First Ball Forehand

ATP Finals 2024 will rewrite the history of modern tennis

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It is the end of an era and the beginning of a new one: the ATP Finals 2024 promise to be an unprecedented divide in the history of modern tennis. This edition, which will be played in Turin, will be the first in 23 years that will not see the presence of the Big 3: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal (who will play his last Davis Cup matches in a few weeks) and Roger Federer (who gave tennis the farewell in September 2022).

Three tennis players have benefited from the withdrawal of the Serbian champion, who therefore take the definitive step towards Turin. These are Casper Ruud, Alex De Minaur and Andrey Rublev, who this week signed up for Metz and Belgrade precisely to collect the last useful points. The Norwegian, the Australian and the Russian therefore join the group already composed of Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz, who will occupy the first five positions.

This edition of the year-end Master will therefore not see the presence of Nole, who a week after the start of the tournament communicated his absence via social media: “It is a real honor to qualify for the Finals in Turin. I was looking forward to being there but due to an ongoing injury I will not be able to play next week. I apologize to those who were planning to see me. I wish all the players a great tournament. See you soon.”

Despite not having officially qualified yet, the 24-time Slam champion has decided not to defend the title, the last ATP, won exactly one year ago, thus risking slipping close to the tenth position in the ranking. Nole had almost secured access to the event reserved for the top eight with 3910 points. The only possibility that could have eliminated him was Casper Ruud’s semi-final in Metz and the simultaneous victory of Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev between the ATP 250 in Belgrade and the French competition. However, Nole announced that he would not reach the Piedmontese capital in the event of qualification. The Serbian champion is the most successful at the Finals, winning in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022 and also last year. The 37-year-old will therefore focus on the start of 2025 with the Australian Open: one of his priorities remains the 25th Slam to close a circle in a career full of records and impressive goals. Fans will have to wait a few months before seeing him back on the court.

But not only that, because this edition of the Finals will also see the sad disappearance of the one-handed backhand. The slow evolution of the way of playing tennis has led to the extinction of one of the most elegant and spectacular shots in this sport, increasingly less practiced by the protagonists of the Tour and by emerging young players.
The next edition of the ATP Finals represents a unique case that demonstrates that this shot is increasingly less of a winning weapon. A few days before the start of the Masters at the end of the year, it can already be said that this will be the first edition without a tennis player with a one-handed backhand in years.

After the retirements of Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem, the natural decline in performance of the 39-year-old Stan Wawrinka and the disastrous season of an increasingly declining Stefanos Tsitsipas, the only exponent of this shot who has tried to counter the power of the two-handed backhand has been Grigor Dimitrov. However, the elimination in the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 in Paris Bercy has mathematically excluded the Bulgarian from the race for eighth place. A unique event, therefore, in the history of the tournament. Further evidence of the disappearance of one of the most beloved shots of tennis fans.

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