Before facing off at the Nitto ATP Finals, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur adjust to the conditions – and the high stakes – in Turin.
During Friday’s Media Day, the trio took part in a photo shoot and took part in a group press conference ahead of the tournament action, which begins on Sunday. Novak Djokovic will join them in the Jimmy Connors Group after playing the ATP 250 final in Athens on Saturday.
The stakes are especially high for world No. 1 Alcaraz, who is playing not only for his first Nitto ATP Finals title, but also for ATP Year-End No. 1, presented by PIF Awards.
“This is one of the best and most important tournaments we have on Tour and all the players have been trying to qualify for this tournament since the beginning of the year, so it is a really special tournament,” Alcaraz said. “I’m excited and very motivated to give a good performance here and play good tennis, giving myself the opportunity to try and win, so let’s see.”
As Alcaraz tries to hold off defending champion Jannik Sinner and maintain his No. 1 position in the PIF ATP rankings, the Spaniard must worry about his group opponents first. Djokovic is in fine form and has reached at least the semi-finals in his last six events, while Fritz and De Minaur present their own problems for all to see on the net.
Fritz is a returning finalist in Turin, with round-robin victories against De Minaur and Daniil Medvedev, and a semi-final victory over Alexander Zverev in last year’s tournament.
“I felt like I was playing very good tennis all week. I had a very good training week leading up to it. Getting to the final was obviously a very good result. I would say that moment, winning the semi-final, was the best,” said the American, who defeated Zverev in a third-set tie-break in the semi-finals.
In addition to his success on the field, Fritz also has fond memories of the crowd in Turin: “Even though I played against Jannik twice and in the final against Jannik, I thought the crowd was great and incredibly nice to me, so that was great too.”
De Minaur, who is looking for his first Nitto ATP Finals match victory in his second appearance, enters this year’s event with a 42-14 record on hard courts, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. His 42 wins are the most tour-level wins for any player this season, and his 55 overall wins are a personal best, surpassing his previous record of 48.
“Overall I’m very happy with the year I’ve had. I think I’ve shown very good consistency and I’ve been able to play good tennis on this surface,” said the Australian, who won the title in Washington, DC and reached the Rotterdam final.
“Now that I look at the upcoming competition, I think we have a very tough group. We are all very capable of playing good tennis and making life difficult for each other. That said, I think we are all excited about the start of the competition. That is what we are all aiming for, the last tournament of the year, to have a really good week and show what we have achieved all year.”
The seventh seed from Turin, De Minaur secured his place in Turin in the penultimate week of the regular competition by reaching the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters. Although he is relieved to have won his place, he sympathized with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti, whose fate in Turin will have to wait until the last day: if Musetti beats Djokovic in Saturday’s final in Athens, the Italian will overtake Auger-Aliassime for the eighth and final Nitto ATP Finals spot.
“Obviously at the end of the year it gets a bit stressful, trying to wait and see when exactly you’re going to qualify, who wins matches and so on,” he said. “We still have a few players who are still battling it out at the moment, but ultimately I’m very happy to be back here and I’m very excited.”
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