Paris Masters tips: Jannik Sinner a dark horse to clip Novak Dokovic's wings

World number two Alcaraz, who received a bye in the first round, somehow lost to Roman Safiullin in a huge upset. As ever Alcaraz, who has really gone off the boil in recent weeks, took his defeat with grace and humility.

Not so Daniil Medvedev, who gave the crowd a cheeky middle finger after being booed in Paris after his shock loss to Grigor Dimitrov.

With no hint of irony, Medvedev went full John Gotti afterwards when he denied the offence and told a press conference: “I just checked my nails, like this, no really it’s nothing more than that. Why would I do that to this beautiful crowd in Paris Bercy?”

It was Gotti who once said, “It's better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a lamb” and when it comes to gambling, sometimes you have just got to invoke the spirit of a violent, ruthless 1980s mobster and take a punt.

Novak Djokovic is a shade off odds-on across the board to win what would be the sixth title of a fantastic season. He’s the World No. 1 and he’s the logical call after doing great things at this venue down the years. Djokovic is a fantastic athlete and brilliant shot-maker.

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He is also ruthless and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game of tennis and his opponents. The Serb knows his opponent's weakest area and then hits ball after ball after ball into said areas. 

Low risk, high-percentage shots, backing his own stamina to keep putting the ball in the same areas until his victim yields and makes a mistake.

What he has done in a Hall-of-Fame career does not need expanding in this column. So given what we know, he would be the ‘lamb’ call to mop up and win a record-extending seventh Paris Masters title this week. 

However, the ‘lion’ call here is Jannik Sinner, who is available at 11/2 with Planet Sport Bet for the title. 

Sinner’s massive power - especially from the forehand side – means he can be unplayable when he is ‘on’. He is up to a career-high ranking of No. 4 in the world and has already won two titles on indoor hard this season (Montpellier, Vienna) so should like the courts in Paris.

He faces what looks like a tough assignment against Aussie Alex de Minaur next, but delve a little deeper into their head-to-head history and it is clear that Sinner is the boss of that matchup. Not only has Sinner won all of their previous five matches, but he has also taken the last nine sets they have played.

The Italian won Vienna last week and looks in good form. Obviously, it is a problem that he’s not beaten Djokovic in three previous meetings, and that’s why the bookies have him as an 11/2 poke.

However all three of their previous matches have been on grass or clay in Grand Slams and on a faster court indoors, in a best-of-three encounter, I would not be lumping my mortgage money on Djokovic if he met the mercurial Italian later this week.

Top Tip: Jannik Sinner to win the Paris Masters at 11/2 (Planet Sport Bet)