ATP Finals, Group Stage, Sunday, 13.11.2022
It’s the highlight to end a long year, the event that brings together the best eight players in the world. Venue Turin, kick-off on Sunday, the ATP Finals are finally upon us!
Fans will have to do without the current No. 1, Carlos Alcaraz, but with the players ranked second to eighth as well as Taylor Fritz eager to play in the unofficial World Tennis Championships, this should not dampen the excitement.
The first match of the tournament is: Norway versus Canada. Our bookmakers are going by current form and see the younger of the two in front. In my Ruud Auger-Aliassima tip, I now reveal why I share this assessment, but do not expect a quick match!
It’s his debut in the circle of the eight best at the end of the year: Felix Auger-Aliassime has made his way to the finals for the first time. The 22-year-old richly deserves it, as his 2022 finish left fans in awe.
The Canadian was known to be vulnerable, inconsistent, lacking nerve. It was the same game for years: Once he reached a final, it was lost. Now, however, he has apparently made the leap from talent of the century to a world-class player.
After disappointingly losing to Jack Draper in the 2nd round at the US Open, he ignited the turbo. And so in mid-October everyone looked to Florence, where he stormed to the title with only one lost set.
A little later, the European Open was on the agenda in Antwerp. Auger-Aliassime, seeded second, found himself in the final once again and, lo and behold, his nerves held once more.
It was a tournament that obviously gave him the last spark of self-confidence. Because what the youngster finally showed in Basel finally silenced even his last critics.
A 6-1, 6-0 against Miomir Kecmanovic, followed by a 6-2, 6-3 against Alexander Bublik finally culminated in a 6-3, 6-2 against Carlos Alcaraz. And if that wasn’t enough, Auger followed it up with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Holger Rune in the final.
Three times in a row he stood on top with the trophy in his hand and could hardly believe his luck. At the big Masters in Paris it was not enough again, but to be eliminated in the semi-finals against champion Rune, that is really no shame.
The Canadian was also convincing here, not for nothing he beat a certain Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4. And so it comes that he is immediately put in the role of favourite before his first appearance at the Finals.
At Betano, he is ahead by an average of 1.30 to 3.40, which is relatively clear. And that despite the fact that he lost to Casper Ruud both last year and the year before, clearly in two sets even.
Only three years ago Auger-Aliassime was able to win once, so the direct comparison is 2:1. While the former bundle of nerves is showing an increasingly strong side, Casper Ruud is going steeply downhill.
This slump was not really to be expected, after all, he had reached the final of the US Open only two months ago. In Korea, he bowed out very early against Yoshihito Nishioka, a little later in Japan in round 1, flat against Jaume Munar.
Even at the Swiss Open, which went to Auger-Aliassime in the end, he was not allowed to play for long, because Stan Wawrinka was too strong right from the start. After this extremely unsuccessful trio, the Norwegian travelled to Paris with mixed feelings.
He made it through his first match, but it was all over again in the last 16 after a 6-4, 4-6, 4-6 loss to Lorenzu Musetti. Ruud seems to have lost everything Auger has acquired within a few weeks.
I would like to tell you more about Ruud’s last matches, but while Auger-Aliassime played 17 matches in the last four tournaments, Ruud only played six!
Does it perhaps help that he was able to get a taste of the 2021 finals? He progressed with wins against Andrey Rublev and Cameron Norrie (he lost to Djokovic) before losing to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.
Admittedly, we didn’t expect this! Felix Auger-Aliassime has been wowing the tennis world for weeks now, three titles and a semi-final in Paris was really something few expected.
Opposite him on Sunday is a player who is looking at completely different figures. Casper Ruud has completely collapsed, delivering the opposite results to his Canadian opponent.
But at least I trust him with a tough fight, after all, he has already beaten Auger clearly this year. But Ruud is not my favourite. Therefore I come to the following tip:
Auger-Aliassime wins at over 18.5 Games!
