Reuters
Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Italian Open – Foro Italico, Rome, Italy – May 16, 2021 Spain’s Rafael Nadal shakes hands with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic after winning the final REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Reuters
Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Italian Open – Foro Italico, Rome, Italy – May 16, 2021 Spain’s Rafael Nadal shakes hands with Serbia’s Novak Djokovic after winning the final REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
The Italian Open 2021 final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal overwhelmed the tennis world. Moreover, it helped the two great athletes improve their Race to Turin 2021 positions.
While the Spaniard earned 1000 points as the winner of Rome Masters, the Serbian had to settle with 600 points as a finalist. However, they both leaped ahead significantly in the pack of next-generation players.
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Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic take comfortable seats for Turin post their Italian Open 2021 success
The Italian city of Turin will host the year-end championships or the ATP Finals this year. Chiefly, this is a competition between eight players who earned the most rankings points in a calendar year on the ATP Tour.
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Tennis – ATP Masters 1000 – Italian Open – Foro Italico, Rome, Italy – May 16, 2021 Spain’s Rafael Nadal celebrates with the trophy after winning his final match against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Before coming to Rome, Rafael Nadal was ranked tenth, just outside the top 8 qualifiers. But now, his record-extending 10th title at the Italian Open has put him in sixth place.
Currently, the Spaniard has 2220 points and is 10 points behind fifth-placed Daniil Medvedev and 30 points behind fourth-ranked Alexander Zverev. Rafa crossed Aslan Karatsev, Hubert Hurkacz, Matteo Berrettini, and Jannik Sinner to find his new place.
On the other side, the reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic was behind Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev in the Race to Turin 2021. His appearance in the Italian Open final helped him surpass Rublev and stand 190 points behind the top place.
Additionally, the Serbian ace has confirmed participation in the ATP 250 Belgrade 2 before the French Open. Meanwhile, the top-ranked Greek Tsitsipas will play at the ATP tournament in Lyon and try to keep his position until Paris.
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Nadal and Djokovic might not meet in the French Open final
The Race to Turin positions will drastically change after the French Open 2021. But most importantly, it might also cause a big blow to either Rafa or Djokovic.
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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 10: Rafael Nadal of Spain (L) and Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a forehand react after watching a video replay while on the sidelines during the Tie Break Tens ahead of the 2018 Australian Open at Margaret Court Arena on January 10, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
As the Spaniard is the World No. 3, he might find himself in the same half as the Serbian. It means that the Rafa-Nole matchup can come to terms in the semi-final itself. Also, one of them might lose more points than the other.
Therefore, both Rafa and Novak will hope to be in different halves of the main draw. However, their main target will be eventually winning the title.
The French Open begins on May 30, 2021, with a big crowd in the stadiums. It remains to be seen what it will add to the neck-to-neck Race for Turin.
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