Sinner succeeds against Fritz in Turin: it's Maestro 2024

Arms raised to the sky and Jannik Sinner's smile widened as the roar of the 12,000 crazy for him, Master 2024 of tennis, exploded! The Atp Finals closed in Turin with the triumph of the South Tyrolean world number one who beat the American Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 6-4, for the third time in three months. It was the expected epilogue of a perfect tournament, one victory after another without ever losing a set. Even in the final, his opponent never managed to find a key to overturn a sealed fate: Sinner only conceded one break point (at 5-4 in his own favour in the first set), cancelled with a heavy first serve. And it was his serve that was Jannik's strongest asset this evening: he served like we have never seen him serve, with 14 aces (only eight for Fritz) and 71% first serves.

The key moment in the first set was on 3-all, with the break scored on the fourth attempt with a magnificent short ball that sent the fans into raptures. The balance in the second set shifted even earlier, on 2:00, when Sinner led the way with one of his memorable backhand volleys, getting himself a break point, which he immediately converted. From there he only managed the continuation of the match, with Fritz in disarray. There was huge disappointment for the Californian, who had hoped for more after the double 6-4 loss in the round robin. Jannik ran to embrace the celebrating team, overwhelmed by the olés of the crowd that loves him unconditionally. The 23-year-old is the first Italian in history to win the Finals and he takes home the cheque for over $4.8 million and the 1,500 points (the expected spoils for the undefeated champion during the tournament) that further consolidates his ranking lead. He is also the third player in the Open Era to win Australian Open, Flushing Meadows and Atp Finals after Federer and Djokovic.

"It was a fantastic week. It's a very special moment, to win at home in front of your own public is really incredible. I'm happy with how I handled everything and I'm happy to share this success with the Italian fans," were his first words after the success.

Andrea Gaudenzi, president of the Atp, confirmed during the award ceremony the rumours that have been circulating for some time: the next five-year Finals (2026-2030) will still be played in Italy. The question of a possible relay between Turin (two more years) and Milan (the next three) remains open. The Piedmontese city is naturally aiming at the en plein, after the success of this season, the organisational capacity and integration with the city fabric demonstrated and recognised (Fitp president Angelo Binaghi explicitly said that he had 'found nothing in Italy in the last 25 years' similar to the Turin system). For Milan, it would be an important bet, and in addition, the event would benefit from a larger 16,000-seat stadium, planned for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.

The time for Sinner to savour the title is not long in coming: next Thursday, 21 November, at 5 p.m., the Italian team will be on court in Malaga against Argentina for the final round of the Davis Cup. The call-up of Matteo Berrettini, Simone Bolelli, Lorenzo Musetti (who will play singles together with Jannik) and Andrea Vavassori has been made official. Argentina can count on three singles players Francisco Cerundolo, Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Sebastian Baez and the doubles pair Andres Molteni and Maximo Gonzalez. Whoever gets through the round will face the winner of US-Australia. Tomorrow, 18 November, meanwhile, the Italian women's team led by Tathiana Garbin will take the court against Poland in the semifinals of the Billie Jean King cup.