Jannik Sinner hopes Turin crowd help him join exclusive ATP Finals list
Jannik Sinner believes the Turin crowd can give him a vital edge at the ATP Finals and insists he enjoys the ‘pressure’ of being the home favourite.
Sinner has been drawn against Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune and Stefanos Tsitsipas, so he knows he will have to eliminate at least one former winner to advance to the knockout stage.
However, his confidence is sky high going into the tournament after a fine season that saw him win 57 matches, and his previous experience of the ATP Finals in Turin tells him the crowd will give him a further lift.
“I love to play under pressure,” Sinner said. “I love to play tie-breaks, I love to play the important points because I feel like there you can see who has what kind of game.
“And I feel like I’m trying to find as many important points as possible. Also because this makes you grow and also I’m here trying to win, but also to add some experience package for the next tournaments.
“[I’m} happy that this event is here in Turin. 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.”
“I had a great feeling two years ago when I went to court with the crowd,” Sinner admitted.
“The connection was great and hopefully I can have a little bit or the same amount of connection. The crowd is going to stay behind me in good times but hopefully especially in the bad times that they push me. They give me some positive energy and hopefully I can convert it into a high level.
“I had a very good season and I played fewer tournaments than last year but I played more matches. It’s obviously a great sign for me and how I ended the past several tournaments was good. Hopefully I can show this here.”
Homegrown ATP Finals winners
It’s definitely fair to say that the list of players to win the ATP Finals in their own country isn’t a long one – especially in recent times.
Andy Murray was the last player to do it when he delighted the London crowd by taking the 2016 title. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 2001 when Lleyton Hewitt won it in Syndey.
That said, it was a common occurrence in the late 70s, 80s and 90s. The tournaments were held in New York and Frankfurt then, right when the USA and Germany boasted some dominant players.
If Sinner can win the ATP Finals in Turin, he will become just the seventh man in history to win the Tour Finals in his home country.
| 1977 | Jimmy Connors | New York |
| 1978 | John McEnroe | New York |
| 1983 | John McEnroe | New York |
| 1984 | John McEnroe | New York |
| 1992 | Boris Becker | Frankfurt |
| 1993 | Michael Stich | Frankfurt |
| 1995 | Boris Becker | Frankfurt |
| 2001 | Lleyton Hewitt | Sydney |
| 2016 | Andy Murray | London |
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