Shanghai Masters, Final, Sunday, 13.10.2024, 10:30 a.m.
Summit meeting in the Shanghai final! Jannik Sinner faces the most successful player in the sport, Novak Djokovic. Both players gave no signs of weakness in the semi-finals and won in straight sets.
Sinner and Djokovic last played a thrilling match at the Australian Open, in the semi-finals. This was followed by the young South Tyrolean’s first Grand Slam triumph, who greets from the position in the world rankings where Djokovic, with 428 weeks, has spent the longest of any player.
In this absolute top match, I expect the top-seeded player to win in the end, but I choose Djokovic as my tip at Bet365 for Sinner to win the match and first set.
This could be another very interesting match, Sinner against Djokovic, we haven’t had that since January. Before that, however, the two superstars of the sport played a few duels in a row. Among other things at the last ATP Finals.
While Sinner got the better of Djokovic in the group phase in Turin, the Serb prevailed in the final, and in no uncertain terms, with 6-3, 6-3. It was not the young South Tyrolean’s day, who then went on to win almost every match on hard courts.
Six days after the ATP Finals, Sinner beat Djokovic in the Davis Cup and then in the Australian Open semi-finals. It was a match in which Sinner had one of his most dramatic outbursts of anger, at least by his standards.
He gently knocked over a water bottle after losing the third set. The clip of this is still circulating on the internet today. It is one of the few moments when Sinner shows negative emotion in a match.
For me, his mentality is his greatest strength. He always manages to refocus on every point and never loses his composure.
He is more composed than any other player on the tour when he faces break points, and has the best under-pressure rating on the tour at 257.1. He defends against 73.2 percent of break points against him.
In Shanghai, by the way, he only lost one service game against Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The man who chases his opponents around the court with precise changes of direction and quickly goes for the point will be a real challenge for the “Djoker” again.
The oddsmakers also see it that way. For Sinner’s victory, Oddset offers odds of around 1.45, while Djokovic starts as the underdog in the 2.70 range, albeit only as the slight favorite.
Djokovic has been playing since the US Open for the first tournament, has since only played a Davis Cup match for Serbia, a 6-0, 6-1 with a friendly match character against Ioannis Xilas.
He faced more resistance in Shanghai, but only Jakub Mensik was able to take a set from him so far.
Incidentally, I recommended a 19.5+ game bet for the match in my corresponding match prediction. I also gave you the same bet in my Sinner Machac tip. Here, too, I had the right hunch. Sinner needed 22 games to decide the game.
However, the over-games market is not particularly tempting this time, as the favorites are not listed as clear favorites by the bookmakers.
Alex Michelsen, Flavio Cobolli, Roman Safiullin, Jakub Mensik and Taylor Fritz, the big names Djokovic has not had to get out of the way so far. In some sets, it was very shaky at times, especially when the opponents’ offensive shots were regularly hit.
My Sinner Djokovic Tip
Sinner has won three of his last four matches against Djokovic and has become even stronger this year. Djokovic, like Sinner, is playing a strong tournament in Shanghai, but he hasn’t had many strong opponents.
His opponent in the final has an almost flawless hardcourt record, and in seven of the last eight matches, he has always got off to a good start and wrapped up the first set. I currently see his level of play as above that of Djokovic, be it his serve, mentality, mobility…
Sinner leaves nothing to chance, goes on the offensive as soon as his opponent falls short, but he also masters long rallies and, thanks to Djokovic’s advice, he sometimes surprisingly breaks the rhythm in the rallies.
I am convinced that he will show the veteran his limits tomorrow…
My Sinner v Djokovic tip: set 1 & match Sinner
