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SPORTS Monday 18 noveMber 2019
Tsitsipas beats Thiem in 3 sets to win ATP Finals title

By MATTIAS KAREN $2.6 million in prize mon- that he's up on the top.
LONDON (AP) — Three ey for this win and joins a It's great that he's going to
years after coming to the group of young players — fight for the big titles in the
ATP Finals as a hitting part- including last year’s ATP future. I'm 100% sure of that.
ner to the top pros, Stefa- Finals champion Alexan- I'm also very sure of the fact
nos Tsitsipas is leaving the der Zverev and U.S. Open that I can challenge him in
tournament as champion. runner-up Daniil Medvedev every single match we're
Tsitsipas rallied to beat — who are seen as the top going to play. … I really
Dominic Thiem 6-7 (6), 6-2, up-and-coming talents and hope that we're going to
7-6 (4) on Sunday for the challengers to the sport’s have a lot of big matches
biggest title of his career, Big Three of Roger Federer, coming, the two of us.”
becoming the youngest Novak Djokovic and Rafael Thiem beat both Feder-
champion at the season- Nadal. er and five-time winner
ending event in 18 years. The Greek has already Djokovic in the group stage
“I remember myself watch- grown quite the fan base, but lost another big final
ing this event on TV and partly because of a Bjorn after twice finishing runner-
thinking, ‘Oh, these guys Borg-style haircut and part- up to Nadal at the French
have done an insane year ly because of an aggres- Open. Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece holds up the trophy and celebrates
with the ball kids after defeating Austria's Dominic Thiem in the
to be playing here,’” said sive playing style that is a This one was much closer final of the ATP World Finals tennis match at the O2 arena in Lon-
the 21-year-old Tsitsipas, bit old-school with frequent than his losses to Nadal, don, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2019.
who was making his first forays to the net. though, which made it Associated Press
appearance at the tourna- ”He's great for tennis, be- tougher to swallow.
ment. ”And now I'm in the cause he has a very attrac- ”That's why it's probably match and end up losing in appointing loss, very hard
position to be champion, tive game style, one-hand- mentally the most brutal the championship match,” to digest. But on the same
so it feels awesome.” ed backhand, comes in a sport existing, because Thiem said. ”From that hand, I had some amazing
It’s been quite a journey for lot,” Thiem said. ”It's great you can play such a great point of view, it's a very dis- wins also.”q
Tsitsipas, who first met Thiem
at the O2 Arena in 2016
when he was the world’s
top-ranked junior and was
invited to be a hitting part-
ner for the ATP Finals par-
ticipants.
”That is unbelievable," Tsit-
sipas said when reminded
of that day. "I just remem-
bered (that), first time I
met Dominic was I came
here as a sparring partner.
I think my first hit was with
Dominic. It's unbelievable,
isn't it? We are now facing
each other in the final.”
It was quite a final, too.
The 21-year-old Greek
bounced back from drop-
ping a tight first set by rac-
ing out to a 4-0 lead in the
second, and then held off
the Austrian’s comeback in
the third.
Tsitsipas couldn’t capitalize
on another early break and
a 3-1 lead in the deciding
set but won the last three
points of the tiebreaker,
clinching the win when
Thiem sent a return wide.
”I missed some very close
balls in the tiebreak,” Thiem
said. ”But I cannot do any-
thing now about it. It was a
great match from both of
us.”
The win caps a break-
through season for Tsitsipas,
who reached the semifinals
of the Australian Open,
won two ATP titles and be-
came the first Greek man
to break into the top 10.
He also leaves London with