[ad_1]
As last year counts Stefanos Tsitsipas he is not one of the biggest favorites before the start of the ATP Finals in London. Can the Greek defending champion surprise in 2020?
by Jens Huiber
Last edit: November 14, 2020, 4:00 pm
© GEPA Images
Yes, Stefanos Tsitsipas’ results in the run-up to the ATP Finals may have been a bit better in 2019 than this year. Last season the Greek reached the semi-finals of Basel (loss to Roger Federer) and the quarterfinals of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy, where he lost to Novak Djokovic. In the current campaign, the final came in Vienna in the second round against Grigor Dimitrov, in Paris it ended after the first match after a wild match against Ugo Humbert.
Tsitsipas enters the last big climax of the tennis year without much momentum, especially in Vienna, he didn’t seem to be in shape either. The defending champion is not to be underestimated in any way. On big occasions, Tsitsipas can often pick up speed, see, for example, the two encounters with Andrey Rublev this fall: while Tsitsipas let the tournament win slip through his fingers after taking the lead in the third set in Hamburg, he made Roland Garros into the quarterfinals. turn the tables. And he defeated Rublev, whom he will face in London in the group stage, in three sets.
Tsitsipas 2020 never against Thiem or Nadal
But Tsitsipas will start at London’s O2 Arena against Dominic Thiem, his last opponent of 2019. There have been seven matches between the two so far, on Sunday at 3pm (live on Sky and on our live ticker) Tsitsipas could balance the equilibrium. The abbreviated 2020 year means Thiem and Tsitsipas haven’t faced each other since that three-sentence crime thriller in November 2019.
Even against his third group opponent Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas has not played a match this year, the only match against Alexander Zverev was played at the ATP Cup. Besides Rublev, only Novak Djokovic was able to try Tsitsipas more than once. Successfully. Djokovic won both games in the final in Dubai and in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
This is one of the difficult side effects of the COVID-19 situation, Tsitsipas explained during his press conference on media day in London on Friday. Tennis fans fell for a lot of good matches in 2020.
Federer lost in early 2019
Starting Sunday, the cards will be shuffled for the last time this season. An initial defeat doesn’t have to be a drama. For example, Roger Federer lost to Dominic Thiem in 2019, but still made it to the semi-finals. And Tsitsipas also had to digest a bankruptcy en route to the title. However, he arrived in the third and for him the group match against Rafael Nadal no longer made sense.
The last two defending champions did it differently in the ATP Finals: Grigor Dimitrov, a winner at London 2017, failed to qualify for the end of the year the following year. Alexander Zverev, who won at the O2 Arena in 2018, only failed in the semifinals against Dominic Thiem the following year.
Don’t miss any news!
Enable notifications:
Tsitsipas Stefanos