There are silver linings, and then there is Jannik Sinner. When Italy’s Matteo Berrettini was forced to pull out of the ATP Finals in Turin after suffering an injury in his red group opener against Alexander Zverev, Sinner’s introduction as first alternate had an almost consolatory feel. You lose Italy’s first Wimbledon finalist since 1961, you gain the next best thing, a rising 20-year-old from the northern Italian market town of San Candido widely tipped as a future world No 1.
Yet Sinner has been so much more than a salve to the wounded hopes of a proud tennis nation. Having delighted the raucously partisan Turin crowd by humbling Hubert Hurkacz to give himself an outside chance of making the semi-finals, Sinner came within a point of taking down Daniil Medvedev, the defending champion, in a 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (10-8) defeat that was as bizarre as it was entertaining.
It was a contest that at once meant everything and nothing. Sinner’s hopes of progressing were dashed before a ball had been struck, Zverev’s 6-2, 6-4 win over Hurkacz in the afternoon session ensuring that the German would join Medvedev – already though by virtue of winning his opening two matches – as the second qualifier from red group. While the intention was doubtless to ensure an Italian presence in the primetime evening slot, it was a strange piece of scheduling, one that effectively rendered the result meaningless. Yet no match is ever meaningless to Medvedev, who hates to lose at the best of times and will have been particularly disinclined to do so in front of a hostile crowd that, having greeted Sinner with thunderous applause, met his own entrance into the Pala Alpitour with stony silence.
The quirky Russian traditionally thrives in such circumstances, and for 26 minutes he kept the locals quiet with a flawless exhibition of shot-making, pocketing the opening set 6-0 to ensure the crowd had nothing to cheer about. Then things got interesting. An early break gave Sinner the platform for a 3-1 lead, the naturally introverted Italian harnessing the energy in the arena with a combination of inspired shot-making and slightly apologetic fist-raising. Medvedev, unaccustomed to the indignity of dropping his serve in the ultra-quick conditions, hit back immediately, establishing a metronomic rhythm from the baseline to capitalise on some sloppy play from Sinner. But the Italian now had a foothold in the contest, and when he edged the second-set tiebreak, drawing an error from Medvedev at the net to create a set point that he took with a penetrating forehand approach shot, the Russian – who subsequently fell 4-2 behind in the decider – was presented with a quandary.
“It was definitely a tough match already, before the match,” said Medvedev, who will play either Casper Ruud or Andrey Rublev in the last four. “You know the match is dead, but still before you want to win, you want to keep the momentum. At the same time, you definitely don’t want to go three hours thirty and break your body before [the semi-finals on] Saturday.
“I don’t like to lose, so it’s very tough for me, like in the third set when I was down, I definitely didn’t play the way I play usually, because I just couldn’t afford to run any more from corner to corner. So I just went for it more. If I completely wanted to leave earlier and leave the match, the score would be different than it is finally. It’s tough for me to talk about mentality or something like this, because it would be different nerves, different adrenaline going if this match would be, for example, who is going out of the group.”
It all came down to a final-set tiebreak in which Sinner, showing boldness and intelligence in equal measure as he recovered from 5-3 down with a counterintuitive barrage of drives into Medvedev’s stronger backhand side, fashioned a first match point at 6-5. Medvedev averted the crisis in typically audacious fashion, blasting an unreturnable second serve down the centre. The Russian saved another match point at 8-7, slamming a forehand drive volley for a winner, before firing a signature backhand winner down the line to complete the win in two hours and 30 minutes.
“There were moments where he was not missing any ball, and I tried to find a solution somehow,” said Sinner. “Then after, I took a little bit more time, trying to understand how to play against him. Then I found a solution. Obviously, there were some moments where I was a little bit unlucky, but, you know, he’s No 2 in the world and he played an unbelievable match today also. “I tried my best, and obviously the atmosphere here helped me a lot. I think it was a great match. Obviously it was not the way I want to end it, but I think I can be proud after the first set like this. I found a solution, which was the best thing I could do.”