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A rivalry that was born across late-round Wimbledon meetings in 2022 and 2023 hit new heights with three showdowns in quick succession at the end of this season.

Novak Djokovic lost a LexusATP Head2Head meeting with Jannik Sinner for the first time in the round-robin stage of the Nitto ATP Finals, but that was only the beginning of their end-of-season battles. Read on to relive the pair's four memorable matches this season — or five, if you include their decisive Davis Cup doubles rubber in Malaga.

[SWEEPSTAKES]

Wimbledon SFs, Djokovic d. Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4)
One year after Djokovic beat Sinner in the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finals, the pair met one round later at the All England Club. The Serbian produced a great escape to beat Sinner in 2022, fighting back from two sets down, but he was in command from the beginning on this occasion.

The match was not without its fair share of drama, as Djokovic saved all six break points against him, including two that doubled as set points for Sinner in the third set.

Beaming from ear to ear, Hamad Medjedovic was proud of his achievements on Saturday in Jeddah, where he reflected on winning the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM title. The 20-year-old Serbian defeated Arthur Fils in the title match.

I feel amazing,” Medjedovic said in his post-match press conference. “It was unreal and still is. It was tough to process everything. It was a really tough match. I was on the edge of going crazy after the first set as I had two set points but I managed to stay relaxed and focused and it is an unreal feeling.”

Medjedovic is the sixth champion in the tournament’s history, a list that includes Top 10 stars Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The 20-year-old is delighted to join such elite company and hopes it will help him push on further in 2024 as he aims to break the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

“It means a lot. To know that all the great champions [won here], it gives you a lot of confidence and a boost for next season,” Medjedovic said. “I will be coming into next year with a lot of confidence.

“I have a big game and big shots but I still have a lot of things to work on with my coach. Physically I need to get much better and I will use preseason for this and I need to improve my focus on the court more.”

As he closes the books on his breakthrough 2023 season, French teen Arthur Fils is wasting little time in preparing to push even higher in 2024.

The 19-year-old, who finished runner-up to Hamad Medjedovic Saturday at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM in Jeddah, will remain in the Middle East for a practice week with Rafael Nadal at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Kuwait.

"I was very happy, very surprised when he asked me to practise with him," Fils said in his post-match press conference. "It's such a big thing for me to play with one of the greatest players of all time. I will try my best for him but I have a big season coming so I will also try my best for myself. I will try to enjoy it as well."

Despite the disappointment of losing in five sets to Medjedovic after saving two match points in the fourth set, Fils can be justifiably happy with his banner year in 2023. He shaved more than 200 places off his Pepperstone ATP Ranking during the year to finish inside the Top 40.

"It was a nice year for sure. I started at 250 but finished at 36, so that's pretty good. It still could have been better. I lost some close matches, like I did today, but it's just experience and I will try to do better next year.”

Fils, who had not won a tour-level match before this year, finishes 2023 with a 23-18 match record, including his 4-1 mark in Jeddah. He won his first title in Lyon and also reached the Antwerp final.

When Ammar Alhogbani stepped on court to take on Zhang Zhizhen at the Asian Games in September, it was more than just an opportunity for the Saudi Arabian to prove himself against a Top 100 player.

Despite falling to a 7-5, 6-2 defeat in Hangzhou, the 25-year-old Alhogbani’s performance against Chinese star Zhang made him realise he was ready to make a full-time return to professional tennis after time away working as National Teams Development Officer for the Saudi Tennis Federation.

“I played Zhang, and I almost took the first set,” the No. 1 Saudi player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings told ATPTour.com on Saturday in Jeddah. “I was like, ‘If I’m almost taking the first set against a guy like this, there is a good possibility I can do well with [full-time] training. I almost took the first set when I’m training three or four times a week and with no coach'.”

[ATP AWARDS]

Born in Saudi Arabia, Alhogbani and his family moved to the United States when he was three years old. After growing up in Ohio and then Virginia, he played college tennis at the University of Virginia, where he was part of a NCAA Championship-winning team in his first year. Due to a variety of reasons, however, Alhogbani’s playing career stalled after he graduated and returned to Saudi Arabia in 2021.

Hamad Medjedovic capped his breakthrough season by lifting the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM trophy on Saturday in Jeddah, where he recovered from squandering two match points in the fourth set against Arthur Fils to win the first five-set final in tournament history.

The 20-year-old played aggressively in front of a packed crowd in King Abdullah Sports City, where he received loud support from energetic fans. The Serbian took large cuts at the ball, won 88 per cent (61/69) of points on his first delivery and converted his third match point to fire past the 19-year-old Frenchman 3-4(6), 4-1, 4-2, 3-4(9), 4-1 after two hours and 11 minutes.

It also capped a great end of the season for Serbia after Novak Djokovic clinched a record seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown in Turin earlier this month. The World No. 1 has been sending Medjedovic messages of support this week.

"Two of us from Serbia. He won the big Masters, the real one, and I won the Next Gen. Obviously it's a huge thing and I'm happy to follow in his footsteps in some way," Medjedovic said.

Medjedovic did not lose a match en route to becoming the first Serbian to triumph at the tournament, taking home a tournament-record $514,000 in prize money.

The ATP and Tennis Data Innovations (TDI) will deliver unprecedented insights at the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM. Using state-of-the-art tracking metrics, the insights will assess the physical capacity required to compete at the highest professional level of our sport.

Read more to learn about Saturday's final in Jeddah.

Arthur Fils vs. Hamad Medjedovic

The road to the final has been a physical journey at times for Arthur Fils and Hamad Medjedovic. Both players have been pushed by their opponents physically and mentally. So, as the players and their teams are looking to put together the final touches on their game plan for Saturday’s match, here are a few key insights that have come through when looking at the tactical and physical data.

The on-court performance from both of these players during the course of the entire week has been extremely high. They have both done an amazing job of converting on the offense they have created with their easy power, staying in attack over 28% of all points played. Fils has been able to steal 34% of the points using a combination of his speed and power, whereas Medjedovic has been able to steal 33% of his points using mostly great anticipation and strength.

On average, the players are hitting their forehands over 80 MPH and their backhands over 70 MPH. Fils will tend to look for his forehand a little more, especially from the AD court, where Medjedovic is more balanced with his attack off the ground, settling for a few more backhands from the middle. They are both very comfortable spreading the court with their forehands to both sides of the court, and they love to finish with their forehands down the line (both of their #1 hot play).

The final chance for title glory of the 2023 ATP Tour season also represents an opportunity for Arthur Fils and Hamad Medjedovic to join an impressive list of champions at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM.

Top seed Fils and sixth seed Medjedovic face off at 8 p.m. local time Saturday at King Abdullah Sports City, where they are each hoping to join current Top 10 stars Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas as champions at the season-ending 21-and-under event.

Both players head into the championship match undefeated for the week in Saudi Arabia and their maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting promises to be an intriguing one. Despite Fils sitting 74 places higher than Medjedovic in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, the Frenchman will take nothing for granted against a player who has thrilled fans this week with his powerful groundstrokes and huge serving.

“We’ve known each other a long time,” said the World No. 36 Fils on Friday in Jeddah. “We played juniors together, so I know that he has an unbelievable serve. The fastest of the tournament. It’s going to be a tough one. I’m going to need to know exactly how to play, with good tactics, but I think that it’s going to be a good match for sure.

“With his tennis and my tennis, we are altogether playing [well]. Let’s see tomorrow, but he’s a nice guy. I hope he will be very good for the next generation [on Tour], but not tomorrow I hope.”

Hamad Medjedovic advanced to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM title match on Friday when Dominic Stricker was forced to retire in the second set due to a back injury in the pair's semi-final.

Medjedovic was leading Stricker 4-3(5), 2-1 when the Swiss walked to the net and ended the clash. The 20-year-old Medjedovic struck 12 winners and three unforced errors during the 32 minutes they were on court before the match came to an early close.

Medjedovic, who went 3-0 in the round-robin stage on debut in Jeddah, will face top seed Arthur Fils in the title match. Both are looking to become the sixth champions at the 21-and-under event, joining previous winners Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

In a heavy-hitting first set, both players took large cuts at the ball to try and dictate, with serve dominating on the fast courts. Medjedovic won 93 per cent (14/15) of his first-serve points in the opener with Stricker not losing a point behind his first delivery (11/11). With little to separate them, Medjedovic produced his best level in the tie-break, hitting through the Swiss lefty to lead.

The 20-year-old then earned an early break at the start of the second set before Stricker retired.

History is being made this week in Jeddah, where the first-ever ATP Tour sanctioned event on Saudi Arabian soil is taking place.

The top eight 21-and-under stars have been battling it out at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM, with fans coming from all corners of Saudi Arabia to catch a glimpse of the action at King Abdullah Sports City.

Ahmed Aljefri has travelled to London, New York and Miami in the past to watch his favourite players compete. Attending Saturday’s semi-finals with his family, the local fan is excited to watch the sport live in Saudi Arabia.

“It is a dream come true to have tennis here,” said Aljefri, who was cheering for Jordanian star Abdullah Shelbayh this week. “I have been a fan of tennis for more than 20 years, so it is great to see the ATP Tour here. It is great the Tour has a presence in Saudi Arabia and it is amazing it is in my hometown.

“Lots of people have been watching tennis here in the past 15 years, so to bring a permanent tournament here is great.”

Arthur Fils maintained his perfect record at this year’s Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM on Friday when he moved past countryman and close friend Luca Van Assche to reach the final in Jeddah.

The top seed Fils, 19, downed Van Assche 2-4, 4-1, 4-3(1), 4-3(6) after producing heavy-hitting and clean ball-striking for one hour, 37 minutes. The World No. 36 struck several monstrous forehands and was dominant on serve as the match wore on, winning 23 of his 24 first-serve points across the third and fourth sets. Fils booked his ticket to the final on his fourth match point and celebrated the victory by doing Cristiano Ronaldo's 'Siu' celebration.

"Today was a tough match against a great, great friend. We've known each other since we were nine, so it was a little bit tough and I'm happy with the win," Fils said on his on-court interview. "I came onto the court with the mindset that I can win. The first set was tough, he was playing very good and defending so well, running very fast. I kept my focus and I'm really happy about this win."

A key moment came in the third set when Fils held his nerve during a no-ad point at 2-3, which doubled as a set point for Van Assche. Fils then jumped to a 5/0 lead in the third-set tie-break, delivering a blow to Van Assche’s chances of ousting the top seed.

"I played every point trying everything with my forehand, moving very good. I was quite happy about that tie-break," Fils said.

Jannik Sinner has capped his breathtaking finish to his banner 2023 season by leading Italy to its first Davis Cup title since 1976 after defeating Australian Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 in Malaga on Sunday night.

After saving three match points to defeat World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-finals, Sinner converted the 1-0 lead provided by Matteo Arnaldi’s three-set win over Alexei Popyrin into a championship-clinching result with his crushing victory over De Minaur, whom he now leads 6-0 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Following the US Open, Sinner won 20 of his last 22 matches of the season, a run that included ATP 500 titles in Beijing and Vienna, and a runner-up finish in the Nitto ATP Finals to Djokovic, whom he beat in an epic three-setter in group play in Turin.

Sinner, 22, finishes the year with a personal-best 64-15 record on the season and at a year-end career-high No. 4 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings..

Earlier in the day Arnaldi gave Italy a 1-0 lead after staring down eight break points in the deciding set against Popyrin.

Dominic Stricker, Alex Michelsen and Abdullah Shelbayh were among the world’s leading 21-and-under players getting a different view of the press conference room at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM Sunday. Instead of sitting behind the microphone answering questions, players perched in media seats while taking a briefing on the signature rules and innovations in play at the tournament, which will run 28 November-2 December at Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City.

Stricker is the only member of the field who has played the event before, but even he will need to adapt to new conditions as the evolving event continues to serve as a testing ground for rule changes and innovation.

"No warm up will be interesting. Usually you have a few minutes to find your game, so this will be something different,” Stricker said.

"I like the new time rules with eight seconds between first and second serves and also 15 seconds between points when rallies are short. That's a good one because you can save a lot of time after those short points. Some players may think they need more time, but I feel it's a really good idea."

World No. 94 Alex Michelsen, who this time last year was around 600 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and celebrating Thanksgiving in California, said that he also was comfortable with the abbreviated time between first and second serves.

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM are set to debut in Jeddah this coming week, with eight of the game's brightest young stars in the field.

Frenchmen Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche, both 19, lead their respective round-robin groups, while Switzerland's Dominic Stricker returns to the innovative year-end event for the second straight year.

ATPTour.com breaks down five of the biggest storylines in Jeddah.

[SWEEPSTAKES]

1) Frenchmen In Front: The top-seeded Fils and second-seeded Van Assche will hope to live up to their billing in the Green Group and Red Group, respectively. Fils enters Jeddah at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of World No. 36, having followed a home-nation title in Lyon in May with a run to the Antwerp final last month. Van Assche won two ATP Challenger Tour singles title this season and travelled to Jeddah after two tournaments on home soil in Paris-Bercy and Metz.

The 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM begins on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, but first, the 21-and-under stars visited Al-Balad, the historic old town of Jeddah, for this year’s official group photo.

Ahead of the first ATP-sanctioned event to be held in Saudi Arabia, players took time to visit the historical sites in Al-Balad, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

“We've had a really fun time,” said 19-year-old American Alex Michelsen. “Everyone's been having a lot of laughs. People were great and to see the old city was really, really cool."

Jordanian Abdullah Shelbayh received a wild card for the event. The Arab star enjoyed spending time with his competitors in Jeddah, where the players spent time exploring the local markets.

“It was exciting to do this with the players, they are pretty funny guys,” Shelbayh said. “It was good to spend some time together outside of competition.”

The Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM's arrival in Jeddah is set to inspire a generation of young Saudi tennis enthusiasts — and not least those who will be just metres from the action next week at King Abdullah Sports City.

The first ATP-sanctioned event ever to be held in Saudi Arabia will take place from 28 November-2 December. It will be a historic moment for tennis in the Gulf nation and promises to be a particularly memorable one for the 19-strong team of ballkids, aged between 10 and 15, who will be on hand to help ensure the event runs smoothly.

“I’m really excited. I play tennis five or six times a week, so I had ballboy training a couple of times a week too,” ballboy Sulaiman Ashoor told ATPTour.com on Saturday in Jeddah. “I have seen live tennis before at a tournament in Riyadh. I saw Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem. It was really fun. I like seeing the players up close because if they can do it, it means I can do it.”

Sulaiman’s sister Tala Ashoor is one of six ballgirls on the team. A keen tennis fan and player like her brother, Tala is ready to relish the experience of being on court with some of the world’s best young professional players.

“I’m really excited, it’s my first time being a ballkid, but I’m also nervous,” said Tala, who was asked to take part in training for the event via her tennis coach. "The training was a lot, but it’s fun. My friends and family will come to watch when I am on court."

The world's leading 21-and-under players Saturday night learned their group fate for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM when the official draw was conducted in Jeddah.

Joining French top seed Arthur Fils, 19, in Green Group will be Dominic Stricker, Flavio Cobolli and Luca Nardi.

Fellow Frenchman Luca Van Assche, 19, heads Red Group, which will also feature Alex Michelsen, Hamad Medjedovic and Abdullah Shelbayh.

The Next Gen ATP Finals, the first ATP-sanctioned event ever to be held in Saudi Arabia, will be held 28 November-2 December at King Abdullah Sports City.

Green Group: Arthur Fils (1), Dominic Stricker (3), Flavio Cobolli (5), Luca Nardi (7).

Red Group: Luca Van Assche (2), Alex Michelsen (4), Hamad Medjedovic (6), Abdullah Shelbayh (8).

Less than a week after their meeting in the Nitto ATP Finals title match, Jannik Sinner scored swift revenge against Novak Djokovic on Saturday in the Davis Cup semi-finals.

In a 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 victory, the Italian saved three match points by escaping 0/40 at 4-5 in the final set and broke immediately after to seize control of the match in Malaga. Sinner's heroics keep Italy alive in the semi-final tie after Miomir Kecmanovic opened the day's play with a 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-1 victory against Lorenzo Musetti.

A decisive doubles rubber will now determine who meets Australia in Sunday's final.

'It was a roller coaster," Sinner said of his two-hour, 35-minute victory against the World No. 1. "I was starting off really well. Second set he played much better than me. Third set I tried to serve really well, and also on match points down I served well.

"Happy to still be in the competition. We were one point away from being out. Now we have a deciding doubles. We'll have to chat [to decide] who’s going to play. We will give our best shot against them. Let’s see what’s coming."

Dominic Stricker may have prior experience both of visiting Saudi Arabia and competing at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by NEOM, but the Swiss star was still impressed by his first visit to the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

Stricker stepped on court for his first practice session Saturday lunchtime in the Saudi coastal city, where the lefty hit with one of his fellow competitors at the 21-and-under event, Arthur Fils. The 21-year-old reached the semi-finals on his Next Gen ATP Finals debut in Milan in 2022 and is delighted to be back for a second campaign.

“It’s a great arena. It felt really good from the beginning onwards,” said Stricker after his practice. “I was at this event last year, so it’s great to come back. It’s a super event, everything is organised well. I arrived pretty late yesterday but had a great practice with Arthur.”

The lefty World No. 92 said he had settled quickly in Jeddah, where he will hope to cap a strong year during which he made his maiden fourth-round appearance at a major at the US Open and lifted two ATP Challenger Tour trophies.

“I’ve been here once before,” said Stricker of Saudi Arabia. “I was excited to come here again. I really liked it the time I was here before, so I hope I can enjoy my stay here. It’s my first time in this stadium, but it looks great and feels great. The court feels good, everything looks really good so far.”

Total distance is the foundational tracking metric for athletic performance defined by the overall quantity of work an athlete must undertake in order to excel at the highest levels of their sport.

Accumulating distance over the course of a match drains a competitor’s overall level of energy by fatiguing muscles and stressing the cardiovascular system. Within a tournament, total distance covered becomes most significant not on one specific day, but as a cumulative measure. For world-class athletes, handling high-distance loads in one match is not the primary challenge; rather, it’s the ability to sustain repeated exposure to high-distance matches in a condensed, one-week span and still produce peak performance.

Cumulative distance covered leading into semi-finals can be vastly different for two opponents. A disparity in the amount of distance covered in the previous rounds could result in an advantage for the fresher player. In 2021, Carlos Alcaraz came into the final having run close to 18 per cent less distance than Sebastian Korda. The following year the tables were turned for Brandon Nakashima. Nakashima came into the finals having run 19 per cent more distance in his first four matches than his opponent Jiri Lehecka.

In 2021, Lorenzo Musetti covered a distance of 2.48 km against Hugo Gaston, the most distance of any player in any match during the 21-and-under event in 2021. Gaston ran 2.28 km in the same match, the second-most distance of any match that year.

The Science Behind Workload in Tennis

Total distance is the primary metric that measures the overall volume of work by aggregating how much ground an athlete has covered. Mechanical workload is the secondary volume metric that aggregates the total amount of weighted accelerations and decelerations the athlete has performed. Using optical tracking systems, every instant of acceleration and deceleration performed by a player is categorised into one of three zones: low, medium or high.

Alex de Minaur has led Australia into its second consecutive Davis Cup final after dominating the serve of Finland's Emil Ruusuvuori in Malaga Friday.

De Minaur earned 18 break point opportunities during his 6-4, 6-3 win, converting five times and winning 48 per cent of his first-serve return points. He has now won four consecutive singles matches in the Davis Cup Finals.

The World No. 12's victory followed teammate Alexei Popyrin's 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Otto Virtanen. "Probably the biggest win of my career," Popyrin told DavisCup.com. "To win a match that means so much for us is an honour and something that I will never forget."

In Sunday's final Australia will play the winner of Serbia and Italy, a tie that will feature a rematch of the Nitto ATP Finals title match between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

Earlier this week Australia was in a big hole against the Czech Republic after Tomas Machac beat Jordan Thompson 6-4, 7-5 and Jiri Lehecka built a 6-4, 5-3 lead against de Minaur. But from deuce in his 3-5 service game, the 24-year-old won 10 straight points to turn the match on its head. After de Minaur claimed the comeback win, Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell clinched the deciding doubles rubber.