“Fellow journalists, we would like to remind you that the tournament has been called the Nitto ATP Finals since 2017, not the Masters or the World Tour Finals. We would appreciate the use of the correct terminology.” On Friday, a few hours before the opening match between Daniil Medvedev y Taylor Fritz (this Sunday, at 2:00 p.m., Movistar), the ATP sent a message to all accredited media to remember the name of the tournament. The name of the tournament! A problem from the foundations.
The Nitto ATP Finals, which were previously the World Tour Finals, the Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP Tour World Championship or the Masters Grand Prix and which in Spain has always been the Masters Cup, is a competition that carries a paradox. Only the eight best tennis players play and the ‘big’ matches are guaranteed, but year after year it is losing importance compared to the Grand Slams. If there was a time when it was called “the big fifth”, that is already past. Because?
“There are too many tournaments”
“Lately tennis is losing certain things because the calendar is saturated. There are too many tournaments, too many demands, too many injuries. Before in tennis we did not have so much physical load and most of us arrived well at the Masters. Now the season is much harder and in There are worse matches at the Masters,” he analyzes to EL MUNDO Manuel Orantesone of the two Spaniards who have won the tournament. It was in the seventh edition, in 1976, after winning the final against the Pole Wojciech Fibak in a comeback that he predicted Anne Buydensthe woman of Kirk Douglas.
“The tournament was in Houston and in the final the couple was in the stands, right behind my bench. During a break, when I was down a set, they interviewed them and Douglas said that it was difficult for him. She, on the other hand, remembered that I had already come back in the final of the US Open and he commented that I could still win. I heard it and I made a gesture, it gave me a lot of morale. A few months later they invited me to have breakfast at their house in Palm Springs,” Orantes remembers that he didn’t. , is not accompanied by Rafa Nadal in tournament history. The best Spanish tennis player in history played in the Masters Cup eleven times and never won. In fact, they only reached the final twice, in 2010 and 2013, with losses against Roger Federer y Novak Djokovic.
“Always on the fast track”
“Perhaps that is why in Spain we do not give so much importance to the tournament, in the United States and other countries the Masters is still important, but it is true that the Grand Slams have grown much more. For me, a problem is that it is always played on the court “These matches so marked by the serve do not generate fans. I understand that it is indoor, but the surface should change. How many Masters would Nadal have won on clay?” he adds. Alex Corretjathe other Spanish champion.
In his case it was in 1998, in a final against Carlos Moyàand after a victory in the semifinals against the great favorite, Pete Sampras. Between 1991 and 1999, the American won five times, a record they could only surpass after Novak Djokovic (seven) and Roger Federer (six). In recent years there have been surprises with champions such as Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev or Stefanos Tsitsipas and finalists such as David Goffin, Dominic Thiem or Casper Ruud. “It is a tournament to which almost everyone arrives physically crushed, psychologically exhausted. When I was growing up the Masters had an aura because it was always played at Madison Square Garden in New York and they won McEnroe, Borg o Lendl. Now he has lost weight,” adds Corretja, who these days will serve as a commentator for the tournament for Movistar.
Alcaraz options
In his opinion, “Sinner arrives a little above the rest and Zverev will also be dangerous because he arrives on a good streak, after having been champion of the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000. Alcaraz will depend on how he feels on such a fast surface, how he serves, how he moves.”
The format of the Masters Cup, with a group stage, semi-finals and final, usually allows for a slip-up and that is why the Spaniard’s chances are high. A tennis player has fallen in their group, Ruudsunk in a deep bad streak – only eight games won since Roland Garros -, and another, Rublevwho suffers physical problems, and the passage to the semi-finals should not stretch him to the limit. There you could meet Sinner, although it is more likely that Medvedev or even Fritz will appear. In reality, with his debut tomorrow against Ruud (2:00 p.m., Movistar), the greatest requirement could be to endure five games in seven days against the best in the world. If he achieves it, he would be the third Spaniard to win the Masters Cup, or the Nitto ATP Finals, or whatever it is called.