In 19 days, on November 9, the Nitto ATP Finals will start in Turin, with eight players competing for the prestigious season title. It could also play a role in confirming who will end the year as world number 1.
Interest is currently focused on whether five players will finally feature in the 2025 edition, joining Carlos Alcaraz, Jannick Sinner and Novak Djokovic, who have already qualified in the top three. Alexander Zverev, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton currently fill the next three spots and seem quite safe; they just really need to confirm where they will end up.
The focus now is on who will fill the final seventh and eighth qualifying spots currently occupied by Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Sonego respectively and this week’s events in Basel and Vienna will play a role in sorting that out as Felix Auger Aliassime (9th), Casper Ruud (11th) and Daniil Medvedev (12th) quickly gain ground. Jack Draper is in that mix at age 10, but because he opted out of the season, he’s ruled himself out.
Musetti is therefore under a lot of pressure and has fallen a little behind as he lost in the quarter-finals to Brussels last week, while his rivals, Auger Aliassime, won Brussels, while Ruud collected full points in Stockholm, as did Medvedev in Almaty, all 250 level events.
All four are back in action this week at 500 ATP Tour events – Musetti and 12th-seeded Medvedev, 875 points behind the Italian, play Vienna, while Auger Aliassime and Casper Ruud chose Basel to chase their points. The Canadian is currently 330 points behind the Italian, while the Norwegian has to make up 740 points.
A flying Alex De Minaur plays a forehand in his first round match against Jurij Rodionov in Basel
(Photo by Christian Bruna/Getty Images)
Although De Minaur is relatively safe in seventh place, he could be under pressure as he is only 60 points ahead of Musetti. He came off the starting line first this week, beating Austrian wildcard Jurij Rodionov 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Musetti will also open his account there on Tuesday when he takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas to keep alive his ambitions of making Turin for the first time in his career.
Meanwhile, Auger Aliassime will also make his first appearance in Basel on Tuesday when he takes on his Canadian compatriot Gabriel Diallo, as will Ruud who takes on Frenchman Quentin Halys.
The Race to Turin gives hope and Musetti is certainly feeling the heat.
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