Fergal Brickley
Tennis Specialist
Event: ATP World Tour Finals
The Top 8 performers of the season take part in the ATP World Tour Finals in Turin, a fantastic spectacle is in store. The tournament is played in round robin format with two groups of four players playing three matches, with the top two in each group qualifying for the semi-finals.
Green Group Red Group
Novak Djokovic Daniil Medvedev
Stefanos Tsitsipas Alexander Zverev
Andrey Rublev Matteo Berrettini
Casper Ruud Hubert Hurkacz
Matchup: Stefanos Tsitsipas v Andrey Rublev
Pick: Andrey Rublev Moneyline +112
Questions marks surround Rublev’s form, but Tsitsipas retired with an injury at the Paris Masters and has admitted feeling pain in his arm while training.
Tsitsipas has a huge edge on slow surfaces like clay and slow hard courts but indoors this edge becomes much smaller, Tsitsipas doesn’t have the block return or slice defense to counter Rublev’s aggressive ball striking.
Tsitsipas tends to try and hit backhands full swing, this is difficult for him to execute on low bouncing surfaces because he has more elaborate swings, he prefers more time and a higher bounce.
He doesn’t have the ‘touch game’ that most single-handed backhanders have, Dominic Thiem was in a similar position several years ago but developed a very effective slice backhand, Tsitspas hasn’t done so and he’s only 13-9 indoors in the past two seasons, players have figured out where he’s vulnerable.
Rublev has limped to the finish line after a sensational start to the season, the clay swing derailed his rhythm as he plays his best tennis on fast hard courts/indoor courts. Tsitsipas needs to be playing his best tennis to feel comfortable in this matchup in these conditions, Rublev is in a nice underdog spot.
Andrey Rublev ML +112
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