MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. The match between Russian tennis stars Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev at the 2023 ATP (the Association of Tennis Professionals) Finals tournament in Italy will be interesting, as there is no clear favorite to win, Andrey Olkhovsky, winner of two Grand Slam tournaments in mixed doubles, told TASS on Monday.

"I expect a very interesting match, but I see no favorite to win," Olkhovsky said. "It is still unclear in what shape the guys entered the tournament."

"Andrey [Rublev] showed out at the recent [2023 Paris Masters] tournament in Paris, while Daniil [Medvedev] was ousted at the beginning of the tournament and had more time to recover and prepare for this tournament," he said. "Anyway, the winner of this [upcoming] match has a good chance to win the group."

The two Russians are scheduled to hit the court in Italy’s Turin at 11:00 p.m. Moscow time (9:00 p.m. GMT).

Medvedev and Rublev play on the ATP tour as neutrals and they have been placed in the Red Group for the prestigious tournament in Italy alongside Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz from Spain.

The so-called Green Group of the 2023 ATP Finals contains World No. 1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Italy’s Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece and Denmark’s Holger Rune.

On Sunday, World number one Djokovic defeated Rune 7-6 (7-4); 6-7 (1-7); 6-3, while Sinner secured a straight sets win of 6-4; 6-4 over Tsitsipas.

The ATP Finals is the season-ending event bringing together the top-ranked tennis players in singles and doubles competitions. It is scheduled to be played on indoor hard courts in the Italian city of Turin between November 12 and 19 and offers $14.75 million in prize money.

Medvedev, 27, is currently third in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Rankings List. In 2022, the top Russian racket was the number one-ranked tennis player in the world for 16 weeks. He is the 2021 US Open Champion and has 20 ATP tournament titles under his belt. He has won five of those 20 titles just this year. Also, in 2021, he won the Davis Cup as well as the ATP Cup playing for the Russian national team.

Rublev, 26, is currently ranked 5th in the ATP World Rankings and has 14 ATP tournament titles to his name, two of those wins coming this year. He has also appeared in numerous Grand Slam tournaments, albeit never advancing beyond the quarterfinals. Rublev took home the gold at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in mixed doubles (with teammate Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and also won the 2021 Davis Cup as part of the Russian national team.

Russian players’ neutral status at tennis tournaments

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) ruled on March 1, 2022 to suspend the membership of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis federations while also cancelling all previously scheduled tennis tournaments in the two countries.

On March 14, 2022, the ITF also confirmed its prohibition of the Russian and Belarusian national tennis teams from the 2022 Davis Cup and 2022 Billie Jean King Cup.

However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) allowed tennis players from Russia and Belarus to continue participating in WTA and ATP tournaments, but only under a neutral status.