But there is still one more tournament to be played, and a lot is at stake.
While most professional tennis players have begun their blink-and-you’ll-miss-it offseason, the elite men are still in action and focused on wrapping up 2025 with the ATP Finals crown. Held for the fifth year in a row at the Pala Alpitour arena in Turin, Italy, the event features the top eight singles and eight doubles teams. It starts on Sunday with round-robin group play. After six days of competition, with each player or pair playing three matches, the top two from their respective groups advance to the semi-finals.
The tournament concludes on November 16 with an undefeated singles champion earning a record $5,071,000, and the winning doubles team earning $959,300. An undefeated winner, in both singles and doubles, also earns 1,500 ranking points. (A title-winning player or team earns less in prize money and ranking points if they lose a match during group play.)
Not sure what to expect or who to look out for at the final ATP tournament of the season? Here’s everything you need to know.
Who’s inside?
Singles
Jimmy Connors group
1. Carlos Alcaraz
4. Novak Djokovic
6. Taylor Fritz
7. Alex de Minaur
Bjorn Borg group
2. Jannik sinner
3. Alexander Zverev
5. Ben Shelton
8. Felix Auger-Aliassime or Lorenzo Musetti (more on this below)
Double
Peter Fleming group
1. Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool
3. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos
6. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz
7. Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori
John McEnroe group
2. Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten
4. Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic
5. Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski
8. Christian Harrison and Evan King
The Big Two’s battle for number 1
It’s difficult to adequately express how impressive Alcaraz and Sinner have been this season. The two – who have a lead of more than 5,000 points between them and the rest of the tour in the rankings – shared the four major titles, with Alcaraz claiming the French Open and US Open and Sinner the Australian Open and Wimbledon. They faced each other in the finals of three of those Slams.
And their fierce grip on the trophies remained strong, even outside the majors. Alcaraz won six other titles this year, including three at Masters 1000 events, and Sinner claimed three titles this fall, including at the Paris Masters earlier this month.
But while the deficit between the Big Two and everyone else is enormous, very little separates Alcaraz and Sinner – and the No. 1 award at the end of the year also plays a role. The 24-year-old Sinner narrowly regained top spot after his victory in Paris, but it will be a short stint. Alcaraz, 22, returns to the position leading into the ATP Finals and could remain there for the rest of the year if he remains undefeated in his three round-robin matches or reaches the final.
Alcaraz, who was ranked No. 1 in 2022, has never won the ATP Finals, and Sinner won the title last year and finished the 2024 season at the top of the rankings. If it’s not crystal clear already, both are hands down the favorites entering the event. The question is: can anyone stop them?
The Djokovic factor
There has been a lot of speculation about Novak Djokovic’s status at the year-end event as he has played sparingly during the second half of the season. Outside of the Slams, he has competed in just two tournaments since May and earlier this month skipped the final Masters 1000 event of the year in Paris.
The 38-year-old Djokovic officially qualified for the ATP Finals last month after a season in which he reached the semifinals of all four majors and won the 250-level title in Geneva. However, he was elusive about his plans to play.
“We have confirmation that Djokovic will be in Turin,” Angelo Binaghi, the head of the Italian Tennis Federation, said on Italian radio station Rai Gr Parlamento on Monday.
But the 24-time major champion denied Binaghi’s claims on Tuesday.
‘I don’t know where [Binaghi] got this information from. Certainly not from me or my team,” Djokovic told reporters after a victory in the round of 16 of the Hellenic Championship in Athens, where his brother Djordje is tournament director. “I will make my decision at the end of this tournament.”
On Friday, Djokovic still did not share his plans, but he also did not make it to the end of the tournament in Athens. On Saturday he will play in his third final of the season, taking on Lorenzo Musetti (more on what makes this an incredibly exciting match below) and will surely announce whether he will go to Turin or call it a season.
Whatever he does, it will be Djokovic’s 18th time qualifying for the ATP Finals – equaling Roger Federer’s record – and if he plays he will have the chance to make his own mark by winning the title for the eighth time. Djokovic withdrew from the 2024 edition but won it the previous two years. Although even he has admitted that he had difficulty facing Alcaraz and Sinner, Turin might be the place where he gets his revenge.
When he plays, that is.
The Americans
Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz will be in action in Italy, marking the first time two American men will compete for the annual singles title since Andy Roddick and James Blake did so in 2006. While neither is considered favorite (see the previous section on the Big Two for clarity here), both have had strong seasons and are capable of reaching the semi-finals or pulling off the ultimate upset.
In fact, Fritz will return to the ATP Finals in 2024 after reaching the final, so he knows exactly what it takes. After his breakthrough season last year, in which he also reached the final at the US Open, he reached his first Wimbledon semi-finals this year, in addition to reaching the quarter-finals at the US Open and winning two ATP titles. He appeared in the final of the Japan Open in September, losing to Alcaraz. Fritz made his third appearance at the ATP Finals, reached the semi-finals on his debut in 2022 and will again try to advance from group play.
Although the 28-year-old Fritz has experience on his side, Shelton qualified for the first time this year after a memorable season. The 23-year-old Shelton, who is ranked sixth in his career, reached the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, in addition to winning his first title at Masters 1000 level at the Canadian Open. A shoulder injury derailed him at the US Open and he was ultimately sidelined for more than a month, but still managed to secure his place in Turin with a quarter-final appearance at the Paris Masters at the end of October.
Shelton said he tried not to focus on making the ATP finals while playing in Paris, but he couldn’t hide how much it meant to him after officially punching his ticket.
“I knew at the end of the day that if I wanted to control my own destiny, I had to win today,” Shelton said after qualifying. “And I knew when I stepped on the field that I would have to die on this field before I went down. … It’s huge. It’s huge for me. It was always a huge goal, [and] The most important thing: to get back to the level I played today. That’s where I want to be.”
In doubles, all-American duo Christian Harrison and Evan King claimed the final spot after a remarkable debut season together. At the start of the year, neither Harrison, 31, nor King, 33, had ever won an ATP title. This year they won three, including at the 500-level events in Dallas and Mexico, and reached their first major semifinals at the French Open. They are the first American team to reach the ATP Finals since eventual champions Mike Bryan and Jack Sock did so in 2018, and will end 2025 like their compatriots by capturing their biggest title yet.
The procrastinators
Alcaraz secured his place at Turin in July, and Sinner followed the following month, but other players waited until the match. terribly last minute to finalize their travel plans. (Warning: For those who like to plan their trips and book their flights months in advance, this section may not be for you.)
Like Shelton, Alex de Minaur qualified for the tournament on October 30 (for the second year in a row) after a successful run at the Paris Masters. And that left only one spot left. At that point, Musetti was next in line with a 290-point lead over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
But that’s where things got interesting. Musetti had lost in the round of 32 in Paris and Auger-Aliassime then seized the opportunity by reaching the final. Although a win would have clinched the spot, he lost to Sinner but still had a 160-point lead over Musetti entering the final week of the regular season.
However, a knee injury forced the Canadian to withdraw from the tournament, leaving the fate solely in Musetti’s hands. Musetti plays in Athens and can only win the place by winning the title on Saturday. Yes, just one day before the ATP Finals start in another country.
And as unlikely as it sounds, that is where we are now. As mentioned earlier, Musetti will face Djokovic in the final on Saturday. It has been a challenging week for Musetti – who needed three sets against Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16 and saved match point against Sebastian Korda in a tight three-set semi-final on Friday – but he has somehow found a way to keep his hopes of qualifying for his first ATP Finals alive.
Can he end his miraculous run on Saturday with the trophy and a ticket to Turin? Or will Auger-Aliassime get the bid? Stay informed.
Double the fun
While Harrison and King will look to shock the field, Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz will look to defend their trophy in Italy. The German duo made their first appearance together as a team in 2024 and left with the ultimate farewell gift. They won the titles in Halle and Shanghai this year, in addition to a semi-final at the Australian Open. Can they join the list of returning champions?
Maybe! But it won’t be easy. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos won both the French Open and US Open this season, as well as three other titles, and have a 5-0 record entering the finals in 2025. They reached the final in 2023 (and Granollers won the title in 2012) and are perhaps the favorite to win it all.
Australian Open champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten and Wimbledon winners Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool are also in the field. Heliovaara and Patten achieved victory at the Paris Masters and the best-placed British duo Cash and Glasspool reached no fewer than 11(!) tour finals in 2025, winning seven. Both teams will certainly be more motivated than ever to end their milestone seasons with another trophy.
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