The draw for the ATP Finals took place in Turin.
Eight of the strongest tennis players were selected for it at the end of the season.
At the same time, for the first time in 22 years, two Russians will take part in the competition at once - Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev.
The last time this happened was in 2000: then Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin fought for the trophy.
Not without losses on the eve of the tournament.
One of the first tickets to Italy was earned by the world ranking leader Carlos Alcaras, but the Spaniard was injured at the Masters in Paris and was forced to finish the season ahead of schedule.
His place was taken by the American Taylor Fritz, who does not look as formidable as the 19-year-old child prodigy who managed to win the US Open and four more titles this season.
However, one of the Russians will be able to meet with Fritz not earlier than the semi-finals, since Andrei and Daniel got into different groups with him.
According to the regulations, the athletes are divided into two quartets, in each a round-robin tournament is held, and then the two strongest tennis players from each four go through.
With the draw, Rublev and Medvedev were frankly unlucky.
Not only that, in the first match, November 14, they must play against each other.
For a place in the semi-finals, they also fight with Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Both rivals are very inconvenient for domestic athletes.
The Serb met with Medvedev 11 times, and only four confrontations remained with Daniil.
The last time they played in Astana.
Then the Russian was close to victory, but in the second set he got injured and did not continue the fight.
Now he has already gained form and even after the injury he won the title in Vienna.
However, Novak is also in good shape: he reached the final of the last Masters this year in Paris.
Rubleva went to court with Djokovic twice in his career, and even took the upper hand once: in the spring at a tournament in Serbia.
True, at that moment the opponent was not in the best shape, because he missed two Masters in the USA due to his refusal to be vaccinated.
And after a long pause, it is usually difficult for tennis players to immediately catch the game tone.
No less unpleasant opponent and Tsitsipas.
In the case of Medvedev, the statistics of head-to-head meetings are on the side of the Russian 7:3, but recently the athletes have been beating each other in turn, and the matches are very stubborn.
Stefanos and Andrey have a completely different story.
This will be the 11th full-time confrontation between tennis players who are well known from youth tournaments.
So far, a slight advantage in favor of the Greek - 6:4 in terms of the number of victories.
However, something else is worrying.
The last time in Astana, Tsitsipas admitted that he had studied Rublev well and that he had tactics for playing with the Russian.
It worked in Kazakhstan, as it did in Spain this spring.
Therefore, Andrei clearly needs to come up with new ways to neutralize the opponent.
Another interesting fact: three tennis players from the red group won the ATP Finals at once.
Only Rublev did not win the title, who takes part in it for the third time in his career.
Therefore, it is not surprising that experts have already dubbed the quartet the "group of death."
According to the head of the RTF, Shamil Tarpishchev, it is difficult to guess who will make it to the semi-finals.
“There will be tense matches for everyone, it is pointless to make predictions.
It is important for Medvedev and Rublev to prepare well, but the group is very difficult for everyone, ”TASS specialist quotes.
Roland Garros semi-finalist Andrei Chesnokov is also pessimistic.
In his opinion, it is wrong that the Russians fell into one group.
“For me, the favorite is definitely Djokovic.
I think the rest have played many times against each other, and there is always intrigue in their matches.
I did not want to see Medvedev and Rublev in the same group.
I would be more interested if they were different.
Because two Russians in the same group - I don’t know who to root for anymore.
If both leave the group, there will be a sensation.
If someone is alone - in the order of things.
And if none of ours leaves the group, then this means that Tsitsipas and Djokovic are in very good shape, and our guys are already tired of the season, ”Championship” quotes Chesnokov as saying.
The green group included athletes who have never won the final ATP tournament: Rafael Nadal, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Kasper Ruud.
Here the Spaniard looks like a clear favorite.
However, a lot will depend on whether he managed to get in shape in a week.
Since the tennis player played at the Masters in Paris after a pause caused by an injury, and in the very first match he could not cope with the 30th racket of the world, Tommy Paul.
In Turin, the "King of the Ground" will have to fight with much more serious opponents.
But he also has a lot of motivation.
The athlete has already stated that this final ATP tournament could be his last in his career.
And Rafa, for sure, wants to win it at least once.
The rest of the tennis players in the green group are approximately equal in strength.
Moreover, they almost did not intersect with each other.
Fritz only once defeated Auger-Aliassime.
Not in favor of the Canadian and the statistics of personal meetings with Ruud - 1:2.
Kasper and Taylor have never determined the strongest on the court at all.