Much like the women’s final, the men’s Italian Open final wasn’t particularly close as Novak Djokovic proved much better than Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic has had an interesting year so far but found his stroke at the Italian Open, which has always been a comfort event for him. Djokovic has many Italian friends, most of his staff is Italian as well, and he feels very welcome in the country.
The Italian Open, in particular, is one of those events where he feels most comfortable, and the results back it up. His run at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome this year has been largely uncontested, with almost nobody giving the Serbian any kind of problems.
In the final, he faced Tsitsipas, who had an amazing run himself, but the Greek player didn’t prove a huge problem for Djokovic. In fairness, the matchup isn’t the best one for Tsitsipas, who has struggled tremendously with Djokovic in the past.
In the first set, Djokovic took advantage of the Greek player struggling with his serve and took apart his game for a quick first-set bagel. When the Greek player misses his first serve, he becomes extremely susceptible, which Djokovic took advantage of.
In the second set, Tsitsipas regained his serve, which caused Djokovic some problems. Tsitsipas was able to leap out to a 4-1 lead as the Serbian's energy level dropped. He was close as he led 5-2 in the second set, but it was not enough, as his opponent started a comeback.
After Djokovic got to 5-5, Tsitsipas took a 6-5 lead, but the Serbian forced a tie-break. It wasn’t a complicated tie-break as the Serbian was able to target Tsitsipas' backhand, which didn’t help in the crucial moments, and Djokovic was able to escape and win the tie-break 7-5 and the match 6-0, 7-6(5).
It was certainly an interesting final for the crowd in Rome, but ultimately, a familiar face reigned supreme once more.
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