Jannik Sinner, number four in the ranking at the age of 22, has reconnected the Italian people to the sport of tennis. Not since the times of Nicola Pietrangeli (1960s) and Adriano Panatta (1970s) has anything like this been seen.

A country that lives by and for football has its sights set on the ATP Finals in Turin at the moment.

In the capital of the Piedmont region there is a festive atmosphere with Sinner’s qualification for the final of the ATP Finals.

The Italian, the only unbeaten player in the tournament and with earnings of $2,600,500, equivalent to winning a Grand Slam, beat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1 in 2 hours and 29 minutes on Saturday.

He is just dusting off the Italian tennis history books. He is the local player with the most matches won in a single season in the Open Era (61), the first to be a Masters semi-finalist and now a pioneer in fighting for the Masters title. No one has won more indoors in 2023: 17 wins and just one loss with Medvedev in the Rotterdam final.

Sinner, limping with a bad back since the third game of the round robin with Holger Rune, had to save a first break ball in the third game.

He took all the pressure off himself with a break immediately afterwards. The first six matchups between the two fell on the Russian side and the last three were for the transalpine. Before Turin he won the finals in Beijing and Vienna.

He awaits the winner of the second semi-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic tonight at 21.00 with 1000 points in his pocket.

The balance between the two players was maintained in the second set. They imposed their serve on one another.

The Russian had his chance with a break point at 4-3. His opponent decided to take a gamble by going for the net-serve and it worked out well. The match went to sudden death.

Medvedev levelled things but he felt something in his leg and had to be treated in the locker room. In the restart he was not the same.

Medvedev, one less opponent

Daniil’s defeat eliminates him from the race for first in Masters 1000 and ATP Finals points. There is a $20 million bonus to be shared among the top 30. The leader of that ranking is Alcaraz and could only be overtaken by Sinner if the Spaniard falls to Djokovic and the Italian is crowned on the fast surface in Turin.

It is worth remembering that Medvedev did take the highest bonus ($600,000) as he was the best performer in the 500 category tournaments. Sinner was second with a purse of $300,000 and Carlitos, third, with a prize of $200,000.