ATP Tour Finals: Alcaraz’s missing crown, Zverev’s missing validation

In the rough and tumble of the men’s tennis circuit, Carlos Alcaraz has had a tumblier year than usual. It started with him scything through the field in Australia. Watching him run roughshod over all rivals playing otherworldly tennis, keen eyes wondered if the calendar slam was an inevitability.

Then came a reminder of mortality. An injured wrist forced an extended hiatus, leaving him on the sidelines as the circuit rumbled on. After missing the French Open and Wimbledon, Alcaraz returned, signature toothy grin and sublime shot-making intact. He lost in the quarters at the US Open but has since unveiled his magic with tournament wins in Tokyo, Vienna and most recently, Paris.

This week, Alcaraz is on another mission — to win the ATP tour finals in the Italian city of Turin. Outside the four majors, the Tour Finals is the most coveted title in the sport. Alcaraz will join seven others, who have earned the right to be in Turin with consistent outcomes over the year. Alcaraz, who has won each of the four majors over his already decorated career, has never triumphed at this event. Last year, he went down in straight sets to his fiercest modern-day rival Jannik Sinner.

Sinner won’t be in Turin, having drawn the shutters on his season due to a knee injury, leaving Alcaraz with one less obstacle to overcome.

“I’m feeling really comfortable,” he said, after winning in Paris. “I’m improving on this surface and on the courts. I’m going to go to Turin, going to try to do the same things that I have been doing, always going forward, trying to still improve, still evolve my game.”

Sinner’s absence though doesn’t leave the coast entirely clear for Alcaraz. His opponents in the “Ivan Lendl” group are 2020 champion Daniil Medvedev, French Open finalist and home boy Flavio Cobolli, and feisty American Francis Tiafoe. While these are significant impediments in his path, Alcaraz will have one eye on the “John McEnroe” group where Frenchman Arthur Fils, Spanish sensation Rafael Jodar and US Open finalist Ben Shelton will be joined by the man who has risen to the top of the rankings — Alexander Zverev.
With Sinner and Alcaraz ceding some of the space they had muscularly occupied over the last two years because of injuries and inexplicable meltdowns, the towering German has finally delivered on his long-standing promise. The 29-year-old won his first two majors this season, and arrives in Turin with a 65-18 win-loss record in 2026. For all his accomplishments over the year, Zverev is yet to fully win over the doubters, who have suggested he has barged in a door left open by Alcaraz and Sinner not being their premium versions.“I don’t think anybody had to explain themselves as much as I had to do in the last couple of days, which for me, is annoying, to be honest,” he said, visibly frustrated when his ascent to the top of the rankings was confirmed. The ATP Tour Finals, an event he has won twice – in 2018 & 2021 – is Zverev’s opportunity to silence those critics in a field strewn with the best players on the planet.

While Alcaraz and Zverev provide the dominant narrative, the sub-plots are equally mouth-watering. 20-yearold Jodar started the year ranked 168, and constructed a 45-19 win-loss record to become the first player in history to reach the ATP Tour Finals in the same year as his tour-level debut. 24-year-old Shelton arrives on the back of his career-best season that included a first ever run into a major final and four titles. As many as four of the eight men in action – Cobolli, Fils, Tiafoe and Jodar – are first timers at this elite annual joust, underlining the shifting sands in the men’s game. Who will be the last man standing? Well, that is anybody’s guess!