ATP Finals 2023: Wednesday's Top Storylines to Watch After Tuesday's Results

Tuesday's set of results were particularly unfortunate for Stefanos Tsitsipas, who already had injury concerns going into the match.

Within his first service game, the Greek looked immobile and eventually had to retire down 2-1 in the first set to Holger Rune.

Tsitsipas's injury opens the door for alternate Hubert Hurkacz to compete in the ATP Finals going forward.

Hurkacz, who was the No. 7 seed here in 2021 and an alternate last year, is 0-3 in his three career ATP Finals matches.

In the afternoon, the match that was on everyone's minds lived up to the hype.

Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner combined for 83 winners, 35 aces, and just 25 errors.

The two also finished with 109 total points each.

After 3 hours and 11 minutes, it was the home crowd favorite in Sinner who pulled off the rarity, not only halting Djokovic's 19-match win streak but also picking up his first win in the head-to-head with the Serbian and handing him just his sixth overall loss this year.

The win also put Sinner in command of the Green Group.

With the tournament nearly halfway over, today offers more opportunities for the four players in action.

While Carlos Alcaraz will look to get back on the winning end of things and avoid a fourth consecutive loss, Daniil Medevdev and Alexander Zverev will each look to take control of the Red Group.

From storylines to matchups, here is what you can expect today.

Carlos Alcaraz vs. Andrey Rublev

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TURIN, ITALY - NOVEMBER 13: Andrey Rublev plays a forehand in the Men's Singles Round Robin match against Daniil Medvedev during day two of the Nitto ATP Finals at Pala Alpitour on November 13, 2023 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Shi Tang/Getty Images)

There are more questions than answers surrounding Carlos Alcaraz's current play.

The Spaniard has dropped three straight for the first time since March 2021, when he was still playing ATP Challenger matches.

Since his 2023 Wimbledon final victory over Novak Djokovic, Alcaraz has dealt with injuries and fatigue.

At times, his current version was enough to get past most players, such as his two wins in the Toronto Masters in August, but as summer has turned into fall, the former world No. 1 has looked more and more like a shell of himself, making uncharacteristic errors and struggling at the net.

Andrey Rublev will look to take advantage of his opponent's recent flaws and grab a 2-0 (1-0 in exhibition matches) lead in their head-to-head.

Rublev fell 6-4, 6-2, to Medvedev on Monday and simply had no answers for his friend.

While Rublev has posted 56 wins this season, a career-best, Alcaraz's current form is still enough to give him trouble.

Rublev has notoriously struggled against top-10 players, losing four of his last five matchups against such opponents.

At the moment, the only thing holding truly holding him back is his mentality.

Even at 75% in form, Alcaraz is still able to beat most opponents, and it took Alexander Zverev's absolute best to beat the Spaniard.

Alcaraz should be able to carefully navigate his way against Rublev and win his first career ATP Finals match in three sets.

Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexander Zverev

TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images

Germany's Alexander Zverev returns to Spain's Carlos Alcaraz during their first round-robin match at the ATP Finals tennis tournament in Turin on November 13, 2023. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP) (Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP via Getty Images)

Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev know each other all too well.

The two have played 17 matches, with Medvedev leading the head-to-head 10-7.

In the four matches they've played in the ATP Finals, the two are even at 2-2.

Medvedev has won four of their last five matchups, though three of the matches went to a deciding set and one other included a tiebreaker.

Today's matchup should be no different.

Medvedev comes into this match on the heels of a dominant straight-set win over Andrey Rublev, where he hit 10 aces, 24 winners, and just six unforced errors.

The win brought Medvedev's indoor hard court record to 11-2 this year.

Fast hard-court conditions like these make Medvedev's serve and forehand all the more dangerous.

Just as Medvedev excels in these types of conditions, so does his opponent.

Zverev is coming off arguably his most impressive victory of the season, a three-set win over Carlos Alcaraz in which he served up 16 aces and hit 37 winners to just five unforced errors.

As has been the case with many of their 17 matches, this again should be a hard-fought battle amongst two players who are in top form right now.

Nothing really separates the two when it comes to baseline rallies and powerful serves, and it may take a few tiebreakers to find out who comes out on the winning end.

While Zverev poses tons of challenges to his opponent given his return to top form and excellent fitness, Medvedev should be able to do just enough to overcome this stern challenge.