Beginning his quest for a record seventh ATP World Tour Finals crown and the year-end number one ranking, Novak Djokovic tackles Holger Rune in his Green group opener on Sunday.
While the 24-time Grand Slam winner already has six year-end titles to his name, his youthful Danish counterpart will face a baptism of fire in his first-ever ATP Finals encounter.
Match preview
As was the case in 2015 and 2021, the timeless Djokovic came so close yet so far to completing the elusive calendar year Grand Slam this time around, taking home another three major honours from the US Open, Australian Open and French Open only to fall to Carlos Alcaraz's Wimbledon superiority.
Another runners-up shield does little to take away from Djokovic's astounding achievements throughout 2023, though, and the 36-year-old now commences the defence of his sixth and current ATP Finals crown, which he clinched with victory over Casper Ruud in last year's showpiece.
Also champion in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, Djokovic - whose six year-end crowns puts him level with Roger Federer - ended a seven-year drought without an ATP Finals title last year, having been beaten in the 2016 and 2018 finals before failing to make the showpiece event in the 2019, 2020 and 2021 editions.
The Serbian has insisted that finishing 2023 as year-end number one for the eighth time is his overriding priority, though, and only an extreme set of circumstances would see him bumped off the throne; Alcaraz must win the title without defeat and pray for Djokovic to lose all three round-robin matches in order to usurp him.
Warming up for the Turin tournament in perfect fashion, Djokovic left the Paris Masters last weekend with his 40th ATP 1000 crown in the bag thanks to his beating of Grigor Dimitrov in the final - one of six tour trophies he has hoisted aloft this year - and only five of his 56 matches in 2023 have ended in defeat.
However, one of those beatings came at the hand of his youthful counterpart Rune, who is one of two first-time ATP World Tour Finals representatives alongside Alcaraz and must replicate his Italian Open quarter-final triumph over Djokovic if he is to lay down an early marker in the Green group.
Sunday's battle will pit the top seed against the lowest-ranked player in Turin, as eighth seed Rune, who sits 10th in the ATP Rankings, seeks inspiration from newly-appointed coach Boris Becker - a three-time ATP Finals champion himself during a celebrated playing career before his bankruptcy-related downfall.
Nevertheless, Rune had paid little attention to Becker's criminal conviction as he endeavours to build on a breakthrough 2023 season, which saw him progress to the last eight of the French Open and Wimbledon alongside runners-up finishes at the Monte-Carlo Masters and Italian Open.
A solitary ATP 250 crown came the way of the 20-year-old Dane in Munich, as he made it back-to-back Bavarian Open titles by sinking Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in a gruelling three-set final, and his record for the year stands at 43-22 ahead of Sunday's blockbuster battle.
Rune is also one of only four men with a tie-breaker success rate of at least 70% in 2023, although Djokovic unsurprisingly leads the way in that regard with 81.1% on his statistics column, and the Dane has also averaged four double faults per match this year; only four players have a worse record in that regard.
Head To Head
US Open (2021) - First round: Djokovic wins 6-1 6-7[5] 6-2 6-1
Paris Masters (2022) - Final: Rune wins 3-6 6-3 7-5
Italian Open (2023) - Quarter-final: Rune wins 6-2 4-6 6-2
Paris Masters (2023) - Quarter-final: Djokovic wins 7-5 6-7[3] 6-4
Since Rune's emergence onto the ATP Tour, he has clashed with Djokovic four times at the top level, and Sunday's match is delicately poised to say the least, as both men have a pair of wins to show from their quartet of showdowns.
Rune took a set off Djokovic via a tie-breaker in the 2021 US Open first round before losing in four, but two ATP 1000 meetings in the 2022 Paris Masters final and 2023 Italian Open quarters saw the Scandinavian stun the Serbian, winning his first Masters crown in the former by coming from a set down to prevail.
However, Djokovic avenged that loss on his Parisian path to glory earlier this month, again coming up short in a second-set tie-breaker but triumphing in three sets - on indoor hard courts - to knock the 2003-born starlet out in the quarter-finals, taking three of the four break points he fashioned on the day.
We say: Djokovic to win in three sets
Somewhat remarkably, Djokovic is yet to beat Rune in straight sets at the top level, and if their recent Paris Masters slog is anything to go by, he will not glide to an opening triumph over a man 16 years his junior.
Rune's enviable physicality and athleticism ought to see him give Djokovic another scare on Sunday, but we still expect the defending champion to get off on the right foot with a hard-fought success.
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