Nitto ATP Finals aka Turin

[jimlosaltos]

The ATP Tour Finals start Nov 9. Its web site is a bit of a, ah, work in progress, with draw, seeding and other pages still blank.

But the groups are set awaiting the 8th player (Musetti or FAA). So, Sinner avoids both Alcaraz and Djokovic.

Since the seeds are based on the YTD to "Race" rankings, Alcaraz gets the top seed, even though Sinner is listed as the number one ranked player on the ATP web site. My understanding is that when the points from last year's Turn "drop off" Alcaraz will jump back in front of Sinner to be ranked world number one. Sinner can only pass him with some help. That is Sinner could defend his title in Turin but not pass Alcaraz unless he loses multiple matches in his half of the round robin. I find it curious that the Turin points "drop off" before new results are in.

From the ATP;

SINGLES
Jimmy Connors Group: Carlos Alcaraz (1), Novak Djokovic (4), Taylor Fritz (6), Alex de Minaur (7)

Bjorn Borg Group: Jannik Sinner (2), Alexander Zverev (3), Ben Shelton (5), Felix Auger-Aliassime or Lorenzo Musetti (8)


DOUBLES
Peter Fleming Group: Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool (1), Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (3), Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz (6), Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori (7)

John McEnroe Group: Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten (2), Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic (4), Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski(5), Christian Harrison and Evan King (8)

[jimlosaltos]

FAA in, with Musetti falling to Djokovic in the Athens final.

[jimlosaltos]

The Time of London has details on the Djokovic controversy that drove him to move his family to a beach area near Athens.
Very surprising given his and his father's support of the authoritarian regime, including the "Zwastika" incident at the Australian Open.

Short version: Djokovic spoke out in favor of student demonstrators, which caused supporters of "Little Putin" to be outraged.

"The backlash from Vucic’s supporters has been ferocious. While Vucic has not publicly spoken out against Djokovic, telling Serbian television in July that he would “never say a bad word against him”, media outlets loyal to the president have not shied away from criticism, labelling him a “traitor” and a “disgrace”.

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/tenni...mu43miOQw&s=03

Back to tennis: Djokovic withdrew from the Turin Tour finals AFTER the draw was made, citing a shoulder injury, which he showed no signs of while winning the event. So, Musetti, eliminated in Sunday's final, is back, i.e. both FAA and Musetti qualify. While Musetti is a great player, indoor courts are his worst playing environment.

The withdrawal is very peculiar. After the ATP announced Djokovic had "confirmed" playing, Novak denied that to the media. But he didn't pull out waiting until after the draw, which creates problems with the event, including unbalanced groups in the round robin. This is at least the sixth time, I believe, that Djokovic had withdrawn after the draw. Perhaps he did come down with a shoulder injury during the final in Athens. But refusing to confirm his entry in the ATP's biggest event, then entering a tiny ATP 250, seemingly to get a 101st title is rather passive aggressive.

Djokovic has withdrawn from "at least six tournaments" in his career:

* Indian Wells 2023
* Cincinatti, 2024 and 2025
* Australian Open ( Rejected Visa amid questinable medical and travel forms)
* ATP Finals 2023, 2025

Here's the current list of top title winners, only three have topped 100. (Note some lists show 127 for Connors, but I believe that includes his own "personal tour" organized by his own manager.
One wag posted that Djokovic will play next year, but only enter ATP 250s so he can pass Connors

Jimmy Connors has 109 tour titles,
Roger Federer has 103, and
Novak Djokovic has 101 as of November 2025

[stotty]

Comfortable win for Sinner against FAA. He’s serving so well and pasting the lines left, right and centre. He’ll take some stopping and you get the feeling only one player can do it. Everybody thinks Sinner’s serve has greatly improved and I’m not going to disagree with that. You just feel it could get even better if he could learn to finesse serves wider instead of always deep to the corners…just a thought. He’s getting quite scary to play against because he hits the ball so consistently hard yet barely misses.

[jimlosaltos]

Comfortable win for Sinner against FAA. He’s serving so well and pasting the lines left, right and centre. He’ll take some stopping and you get the feeling only one player can do it. Everybody thinks Sinner’s serve has greatly improved and I’m not going to disagree with that. You just feel it could get even better if he could learn to finesse serves wider instead of always deep to the corners…just a thought. He’s getting quite scary to play against because he hits the ball so consistently hard yet barely misses.

Here are some scary stats.

Sinner has won 27 straight hard court matches.
Today, Sinner won 32 out of 36 first serves.
Sinner has won 90% of his matches this year { 54-6 }

P.S. In fairness, FAA was impaired after the first set, looks like a pull of some sort.

[jimlosaltos]

After beating Fritz, all Alcaraz has to do to hold onto the year end world number one ranking is beat Lorenzo Musetti on Friday, per TheAthletic.

P.S. Fritz played lights out and even that wasn't good enough. Alcaraz picked up his second service and then played that defense he's known for.

[stotty]

Musetti did well to come back and beat de Minaur. I really thought Minaur was going to close that one out. Musetti showed some great shot making and he moves so well…the last two games were outstanding.

[jimlosaltos]

Musetti did well to come back and beat de Minaur. I really thought Minaur was going to close that one out. Musetti showed some great shot making and he moves so well…the last two games were outstanding.

Well put. Also, two of the best movers on tour today after Alcaraz.

[jimlosaltos]

Here is a "Court Level View" of Alcaraz and Frtiz. that is well worth watching.

First, it's excellent tennis. But also this perspective gives one a better feeling for the pace, and also the players' remarkable anticipation.

YT 4:27 min.

[jimlosaltos]

Sinner up a set and a break on Zverev. He's merciless.

Shame the event final can't be for the world number one ranking, but if it's SIncaraz it should still be great.


UPDATE: Sinner wins in straight sets but the second set was closer than the 6-3 score shows.

Zverev had five (5) breakpoints on SInner's serve in that set and couldn't convert a single one, while Sinner got only one (1) BP and, of course, converted it.
Sinner won 5 more points in that set, presumably those 5 BPs on Zverev's service.

Clutch.

[stotty]

It’s not as if Zverez played badly, he actually played well. It’s just that Sinner played so well on all the clutch points, especially behind his own serve. He’s learnt an awful lot from Novak in my view and could well end up an even better version. At this level, playing the big points better than the opponent is what it’s all about. Every time I watch Sinner he seems to get better.

[stroke]

Sinner's forehand was a real problem out there. To me, the advantage he has on the forehand vs Zverev was the biggest difference.

[jimlosaltos]

de Minaur defuses Fritz 7-6(3) 6-3 leads H2H 6-5

It was one thing for Demon to beat Zverev and Mensik on the quite slow courts at the Laver Cup but taking out an very in-form Fritz this week on the supposedly quickish Turin courts is a bit of a surprise.

Haven't watched yet but he broke Fritz twice and won the tie so that was enough. ATP says Demon put on an impressive "attacking display".

IF Alcaraz beats Musetti, Demon is into the single elimination round. While Alcaraz doesn't need the win to qualify, I believe it would clinch the year end number one ranking so expect him to be motivated.

[jimlosaltos]

With de Minaur's fate in Alcaraz's hands, his finace' Katie Boulter's response (at the bottom) amuses.

filedata/fetch?id=108615&d=1763066501&type=thumb

[jimlosaltos]

On a day when ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi presented Carlos Alcaraz with the PIF trophy as ATP year-end number one, Jannik Sinner played like one. Sinner didn't merely go undefeated in the round robin stage, he continued his streak from last year. By the numbers:

Sinner's Streak at ATP Tour Finals

• 8 Consecutive matches won in Turin across 2024-25
• 16 Consecutive sets won
• 29 Consecutive Indoor Hard Court matches won including other events (tying Roger Federer for 5th longest such streak (PMac's tops at 47 (1978-87)
• Zero breaks of his serve this year, and only two in 2024.
• Seven (7 of 7) break points defended in Turin this year, all vs Sasha Zverev. Includes coming back from 0-40 vs Zverev, saved two BPs in opening game vs Zverev with aces, saved another in their second game at 30-40. Sinner faced an identical 7 BPs in 2024's Turin, and was broken twice, once each by De Minaur and Medvedev. Zero in the final vs Fritz.

With only Zverev vs FAA left to be played, here are various set/match stats.
Only Jannik and Carlos won over half their games played with Sinner best at 65.79%. Every other player is in the 40s.



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