ATP Finals: Sinner signifies his dominance with another triumph

What a week. The firsts just kept coming. On Monday, 'The Fox' collected the year-end No.1 silverware for the first time. On Sunday night, the 23-year-old became the first Italian ATP Finals champion with a 6-4, 6-4 passage past Taylor Fritz, replicating the scoreline from their round-robin clash. In fact, Sinner is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986 to lift the prestigious ATP Finals title without dropping a set.

Significantly, Sinner is the first man born in the 2000s to claim the ATP Finals crown. Tennis has a new king. "It's amazing - it's my first title in Italy and it means so much to me," said Sinner, who won 26 of his past 27 matches at the tail end of 2024.

"It's something very special. It was a very high-level tournament from my side. I just tried to play the best possible tennis I could in every single moment, which I've done here. The crowd helped me a lot. It was for sure one of the most special weeks I've had in a tennis court.

"At times I couldn't have played better. Yeah, I'm very happy to have this trophy."

Sinner's two majors in Melbourne and New York were on the hard courts. Alongside his Turin triumph, the world No.1 has joined Novak Djokovic (2015, 2023) and Roger Federer (2004, 2006-07) as the only trio to clinch the three key hard court events on the tennis calendar in the same year. He's in that kind of company. However, the 23-year-old is adamant he won't rest on his laurels.

"I actually believe there is still gap of improvement. There are still certain shots and points what I can make sometimes better, but are small details. The higher you play level-wise, the more details make the difference," mused the Italian hero.

"I'm not looking about being the first whatever. It's just stats what's not written. Me, always try to improve as a player and trying to understand what I can do better.

"It's going to be the same next year: whatever we can catch, we take, and the rest we learn. I think that was the mentality we approached this whole year, trying to raise my level in specific moments, which I've done throughout this year. I'm very happy about that because it's a very nice way to finish off an incredible season."

Fritz, also runner-up to Sinner in the US Open final, continues to fly the flag for the stars and stripes. Pulsating victories going the distance over Alex de Minaur and world No.2 Alexander Zverev have enabled Fritz to climb to a career-high world No.4 on Monday.

"I feel like I've gone up a level and I'm much more confident in my game," stated the 27-year-old. "2023 when I won Delray right before I was defending the Indian Wells title, when I hit 5 in the world for, like a week… Back then I was 5, but I didn't feel like I was 5. Now, I feel like I belong. It's a different feeling. It's been a great year. That gives me a lot of confidence to have that belief."

Fritz, on the receiving end of two straight sets defeats by Sinner in Turin, is the ideal candidate to reflect on Sinner's on-court supremacy.

"Not only is he the best player in the world, but he's playing at an extremely high level right now," declared Fritz.

"I mean, he's playing great. I felt like from the baseline, it was pretty similar to the previous match we played. What I was really impressed with today was how he served. He served absolutely lights out. So many, so many lines. He placed the serve great. He took a lot of risk on the second serve as well. I think that was probably one of his main game plans, is to not let me get on, attack his second serve.

"I mean, it's great to play someone who's better than you because you really get to see the things that you need to improve on and it exposes a lot of your weaker sides of your game."