ATP Finals 2022 final: Casper Ruud vs Novak Djokovic preview, head-to-head, prediction, odds and pick
Match Details
Fixture: (3) Casper Ruud vs (7) Novak Djokovic.
Date: November 20, 2022.
Tournament: ATP Finals 2022.
Round: Final.
Venue: Pala Alpitour, Turin, Italy.
Category: Year-ending championships.
Surface: Indoor hardcourt.
Prize money: $14,750,000.
Match timing: Not before 7 pm local time, 6 pm GMT, 1 pm ET and 11:30 pm IST.
Live telecast: USA – Tennis Channel | UK – Amazon Prime Video | India - Sports 18 & Voot.
Casper Ruud vs Novak Djokovic preview
21-time Major champion Novak Djokovic will take on World No. 4 Casper Ruud in the final of the 2022 ATP Finals on Sunday.
With wins over Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz, Ruud ensured his passage to the semifinals. However, he lost his final round-robin match against Rafael Nadal. Andrey Rublev stood between him and a spot in the title round.
Rublev was quite solid initially in the first set, but couldn't keep up with Ruud as he reeled off five games in a row to take the set. The Norwegian continued to ride the wave of momentum into the second set as well. He broke his opponent's serve twice to go 4-0 up.
Ruud then stepped up to serve for the match at 5-2, but Rublev put up a little resistance by winning the next couple of games. Nevertheless, the 24-year-old was able to wrap up the proceedings on his second attempt to win the match 6-2, 6-4 and reach his first final here.
Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev to maintain a perfect 3-0 record during the group phase. He was up against Taylor Fritz in the semifinals.
Djokovic drew first blood by snagging a break in the fifth game of the opening set, but Fritz broke back immediately to level the score. The duo remained steady on serve after that, leading to a tie-break. The Serb came out on top to win it and clinched the opener.
Fritz started the second set by securing a break of serve, followed by a hold of serve that cemented a 2-0 lead. The American eventually served for the set at 5-4 but failed to do so as Djokovic broke his serve to level terms. The set soon went into a tie-break, with the Serb gaining the upper hand to win the match 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).
Casper Ruud vs Novak Djokovic head-to-head
Djokovic leads Ruud 3-0 in the head-to-head. He won their previous encounter at the 2022 Italian Open in straight sets.
Casper Ruud vs Novak Djokovic odds
All odds are sourced from BetMGM.
Casper Ruud vs Novak Djokovic prediction
Ruud played a pretty solid match against Rublev, though he did face a minor hiccup while closing out the match. Nevertheless, he recovered in time and didn't let the situation get out of hand. His serve, which was a little underwhelming during his loss to Nadal, worked pretty well against the Russian. He fired 10 aces while winning a high number of first serve points.
Ruud's groundstrokes also found their mark more often than not, with some clean hitting that pushed his opponents behind the baseline. But everything he's capable of doing, Djokovic does it better. He played a close match against Fritz but was once again the better player during the important moments which sealed the match in his favor.
Ruud's record against top players and in big finals is rather poor. He's yet to win a set against Djokovic. The former World No. 1 has played some of his best tennis all year long here. Even when tested by his opponents, he managed to prevail. If the Norwegian can maintain his composure, he should be able to make it a competitive match. That said, Djokovic is likely to triumph in the end.
Pick: Novak Djokovic to win in straight sets.