Medvedev against the stands
The draw for the Final Tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals took place in Turin, in which the eight strongest tennis players of 2021 participate.
Among them are two Russians - Daniil Medvedev and Andrei Rublev.
The second and fifth rackets of the world by the will of the lot fell into different groups, which means they can play with each other not earlier than the semifinals.
Medvedev led the red group, which also included German Alexander Zverev, Italian Matteo Berrettini and Pole Hubert Hurkach.
In the green group, in addition to Rublev, the first racket of the world is Serb Novak Djokovic, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas and Norwegian Kasper Ruud.
In the group stage, each athlete will play three matches, and then the semi-finals will take place, where the winner of one group will meet with an opponent who took second place in the other - and vice versa.
President of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpishchev believes that now Rublev is not in the best shape, but he will be able to compete for a ticket to the playoffs.
“The groups turned out to be very equal.
As for Rublev, he is tired.
Andrei never recovered after the Kremlin Cup in terms of nerves.
And a lot always depends on them.
Djokovic in their group looks the most skillful of all, and with Tsitsipas and Ruud you can play on equal terms and fight.
I repeat, the main thing is nerves, ”Tarpischev said to the Championship.
The long-term captain of the national team in Medvedev is much more confident.
In his opinion, his recent performance at the Masters in Paris showed that he is now well prepared.
“As for Daniel's group, it will be a little easier for him.
He was gaining shape evenly and played very well with Djokovic in the final of the Paris Masters.
In relation to Dani, the degree of fatigue will play a very important role.
The group is also very smooth and interesting, ”added the specialist.
The first opponent of the Russian will be the ninth racket of the world Hubert Hurkach.
They will play on Sunday.
Tennis players have met each other only twice, and both times this year.
First, the Pole was stronger than Medvedev at Wimbledon, and then at the Masters in Toronto, the Russian took a convincing revenge.
The match in Canada was played on hard, and in Turin the tennis players will play on the same surface, with the only difference that the stadium will be closed.
Hard is Medvedev's favorite cover, which is convincingly confirmed by his recent results, but Khurkach also demonstrates excellent play on it. So, he almost knocked Djokovic out of the aforementioned tournament in Paris - the Serb barely pulled out the tie-break match of the third set. So the meeting with the newcomer of the Final Championship is unlikely to be an easy walk for Daniel, especially since he can really be a little tired after the final in Paris. Daniel arrived in Turin literally on the day of the draw by car and upon arrival posted on Instagram a photo of him lying exhausted on the couch, with the caption: "This is how I look after four hours of driving."
The score of personal meetings between Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, another opponent in the red group, is equal to 5: 5.
But the Russian has a slight advantage in matches on hard indoors - 3: 2.
The last time they played against each other was just a week ago - and the second racket of the world won confidently in two sets.
This was the fourth consecutive victory of a Russian over Zverev since 2019.
With Italian Matteo Berrettini, he met twice and in both cases took over.
But in the coming week, the Italian will play with the support of his fans, and Daniel has a difficult relationship with the noisy fans.
Everyone remembers how in 2019 at the US Open he showed the fans who actively supported his opponent an indecent gesture, for which he was forced to pay a fine.
And last week in Paris, he portrayed the raging tribunes of the "elephant", twisting the pockets of his shorts and waving them like big ears.
However, all these antics and gestures are Medvedev's psychological protection, which does not allow him to break down under the pressure of the crowd.
The first meeting of Rublev with Djokovic
Surprisingly, but Rublev never met with Novak Djokovic, so the match with him will be doubly difficult.
The first racket of the world this season is simply unstoppable, and in order to snatch victory from him, any tennis player in the group will have to jump over his head.
Taking this into account, the opening match, which he will play against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday, is of particular importance for Andrey in terms of tournament prospects.
The Greek performed quite brightly this season: he played in the semifinals and finals of several "Masters", and in April in Monte Carlo he won the title, defeating Rublyov in the decisive match.
In addition, in 2019, he already won the final ATP championship.
The account of personal meetings between the Russian and the Greek is not yet in favor of the first - 3: 4.
However, in their last match on hard indoors - at the tournament in Rotterdam this year - it was Rublev who was stronger.
Adding points to him is the fact that Tsitsipas withdrew from the last "Masters" a week earlier due to an aggravated hand injury, and it is not yet clear whether he is ready to play in full force in Turin.
In matches with another newcomer of the final tournament, Kasper Ruud, Andrey has a total superiority - 4: 0.
However, they played mainly on clay, and only once - on hard.
Thus, the chances of Rublev to take the second line of the table and reach the semifinals are quite high.
Djokovic, if you rely on the statistics of personal meetings, at the group stage there is nothing to fear.
He won against Tsitsipas six times with only two defeats.
In closed arenas, the last time they met was already in 2019, and the Serb won an easy victory in two sets.
His paths crossed with Kasper Ruud only once - last year they met in the semifinals of the tournament in Rome.
Djokovic also confidently won two sets.