TOUR FINALS: The indoor hard court season on the ATP Tour finally reaches its pinnacle in Italy this week as Turin hosts the ATP Tour Finals.
The ATP Tour Finals is the most unique events on the tour in which players compete in a round-robin group stage before progressing onto the semi-finals.
The group stage consists of two groups, the Red Group and the Green Group, which each consist of four players. The eight players in the tournament are the top eight ranked players in the ATP standings.
Novak Djokovic – Green Group’s giant
World number one Novak Djokovic has been drawn in the Green group against three top opponents in Jannik Sinner, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune. Despite the high level of competition in the group, Djokovic will be hoping and expecting to come out on top.
Djokovic is the reigning champion at the ATP Tour Finals having won the tournament last year in emphatic style after winning every match from the group stage to the final, where he defeated Casper Ruud in straight sets.
Djokovic is no stranger to winning here and has picked up the title six times, the joint-most in history alongside Roger Federer. A win here would be yet another mark in the history books for the 24-time Grand Slam champion and he will certainly not want to pass up that opportunity.
With his current main rival Carlos Alcaraz drawn in the Red Group, there is every chance we could see those two face off in a final for the third time this season, and Djokovic will want to sway the record in his favour with each having won one of their final meetings so far this season.
Carlos Alcaraz – Red Group’s top seed
World number two Carlos Alcaraz leads the charge for the Red Group ahead of some of the sport’s biggest names in Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz is the youngest in the group by six years, but his skill and big game experience make him the favourite to progress to the semi-finals.
This will be Alcaraz’s first taste of ATP Tour Finals action, but the youngster doesn’t seemed to be phased by anything, which is unsurprising given that he already has two Grand Slam titles to his name at the age of just 20.
Alcaraz has defeated both Medvedev and Zverev in past ATP tournament finals, but he has only faced Andrey Rublev once and was defeated on that occasion.
If Alcaraz can bypass all of his opponents in the group stage, which many expect that he will, then he will have to face Djokovic at either the semi-final or final stage and that is sure to be a matchup which you won’t want to miss.
Alexander Zverev – Hunting a hat-trick
Many will see this year’s ATP Tour Finals as a two-horse race – as a lot of this season has been – between Djokovic and Alcaraz, but two-time ATP Tour Finals champion Alexander Zverev will certainly have a different outcome on his mind.
Zverev heads to Turin as the lowest ranked player in the tournament at eighth in the world, but that won’t be on his mind just so long as he has done enough to qualify. Zverev knows what it takes to win here having picked up the title in 2018 and 2021, and all of his experience will have to be put to use if he is to make it a hat-trick of wins here.
Zverev will have to overcome the like of Alcaraz in the Red Group but that is something which he has manage before, with their head-to-head record reading three wins each. However, the two have only met on indoor hard court once and Zverev was the victor on that occasion.
Of course, with the likes of Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev all competing, it will be a tough task for Zverev, but he is certainly not out of the question. He and Alcaraz will face off in the first group match on Monday and should Zverev be victorious, there then his chances of going all the way will certainly look more favourable.
