Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

Tsitsipas Seen As Heir To Big Three Throne After ATP Finals Victory

Tsitsipas on Sunday became the youngest debutant to win the ATP Finals since John McEnroe in '78GETTY IMAGES

Tennis has been "crying out for a member of the next generation to end the dominance of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the grand-slam tournaments," and it "looks increasingly likely that Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the man responsible" for making that happen, according to Stuart Fraser of the LONDON TIMES. At just 21, Tsitsipas' victory over Dominic Thiem at the ATP Finals on Sunday "meant he became the youngest debutant to win the season-ending championships" since 19-year-old John McEnroe in '78. After "proving that he is more than capable of beating the greatest players in the world over the best of three sets," the next step for Tsitsipas is to "do it consistently over the best of five." Next season, he will attempt to "become the first non-big three member to win a grand-slam title" since Stan Wawrinka at the '16 U.S. Open (LONDON TIMES, 11/18). In N.Y., Cindy Shmerler noted it was the first ATP Finals appearance for Tsitsipas, who is "still young enough to play in the NextGen Finals." However, when he qualified for the ATP Finals, he withdrew from the NextGen event and "did not look back" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/18).

NEXT BIG THING? In London, Mike Dickson wrote Tsitsipas' victory is "another indicator that the guard may be slowly changing as the eternal wait for a new men's Grand Slam winner stretches on" (London DAILY MAIL, 11/18). The AAP's Martyn Herman wrote Tsitsipas being crowned ATP Finals champion "felt like a watershed moment" (AAP, 11/18). In London, Simon Briggs wrote tennis "saw the future on Sunday at the O2 Arena." But observers must "be careful here." Many in the sport were "making grand predictions about Grigor Dimitrov when he won the ATP Finals" in '17, and then "made the same mistake when Alexander Zverev triumphed last year." In both cases, the players "suffered a miserable follow-up season" (London TELEGRAPH, 11/18). Also in London, Paul Newman wrote under the header, "Tsitsipas Emerges As Next Superstar Of Tennis But Past Finals Champions Provide Warning" (London INDEPENDENT, 11/18). TENNIS.com's Steve Tignor wondered, "Has the ATP found a successor to the Big 3, and a future No. 1, in Tsitsipas?" The sport has "heard that a few times over the last decade as well, especially at this event." If Tsitsipas and Thiem, 26, "don't turn out to be the future" in '20 and beyond, they still "gave us a great way to say good-bye" to '19 (TENNIS.com, 11/17).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2019/11/19/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/ATP.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2019/11/19/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/ATP.aspx

CLOSE