DJOKOVIC FAVOURITE FOR ‘THE BEST OF BEST'

ATP Finals competitors say they will play through their tiredness after gruelling season

TURIN • Winning on the ATP Tour means surviving perpetual battles of endurance inside a war of attrition. Relentless baseline rallies lead to longer and more draining matches in a season that runs nearly the whole year.

There was additional concern that, after the Covid-shortened 2020 season, this term’s schedule might take an even greater toll as players get back into shape.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem were sidelined by injuries and, at the Paris Masters last week, Stefanos Tsitsipas retired with a nagging arm injury.

He said he dropped out to preserve his shot at an even bigger prize, the year-end ATP Finals, which starts today.

The Finals, which moves this year to Turin, Italy from London, is what the game’s elite have been grinding to reach. It has the game’s top eight players split into two groups of four in a round-robin format, before two from each half advance to the semi-finals. Paul Annacone, who coached

Pete Sampras and Federer and is a Tennis Channel analyst believes players will always aim to make it to the ATP Finals to feel a sense of accomplishment, no matter how tedious the season gets.