over three-hour affair with Holger Rune on Sunday, extending his current hard court winning streak to 19 matches.
This is a second ATP Finals appearance for Sinner, and his first time officially qualifying. In 2021, he was an alternate and replaced Matteo Berrettini after one match, going 1-1 in round-robin play. But after a career-best season, the 22-year-old Italian is the World No.4. Sinner defeated Tsitsipas in straight sets on Sunday, spending less than half the time on court that Djokovic did.
Novak leads their head-to-head 3-0, though this will be their first meeting on a hard court. They’ve met at Wimbledon in both of the last two years, with Djokovic coming from two-sets-down to overcome Sinner in the 2022 quarterfinals, and beating him in straight sets in this year’s semifinals.
In a best-of-three encounter, and at his home country’s biggest event, I expect Sinner to make this an extremely competitive matchup. But Djokovic remains the favorite, as his all-court skills are not quite matched by Jannik. And Novak has pulled out so many tight matches over the younger generation since losing the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz.
Other Notable Matches on Tuesday:
Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (4) vs. Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni (7) – Both of these teams lost their opening round-robin matches on Sunday.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (6) vs. Holger Rune (8) – Rune is 2-0 against Tsitsipas, having beaten him twice in 2022. In the fourth round of Roland Garros, Holger won in four. In the final of Stockholm on an indoor hard court, Holger won in straights.
Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek (1) vs. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (5) – These teams will battle for the group lead on Tuesday. In this year’s Roland Garros semifinals, Dodig and Krajicek defeated Granollers and Zeballos in straight sets.
Tuesday’s full Order of Play is here.
