Friday is the last day of the group stage. On the sixth day, one step away from the semifinals, the last matches of the green group in doubles and the red group in singles will be played: the day on which the verdicts will be decided, for both tournaments.
As usual, the first match is the confrontation between the doubles players: starting at 11:00 am, the world number ones Koolhof-Skupski, awarded as Alcaraz for having finished the year at the top of the classification, they will face Dodig-Krajicek, who have yet to have any success at the start of the week in Turin.
Not before 2:00 p.m., the first singles match is a challenge between Slam champions: Novak Djokovic against Daniil Medvedev. In a match that says nothing about the subject of qualifying, given that the Serb is already in the semi-finals while the Russian is already out, the two meet again after the great semi-final played in Astana, which ended with the withdrawal , by surprise, of the Muscovite tennis player.
It will be the 12th meeting between the two, with the 21-time Slam champion ahead with seven wins to the Us Open winner’s four. Djokovic will fight to maintain his unbeaten streak; Medvedev for avoiding ending the year with three consecutive losses in the same tournament.
Not before 18:30, the doubles match returns with the Slam champions of the last Australian Open, Kokkinakis-Kyrgios, against the Olympic champions Mektic-Pavic, undefeated in the round. For the Aussies it’s the qualifying match, also looking at what the previous doubles match will say.
Despite saying that he wants to go home, Kyrgios is doing his best to qualify for this final tournament of the season.
Jim Courier comments on Djokovic
On the Inside-In podcast, former World No. 1 Jim Courier compared the longevity of Novak Djokovic to NFL legend Tom Brady’s and revealed that Djokovic was not an average 35-year-old.
“So it looks like he has all of his options again and his 35-year-old body is not the average 35-year-old body and I could easily see him playing for Tom Brady like years,” said Courier. “I’m really excited about him and as fans is that he’s started to hit that kick serve again which had disappeared after the elbow surgery.
So that’s another part of his arsenal that he can bring in and get people off the ad court where he’d been largely just hitting more body serve and slice serves to seemingly protect his elbows,” Jim Courier added.
