A new champion will be known at the Nitto ATP Finals | Nitto ATP Finals

The final of the US Open will now also be that of the Nitto ATP Finals 2024. Two months ago the Italian Jannik Sinner won and now Taylor Fritz will try to get revenge. The truth is that, like the most recent edition in Flushing Meadows, this year’s end-of-season tournament will have an unprecedented champion.

Twelve months ago, the Italian became the first player from his country to advance to the final of the Nitto ATP Finals, leaving him one victory away from being the third man this century to win this event as a local (also Lleyton Hewitt in 2001 and Andy Murray in 2016). However, Novak Djokovic stood in his way by beating him on the final day.

Twelve months later, Sinner has returned to the same stage. With a 4-0 record this week, he has qualified for the final duel against a player he beat days ago in straight sets, and will want to avoid repeating the history of 2023 when he fell in the championship match with one of his victims in the group stage.

“It is a very similar situation to last year. I’ll just try to play the best I can,” Sinner said after beating Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. “From last year until now I feel like I have more experience and I’ve grown as a player. I hope it will be a Good day after a very positive week and year.”

It doesn’t promise to be as easy as many think, perhaps based on the fact that Sinner leads his Lexus ATP HeadToHead 3-1 with Fritz. The main reason is that the American comes from beating Alexander Zverev, who before Saturday had won all the sets and all the service games he had played in the week.

Thanks to this triumph, Fritz became the first for his country in a tournament final since James Blake in 2006, and guaranteed to appear at No. 4 in the world since Monday, the highest of his career in the PIF ATP Rankings. . Even if he wins the title, which would be the ninth of his career and the most important, he will appear in that position.

“At the US Open I felt like I was trying to stay in shape with my serve, stay alive, win points with strong shots or taking advantage of his mistakes. They were non-repeatable and consistent ways to win points,” Fritz said, reflecting on what he needs to do differently to win on Sunday.

“In the game we played here… I felt much more comfortable from the baseline. I had my opportunities in that game. I had opportunities to break serve in both sets. He had the same number of opportunities and took advantage of them. “He played the important points better than me in the group stage match.”

If he gets revenge, he would achieve the biggest win of his career, and would leave his record against players at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings at 1-10.

If it is Sinner who enforces his favoritism by ranking and by moment, he would reach 18 titles in his career and would conquer another category that until now has been elusive, since he has already established himself at the level of Grand Slam, Masters 1000, ATP 500, ATP 250 and Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.

In addition, he would reach 260 wins in his career on the ATP Tour, and 70 wins in 2024 and would become the player with the most wins of the season.