(Football news) The former is competing in the year-end championships for the sixth time in a row, and Rublev has already made four consecutive appearances at the ATP Finals.
Medvedev will put his friendship with Rublev on hold as he looks to add another ATP Finals title to his 2020 victory—which came one year before he fulfilled his dream of a Grand Slam at the US Open—as has been the case in their eight prior high-level encounters.
Round-robin eliminations in 2019 and 2022 are best left in the annals of history, but the towering native of Moscow would also make it to the championship match of the ATP Finals that season, only to meet with heartbreak at the hands of Alexander Zverev.
Following an incredible start to the season, which saw him win three ATP Tour championships in February alone—in Rotterdam, Dubai, and Qatar—Medvedev set his sights on a spot in Turin at the beginning of 2023. He also brought home two Masters trophies from Miami and Rome.
Though he lost to Jannik Sinner in the October highlight tournaments in Vienna and China, as well as his abortive attempt to deny Novak Djokovic major championship number 24, the third seed comes into the group stage having been defeated in each of his previous three top-level finals.
Although Medvedev lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the final 32 of the most recent Paris Masters and was easily defeated by Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells Masters final eight months prior, the 27-year-old is by no means a dark horse to win the Turin title based on his record of 64 wins and 16 losses this year.
