Who to Look Out for at the ATP Finals?
by Steve Ashfield | by Steve Ashfield
A Magnificent Seven for Djokovic?
All eyes of the tennis world will be on Turin from November 12 to 19. That's when Novak Djokovic will be defending his ATP Finals title and hoping to win the tournament for the seventh time. All year players have been earning ranking points on the ATP Tour and the top eight now battle it out in Turin on an indoor hard court. The qualifiers are (in order of ranking points earned).
- Novak Djokovic
- Carlos Alcaraz
- Daniil Medvedev
- Jannik Sinner
- Andrey Rublev
- Stefanos Tsitsipas
- Alexander Zverev
- Holger Rune
The eight players will be divided into two round-robin groups of four. Each player faces the others in the group once and the top two go into the knockout semi-finals. Novak Djokovic was the winner last year beating Casper Ruud in the final. He goes into this tournament as the world number one and fresh from winning the Paris Masters. However, his win in the ATP Finals last year was his first victory in the tournament since 2015.and his first final in five years.
This year has seen the Serb win three of the four Grand Slam events that were held. His only loss was to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. Djokovic. Overall he's won six tournaments this year and regained his place at the top of the world rankings. He'll be hard to beat in Turin. You can follow all the matches on our tennis livescore.
Return to Form Needed for Alcaraz
Carlos Alcaraz heads to Turin with plenty to prove. He's won five titles this year, including Wimbledon for the first time. That win in July was the last tournament that he's won and his form going into the ATP Finals is not good. Last week in the Paris Masters he lost to Roman Safiullin in his first match making it two straight losses. Can he regain his form in Turin?
This is his first time playing in the ATP Finals. He did qualify for last year's tournament but had to withdraw due to injury. Being second in the ATP Live Race, he won't have to meet Novak Djokovic until the final but will he get that far? During the tournament you'll be able to read our tennis betting tips for every single match.
Another Title for Medvedev?
Daniil Medvedev won the ATP Finals in 2020 and lost in the final the following year. It didn't go quite so well in Turin last year with the Russian failing to make it out of the round-robin stages. 2023 has seen him reach nine finals, winning five of them. His last three have all been lost and his last title was won back in May. He remains a player you rule out at your peril.
A Home Win for Sinner?
Could Italian fans be cheering a home victory on November 19? Jannik Sinner has had a strong second half of the year with recent triumphs in three tournaments since August. He's up to a career best fourth in the world rankings and is in the ATP Finals for only the second time. He missed out in 2022 and the year before was knocked out in the round-robin stages. Sinner came into the tournament as an alternate after the withdrawal of fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini but failed to reach the last four. He's in good form and could well at least get to the knockout stages for the first time.
Also In Contention
Any of the players in the Tour Finals could win the tournament. There have been some surprise winners in the past including Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Grigor Dimitrov.
Holger Rune was an alternate last year but didn't get to play. This is the first time he's qualified for the round-robin stages and is a player always capable of causing an upset. He took Novak Djokpovic to a final set in Paris last week and recently made it to the last four of the Swiss Indoors Championships
Alexander Zverev won this title in both 2018 and 2021 but injury ruled him out last year. 2023 has seen him climbing back up the ranking and two titles have been won including a recent hard court event held in Chengdu.
Stefanos Tsitsipas won this tournament four years ago. However, since then he's qualified every year but lost in the round-robin stages. The Greek player has reached the semi-finals in each of his last three events and might just be running into form.
Andrey Rublev was a semi-finalist last year and has had a consistent 2023. Six finals have been reached with two titles won (both on clay) and his last three tournaments have seen him reach at least the last four. A dangerous player but one that often falls short in top tournaments. Could this be the week he wins the biggest title of his career?
