Daniil Medvedev wins ATP Finals

Daniil Medvedev won the biggest title of his career on November 22, battling past US Open champion Dominic Thiem 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 after two hours and 43 minutes to win the Nitto ATP Finals.

Thiem did well to save the first eight break points he faced in the match, using his booming serve and powerful groundstrokes to escape trouble throughout the match. But the Austrian flirted with disaster once too often, and he was unable to recover against his younger opponent, whom he first played in the juniors nearly a decade ago in Umag.

Medvedev, who also beat five-time champion Novak Djokovic and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal earlier in the week, is the first player to sweep the top three players in the FedEx ATP Rankings at the season finale. 

The Russian is only the fourth player to accomplish the feat at a single event since the start of the ATP Tour in 1990. Medvedev is the first player from his country to win the year-end championships since Nikolay Davydenko in 2009.

The ATP Finals are the season-ending championships of the ATP Tour and feature the top eight singles players and doubles teams of the ATP Rankings. The tournament has been one of the popular candidates for the monicker of "the fifth grand slam".

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)