That's a Wrap - 2021

Nitto ATP Finals,
Turin, Italy
November 14-21, 2021

Mole Antonelli

An architectural landmark of the city of Turin, it was initially conceived as a synagogue, before being bought by the Municipality of Turin and made into a monument to national unity. Planned and begun by architect Alessandro Antonelli in 1863, it was only completed in 1889. With a height of 167.5 metres, it was the tallest brick building in Europe at the time.

The Players - Singles

It's that time of the year - when the tennis world celebrates the eight best qualified singles players and doubles teams to close out the 2021 season. While the finals is the year end climax to the ATP Tour Season, it also marks a kind of offical end to 2021 tennis.  They lost, they won, they hurt, they cried, they cussed, they laughed, they argued.......yet here they are eagerly waiting for the last hurrah!  Go boys!

"The prestigious tournament has been contested in major cities around the world, with a rich history dating back to the birth of The Masters in Tokyo (1970).” (ATP website)

The tournament provides substantial ranking points. Each round-robin win means 200 points per match, and an undefeated champion would receive 1500 points.

While we get ready to eagerly (at least for me) say good bye to 2021 our team of 8 singles players represent this fundamental truth about time - the new and the young are always knocking on the door, always eager to show that "Hey we can do that too." Yeah? Not so fast says the veteran on the tour - Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic has already clinched the Year End #1 for the 7th time and now he sets his sights on winning his 6th ATP Finals Title.  Will he be allowed to accomplish this?  They young uns won't make it easy for him.

Most titles: Roger Federer with 6. (If Novak Djokovic wins this year he will tie the record.)

Surface: Hard indoor

Draw: Singles 8, doubles 8

2020 Champ: Daniil Medvedev “Medvedev is the defending champion after last year claiming the title with a perfect 5-0 record, including a historic hat-trick of wins over the world's Top 3 players (Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem), a first in the 50-year history of the event.” (ATP website)

Green Group:

Novak Djokovic

Stefanos Tsitsipas (2019 champ)

Andrey Rublev

Casper Ruud

Red Group:

Daniil Medvedev

Alexander Zverev (2018 champ)

Matteo Berrettini

Hubert Hurkacz

Alternates: Jannik Sinner, Cameron Norrie

Draw

OOP

On the banks of the River Po

The Players - Doubles

Five players competing have lifted the trophy before, with Herbert and Mahut the only pair to do so together (2019). Granollers was victorious with Marc Lopez in 2012, Tecau triumphed alongside Jean-Julien Rojer in 2015 and Mektic earned the crown with Wesley Koolhof last year.

Mektic and Pavic, who have claimed nine tour-level titles this season, clinched the year-end No. 1 FedEx ATP Doubles Team Ranking last week. This is their first year competing as a duo.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nitto-atp-finals-2021-doubles-groups-announced 

Green Group:

Nikola Mektic / Mate Pavic

Marcel Granollers / Horacio Zeballos
Ivan Dodig / Filip Polasek
Kevin Krawietz / Horia Tecau

Red Group
Rajeev Ram / Joe Salisbury
Juan Sebastian Cabal / Robert Farah
Jamie Murray / Bruno Soares
Pierre-Hughes Herbert / Nicolas Mahut

Appreciate you Shirley.  Thank you.