ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner as Ivan Lendl

ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner as Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl, a finalist in what was then called the Masters from 1980 to 1988, had so far been the only one to win the last tournament of the year on the men’s professional circuit without losing a set between round robin, semifinals and final.

This year in Turin Jannik Sinner equaled the Ostrava champion: five matches, ten sets won and not a single set lost. Lendl succeeded in 1986 at Madison Square Garden in New York, when the tournament finally assumed its current format.

However at that time the finals were played best of five sets, so Ivan the Terrible of sets won as many as eleven, beating Boris Becker in the last match with a triple 6-4.

Many, therefore, are the similarities with this year’s tournament won by Sinner, who because of the formula of the final handed “only” a double 6-4 to Taylor Fritz, moreover replicating exactly the same score inflicted on the American in the round robin.