"Short-sighted vision": Paolo Bertolucci defends Jannik Sinner's ATP Finals win that put Novak Djokovic in semi-finals

Italian former tennis player Paolo Bertolucci has defended Jannik Sinner's win over Holger Rune which saw Novak Djokovic qualify for the semi-finals at the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin.

World No. 4 Sinner has had a very successful start to the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. The home player won his first match against Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 6-4, before defeating World No. 1 Djokovic for the first time in his career 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (2). After this, Sinner's place in the semi-final was confirmed after Djokovic dropped a set against first alternate Hubert Hurkacz (who came in after Tsitsipas withdrew from the tournament) in his third group stage tie.

This also meant that if Sinner was defeated in his last group tie against Rune, that the Dane would qualify ahead of Djokovic, putting the defending champion out of the tournament. This led to a lot of speculation about whether or not Sinner would deliberately play badly in order to ensure Djokovic did not qualify.

However, the 22-year-old did not opt for this tactic, instead defeating Rune in three sets, marking his first match win against the World No. 8. This meant that the latter was eliminated while Djokovic went through to the semi-finals along with Sinner.

After the match, some fans were unhappy about this and expressed their views on social media. However, others were quick to defend the Italian, including former player turned commentator Bertolucci: "Unassailable, because of the victory he is accused of not having thought to oust Djokovic from the tournament," the 72-year-old wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

He went on to describe the strategy of losing to eliminate Djokovic "short-sighted" as in order to reach the top you cannot avoid "big obstacles" such as the 24-time Grand Slam champion: "Short-sighted vision. If you want to reach the top you have to think big and overcome the obstacles. Going around them to be smart wouldn't get you far," he continued.

Sinner will face World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals at the Pala Alpitour in Turin today, November 18. Later in the day, Djokovic will take on World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz to decide who will battle it out for the prestigious title at the 2023 ATP Finals.