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Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury sealed a happy return to the Nitto ATP Finals on Monday in Turin.

The 2022 champions at the prestigious season finale overcame Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 6-3, 6-4 in their opening Red Group match. A single break in each set was enough for Ram and Salisbury to clinch a 61-minute triumph and extend their winning streak at the Pala Alpitour to six matches.

The fast court in Turin appeared tailor-made for Ram and Salisbury during their 2022 title run, and the American-British duo capitalised on the conditions expertly again on Monday with a high-class serving performance. They won 83 per cent (30/36) of points behind first deliveries and saved the only break point they faced at 1-2, 40/40 in the second set.

It was the second time this year that the teams had clashed on the big stage, after Ram and Salisbury also defeated Bopanna and Ebden in the US Open final in September. The American-British pair is aiming in Turin to become a tour-level champion for the fourth time this season, having also lifted trophies in Lyon and Vienna.

The third-seeded Bopanna and Ebden arrived in Italy having reached the championship match at their past three tournaments — the US Open, the Rolex Shanghai Masters, and the Rolex Paris Masters. India’s Bopanna is a two-time finalist at the Nitto ATP Finals, having reached that stage in London in 2012 and 2015.

Following his 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) defeat to Jannik Sinner on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, Novak Djokovic greeted the Italian home favourite with a warm embrace at the net. His goodwill continued in his post-match press conference, where he was full of praise for his opponent's play.

"You have to just congratulate him. He just played a fantastic match," the Serbian said. "That's what I told him at the net. I think in the most important moments, he played his best game and he absolutely deserved to win."

Djokovic was especially complimentary of Sinner's aggressive play during the crucial moments, with the Italian connecting on a flurry of big ground strokes during the close of the first and third sets.

"I think the main difference is that in the important points, he was going for it, he was more courageous," said the World No. 1. "He deserved to win because in important moments I wasn't aggressive enough, I wasn't decisive enough. I gave him the opportunity to take the control over the points."

While Djokovic could find little fault with his own game overall, he did take a lesson from the defeat.

With heavy backing from the Italian crowd at the Nitto ATP Finals, Jannik Sinner earned a dramatic victory against Novak Djokovic for his first Lexus ATP Head2Head win in four tries against the Serbian. The 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) result improved Sinner to 2-0 this week in Turin and put him in command of the Green Group — though his qualification for the knockout semi-final stage is not yet confirmed.

Djokovic spent much of the three-hour, nine-minute matchup battling back from behind, but he had no answer for Sinner's lightning start to the decisive tie-break. Long after he won nine straight points to snatch the opening set, breaking from 40/0 before a love hold, Sinner surged ahead in the final tie-break with five consecutive points, hitting huge ground strokes in the face of extreme pressure to build what proved to be an unassailable lead.

"It's part of the process. I feel that I'm a little bit more confident in certain moments in a match," Sinner said of his performance in the clutch moments. "I think I was really brave and intelligent in important moments, especially the third set. I felt like we were both serving really well so there were not so many exchanges, but when the exchanges were played we both played really well.

"That was a really high-level match."

In an eventful third set, Sinner led 4-2 — ripping a forehand return winner to break — but was pegged back immediately as Djokovic broke serve for the first time in the match. There would be no comeback in the tie-break, as Sinner sent the crowd to fever pitch with victory before receiving a warm embrace from his opponent at net.

With a unique atmosphere on the court and renowned food and culture off it, Italy is a firm favourite with plenty of ATP Tour stars.

Yet which aspects of the southern European country most appeal to the players in Turin this week for the Nitto ATP Finals? Be it food, films, or Formula 1, ATPTour.com sat down with some of the doubles teams in Green Group to find out…

What is your favourite on-court memory in Italy?
Ivan Dodig: To be honest I like one special word in Italy, when we are on court, how they are cheering for the players. They say, ‘Dai, dai, dai’. It's like we say in Croatia, ‘Idemo’. It's famous, whenever we go around Italy, I always hear that, especially when Italian players are playing.

Austin Krajicek: Last year in Florence we played a 250 leading up to here and the crowd support there was amazing. We played a couple of Italian teams in a row, and although the crowd was significantly against us, to hear how loud the stadium was when we lost a point and how pin drop quiet it was when we won a point was a pretty cool experience. It's cool to be in those atmospheres.

Edouard Roger-Vasselin: Maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I think the first time I brought my girlfriend at that time, who is my wife now, and we went to a Challenger in Italy together. I think it was the first time she came with me to a Challenger, and I made the final. It’s a good memory because it was one of the first times I made the final in a Challenger and my girlfriend was there, so we enjoyed the Italian style, the Italian culture the Italian food, obviously. It was a good memory.

Novak Djokovic might be the only athlete on the planet compared to both Spiderman and a brick wall.

The Serbian star contorts his body to reach balls in impossible positions and often sends it to the other side of the court as if he never moved at all. Djokovic’s combination of speed, flexibility and anticipation make him a nightmare for opponents to deal with.

The six-time Nitto ATP Finals champion is 36, but he does not move like it said former World No. 4 Greg Rusedski.

“I think people take a lot for granted of Novak and his career just because of being around during Federer and Nadal's era,” said Rusedski, who is in Turin commentating on the season finale for Amazon Prime. “I feel like Federer brought movement in tennis to one level and Djokovic has brought it to another level. And we've never seen a 36-year-old, at least in my generation or time I've been watching tennis, that has moved as well as Novak on a tennis court.”

It is not just experts who rave about Djokovic’s movement — his peers do, too. Holger Rune battled Djokovic for more than three hours on Sunday at the Pala Alpitour and in the aftermath of his loss, thought about his opponent’s game.

It promises to be a ferocious encounter. Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev, having lost their openers at the Nitto ATP Finals against Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev, respectively, will square off on Wednesday in a crucial match for their hopes to progress to the semi-finals of the season’s grand finale.

“Tomorrow is a new match,” Fernando Vicente, Rublev’s coach, told ATPTour.com. “I imagine both of them [Andrey and Carlos] will be thinking that they can win the next two matches, with desire and determination. As we all know, there is a round-robin format here, so everyone is still in it... We are hopeful we can win.”

[SWEEPSTAKES]

Despite the fact that they have shared practice sessions on the ATP Tour, Rublev and Alcaraz have never played each other — tomorrow will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head match.

“They both play a different style of tennis,” explained Vicente. “In our case, I think Andrey has to play his own game, what he normally does. There isn’t much to say in that regard. He will have to dominate from the baseline and be aggressive, as he plays when he’s on form.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the first confirmed semi-finalists at the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals.

The Spanish-Argentine duo defeated top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday evening in Turin to book their spot in the last four. They clinched a single break in each set to improve to 2-0 for the week at the Pala Alpitour and ensure their progress to the semi-finals at the prestigious season finale for the third time as a team (2020-21, 2023).

Granollers and Zeballos clinically converted both break points they earned to notch their 36th tour-level win of the year and improve to 6-7 as a team at the Nitto ATP Finals. Now 2-0 in Green Group, the fifth seeds are assured of a semi-final spot regardless of what happens in their third match against Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

Dodig and Krajicek were not without their chances in the first tour-level meeting on a hard court between the two teams. They carved out four break points in the first set, but were unable to convert any as Granollers and Zeballos held firm at key moments throughout the 87-minute encounter.

The Croatian-American duo Dodig and Krajieck, who lead the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings with a 39-14 record, enter their final match against Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Friday with a 1-1 record for the week. The match will be a shootout for second place in the group, with Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin also 1-1 after they beat Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni.

The Red Group returns to the court on Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev will meet in the afternoon followed by an evening installment of the long-running Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexander Zverev rivalry.

It will be a maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between Alcaraz and Rublev, who will both seek to bounce back from opening defeats in Turin. In contrast, familiar foes Medvedev and Zverev contest their 18th tour-level meeting, with the winner set to improve to 2-0 in the group stage.

[2] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. [5] Andrey Rublev

Making his debut at the Nitto ATP FInals, Alcaraz won the opening set against Zverev but the German ultimately prevailed 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4. It was the Spaniard's third defeat in a row — but unlike after the previous two, he still has a chance to make amends in Turin.

“It’s the only tournament where a loss does not knock you out,” Alcaraz said on Monday. “I still have a chance to continue improving and to get through the group stage. Tomorrow I’ll practise to improve everything that I didn’t do well today, which is a lot."

Specifically, Alcaraz was unhappy with his consistency in the quick conditions at the Pala Alpitour. Rublev looked right at home on the slick surface early in his matchup against Daniil Medvedev, but a few loose errors at key points — and seven break-point saves by the World No. 3 late in the opening set — shifted the match decisively in Medvedev's favour.

Rohan Bopanna is preparing for one of the most significant matches of his season Wednesday at the Nitto ATP Finals. While he will be fully focused on his latest doubles clash alongside Matthew Ebden at Turin's Pala Alpitour, he may also look for inspiration from some fellow Indian sportsmen more than 6,500 kilometres away.

At the same time as Bopanna and Ebden’s Red Group meeting with Rinky Hijikata and Jason Kubler, the Indian men’s national cricket team will be in action in Mumbai, where it takes on New Zealand in a World Cup semi-final. In a country where cricket is akin to a religion, it is a huge occasion, and one that Bopanna is all too aware of despite being so far away.

“I am following it, of course” Bopanna told ATPTour.com when asked about the World Cup, where host nation India has won all nine of its matches so far. “I love cricket. Unfortunately, I have not been able to watch it, because Italy right now is not really showing the cricket, unless I try and find a stream online or something!

“I think the way India is playing this year, it's really looking extremely good. I think, overall, [the whole team] is performing. It's not just that one or two players are doing well. The bowlers, the batsmen, everybody is coming together as a team, and I think we've got some fantastic home support.”

India’s cricket players are widely recognised figures at home. Star batsman Virat Kohli has one of the most-followed Instagram accounts in the world, with 263 million followers, and he is one of a handful of cricket stars with whom Bopanna shares a positive relationship.

Stefanos Tsitsipas apologised to the fans during his press conference on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he retired three games into his match with Holger Rune due to a back injury. The Greek has withdrawn from the season finale and will be replaced in Green Group by Hubert Hurkacz.

“My apologies to all the fans and the crowd that came to support me today and watch the match. I'm really gutted that I wasn't able to finish the match. It's a shame also not to give that spot to someone else to at least try and do something with it,” Tsitsipas said. “My doctors and the countless visits that I had in the past few days suggested that I play, gave me the green light to go and try it for myself.

“Unfortunately, I felt terrible on the court. I did what I could do in the best possible way to be ready and fit for this match, but it didn't work out for me.”

Tsitsipas held his lone service game against Rune and earned two break points against the Dane. But at the first changeover, he retired.

“I hate retiring from matches,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m not the kind of person that likes leaving mid match. It kills me not to be able to finish this tournament, the one that I've prepped for for so long, made sure that I'm completely fit to perform at my best and show my capacities as a player.”

Holger Rune hired former World No. 1 Boris Becker as his coach last month. Since then, Rune has rejuvenated his season following a mid-year slump. With a semi-final appearance in Basel backed up by a quarter-final run in Paris, Rune is now making his Nitto ATP Finals debut with Becker in his corner.

One notable trait in their young partnership is how often Becker rises to his feet while watching his player compete.

“Might be for the blood flow for the legs,” Rune joked in his post-match press conference. “I just think when he wants to do the coaching, he stands up. He can express more, his way of coaching me. So I think that's why. I haven't asked him why he does it.

“When I worked with Patrick [Mouratoglou], he also did it a lot. I think it's just a character thing that some do, some don't do. I like the way my box behaves. It's cool to have him, Lapo [Becherini] (strength & conditioning coach), Mike [James] (data analyst) and my mom to be here with me.”

Rune improved to 1-1 in Green Group on Tuesday when Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire after just three games. The World No. 8 Rune, who suffered a three-set defeat to Novak Djokovic earlier this week, is soaking in his Turin debut.

This year’s doubles field at the Nitto ATP Finals features a mix of established teams and breakthrough stars. Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are leading the way as the top seeds.

“It feels great to come back here, for us a second time as a team together. I'm really enjoying it. Happy that we had a great season. And to finish it here, it's always the best thing,” Dodig said. “That's why we fight through the year, to play this one. And hopefully this time we can have a good run.

“Last year, we had great matches. We lost all the matches in the [Match] Tie-break. Hopefully this time, we can do it better. But all in all, great season. Happy to be back.”

The best of the best ?

Which team will come out on top and claim the #NittoATPFinals ?? pic.twitter.com/cfjumyXx8v

Dodig and Krajicek won this year’s Roland Garros title and triumphed on four other occasions: at Rotterdam, Monte-Carlo, Queen’s Club and Beijing. But the Croatian-American duo will face stern tests in every match of Green Group action, with all teams in Turin champions in their own right.

The ATP Tour's best singles and doubles players have descended on Turin for the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic leads the singles field alongside Carlos Alcaraz, who is making his debut at the season finale.

Former champions Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will bid for another year-end crown, with Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune all seeking their first Nitto ATP Finals trophy.

ATPTour.com breaks down five things to watch at the season finale.

[SWEEPSTAKES]

1) Djokovic's Records Quest, No. 1 Chase: The Serbian is seeking a record-breaking seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown, which would break a tie with Roger Federer. He could also secure a record-extending seventh ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone honour with one match win in Turin or a single defeat by the chasing Alcaraz.

Gonzalo Escobar and Aleksandr Nedovyesov saved two mach points in the Sofia doubles final to claim their second tour-level title as a team. The Ecuadorian/Kazakhstani team defeated third seeds Julian Cash and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 3-6, 13-11 to earn a dramatic victory in what was their fourth final in 14 tour-level tournaments together.

"A [Match] Tie-break is always a lottery, but I think in the end we were just a little bit more aggressive," said Nedovyesov. "Luck was there as well I guess... It was a great tournament."

Escobar/Nedovyesov will finish the season in 23rd place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings after a successful close to a week in which Escobar earned his 100th tour-level doubles win. The Sofia title is the Ecuadorian's fifth at tour-level and Nedovyesov's second.

"Very happy for the title. But it's also been a tough year, so this makes me proud of the work we've done," added Escobar.

Photo credit: Moselle Open

The doubles stars of the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals gathered on Saturday for Media Day, during which they took the Official Doubles Photo at the Pala Alpitour.

Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek, Wesley Koolhof/Neal Skupski, Rohan Bopanna/Matthew Ebden, Santiago Gonzalez/Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos, Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni and Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler will compete for the ultimate title. 

Ram and Salisbury are the defending champions. Top seeds Dodig and Krajicek lead the Green Group and second seeds Koolhof and Skupski head the Red Group.

Action begins on Sunday in Turin, where Dodig/Krajicek will play the first match of the tournament against seventh seeds Gonzalez and Molteni. In the evening session, Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin will face Granollers and Zeballos.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

Daniil Medvedev is looking to cap arguably the most successful season of his career this coming week in Turin, where he intends to shake off three heart-breaking losses at the Nitto ATP Finals last year.

Medvedev, who has won a career best 64 matches this season to sit at No.3 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings coming into the season finale, was in high spirits at Friday’s media day activity at the Palace of Turin, projecting to his opening round-robin match Monday against close friend Andrey Rublev.

“I love playing in Italy,” Medvedev told ATP Media. “I think, honestly, Italian fans love me. I had great support all the time I have been playing in Rome and Turin. So I am happy to be back and hopefully I can show some good tennis.”

Medvedev won a career-best five titles this season, including an unexpected ATP Masters 1000 on clay in Rome. When asked about his season overall, Medvedev remarked, “If we take out the Grand Slams, it's the best of my life. I don’t have a Grand Slam because Carlos and Novak are playing very good tennis. Still a very good year, especially the first part of the year.

“The second part was great for different reasons, but probably just a little bit worse. I would have wanted one title because I was not able to get one. The season is not finished so I’m going to try to show my best here.”

An emtoional Ugo Humbert claimed his first title since 2021 on Saturday by winning his hometown tournament at the Moselle Open. The Metz native defeated Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 6-3 to cap a memorable week on home soil and improve to 4-0 in tour-level singles finals.

"It was my dream when I was young to win this tournament," Humbert said post-match. "It's just amazing. I have a lot of feelings now, I can't describe it. It's so incredible to win here in my hometown in front of my family. To finish strong like this, it's just an amazing feeling."

Pure emotions ?@HumbertUgo | @MoselleOpen | #MoselleOpen pic.twitter.com/7q7DvqpPIS

The result will see Humbert finish the season at a career-high No. 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and as the year-end French No. 1 for the first time. He edged past Sofia champion Adrian Mannarino for both honours by claiming the Metz crown just an hour after the veteran's triumph in Bulgaria.

"So great for French tennis, so good!" Humbert said when he learned of Mannarino's success. The Metz champion will become the first Frenchman inside the Top 20 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings since Gael Monfils in August 2022.

The 2023 Nitto ATP Finals kick off on Sunday with a pair of heavy-hitting clashes at Turin’s Pala Apitour. Home favourite Jannik Sinner bids for a positive start to his campaign in Green Group when he takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening singles clash of the day, before defending champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic meets Holger Rune in the evening session.

[4] Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs. [6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)

Can the home fans help Jannik Sinner kick-start his Nitto ATP Finals campaign on Sunday in Turin?

The 22-year-old Italian takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas in his opening match in Green Group at the Pala Alpitour, where the Italian is competing at the season finale for the second time, but the first as a direct qualifier. Sinner will hope that the locals can cheer him on to victory against an opponent whom he trails 2-5 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“[I’m] happy that this event is here in Turin,” Sinner told ATP Media on Friday. “Hopefully it's something positive for me trying to have a great connection with the crowd and hopefully I can handle it and handle the situation with the right mentality, because I feel I have a little bit more pressure, which is a very positive sign for me.”

Despite his strong history in their matchup, the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas will be wary of the threat posed by Sinner, who holds a 57-14 record for a year in which he has lifted four tour-level titles, including his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown in Toronto.

Adrian Mannarino closed out perhaps the best ATP Tour season of his long career with his third title of the year on Saturday at the Sofia Open. The 35-year-old edged Great Britain's Jack Draper 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3 to win his fifth tour-level title and rise to No. 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

"That's definitely the best way to finish the year," the Frenchman said post-match. "It's been a great year and I'm a little bit exhausted but it's really motivating when you're doing well. I was playing great on court and I'm happy with the result."

"The smile says it all" ?@AdrianMannarino's magical year finishes with a 3rd title 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3 ? Draper@sofiaopentennis | #SofiaOpen pic.twitter.com/LwFwZ2h2j4

If his position at No. 20 in the Live Rankings holds, Mannarino will become the French No. 1 in the next edition of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings — though fellow Frenchman Ugo Humbert, who is playing the Metz final on Saturday, could yet pass Mannarino with the title.

By following his Newport and Astana titles with the Sofia crown, Mannarino became the first Frenchman to win three titles in a season since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (4) and Lucas Pouille (3) in 2017. He also increased his personal-best season win total to 43 this week, a tally that was also aided by a final run in Mallorca.

As night falls in Turin, the imposing Palazzo Reale awaits the eight players who, starting on Sunday, will be battling it out for the title at the Nitto ATP Finals. Carlos Alcaraz, the No. 2 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and debutant at the season-closing event, is making his way down a blue carpet surrounded by adoring fans. Although the second half of 2023 has not been as good to him as the first, the two-time Grand Slam champion arrives in the Italian city with his mind set on rediscovering his A-game and challenging for the title.

“I’m expecting the Carlos from early this year, despite the results I’ve had in recent tournaments,” declared Alcaraz, whose triumph at Wimbledon was the last of the six titles he has claimed in 2023. “The defeat in Paris, which was quite painful, made me realise that I have to work harder,” he said of the match he lost in the recent ATP Masters 1000 against Roman Safiullin.

“And that’s what I’ve done. You always have to look for the positive in things. I’ve had several days to train to come here in optimum form. I’ve worked hard, on both fitness and tennis. I feel really good.”

[SWEEPSTAKES]

After not going to Basel because of an inflammation in the sole of his left foot and gluteal problems, Alcaraz bowed out in the first round in Paris-Bercy and had to deal with an unfamiliar sensation: the hangover of a defeat.