The ATP Tour Finals in Turin, Italy have their semifinalists. After 12 matches, all but two of them straight-sets wins, Jannik Sinner will face Casper Ruud in one semifinal, with Alexander Zverev playing Taylor Fritz in the other.
At the start of the tournament, world No. 1 Sinner was drawn alongside world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, while Carlos Alcaraz, the world No. 3, was drawn alongside world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
Fritz, the U.S. Open finalist who lost to Sinner in New York, was also drawn in the Italian’s group alongside Australian Alex De Minaur, making his ATP Tour Finals debut; Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, who qualified as world No. 9 after Novak Djokovic withdrew, rounded out the second group.
| Ilie Nastaste Group | Seeding | John Newcombe Group | Seeding | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Jannik Sinner
|
1
|
|
Alexander Zverev
|
2
|
|
Daniil Medvedev
|
4
|
|
Carlos Alcaraz
|
3
|
|
Taylor Fritz
|
5
|
|
Casper Ruud
|
6
|
|
Alex de Minaur
|
7
|
|
Andrey Rublev
|
8
|
The draw meant that Sinner and Alcaraz would both have to qualify first (or second) in their groups to avoid facing each other in the semifinals. Alcaraz leads their head to head 3-0 in 2024, with each match going to a deciding set, though Sinner triumphed in the final of the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, which was not an ATP-sanctioned event.
Instead, Alcaraz lost twice and exited the tournament after a straight-sets defeat to Zverev, with Ruud taking advantage after he beat Alcaraz in the duo’s opening match.
ATP Tour Finals qualification permutations: Ilie Nastase Group
| # | Player | W/L | Sets W/L | Sets % | Games W/L | Games % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Jannik Sinner
|
4-0
|
6-0
|
100%
|
36-22
|
62.07%
|
|
2
|
Taylor Fritz
|
2-1
|
4-3
|
57.14%
|
37-33
|
52.86%
|
|
3
|
Daniil Medvedev
|
1-2
|
2-4
|
33.33%
|
26-30
|
46.43%
|
|
4
|
Alex De Minaur
|
0-4
|
1-6
|
14.29%
|
27-41
|
39.71%
|
With three wins from three, Sinner qualified ahead of Fritz.
ATP Tour Finals qualification permutations: John Newcombe Group
| # | Player | W/L | Sets W/L | Sets % | Games W/L | Games % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
Alexander Zverev
|
3-0
|
6-0
|
100.00%
|
38-27
|
58.46%
|
|
2
|
Casper Ruud
|
2-1
|
4-3
|
57.14%
|
39-32
|
54.93%
|
|
3
|
Carlos Alcaraz
|
1-2
|
2-4
|
33.33%
|
29-35
|
45.31%
|
|
4
|
Andrey Rublev
|
0-3
|
1-6
|
14.29%
|
30-42
|
41.67%
|
Zverev’s three wins from three qualified him in first place; Ruud’s defeat of Rublev in the final round left the Russian with zero wins, putting the Norwegian through.
How does the ATP Tour Finals draw work?
The eight players who qualified were split into four pots for the draw. Pot 1 is No. 1 and No. 2, Pot 2 is No. 3 and No. 4, and so on.
These seedings follow the players’ rankings in the ‘ATP Race to Turin,’ the table which only counts ranking points earned in 2024.
Each player then plays three round-robin matches. The top two players from each group contest the semifinals, with the winners meeting in the final.
This year, Andrey Rublev has qualified as the eighth player despite being No. 9 in the race. Novak Djokovic, who finished at No. 6, withdrew from the Tour Finals with an “ongoing injury,” so Rublev took his place as the next-highest ranked player.
Who won last year’s tournament?
Djokovic won the 2023 ATP Tour Finals in Turin, beating Sinner 6-3, 6-3 in the final to avenge a round-robin defeat to the Italian. The victory crowned a superb season for Djokovic, who won three of the four Grand Slams alongside the Tour Finals. This year, he misses the event without an ATP Tour title to his name.
What is the prize money for the ATP Tour Finals?
The total prize money is $15.25million (£11.76m), which is a record for the event. Prize money is allocated per match win, and is structured so that the champion will take home $4.88m (£3.78m) if they go through the event undefeated with five wins (three round-robin wins, a semifinal win, and then victory in the final).
The winner of the final will receive $2.24m (£1.74m) while the winner of each semifinal will receive $1.12m (£870,000); the prize for a round-robin match win is $396,500 (£307,100) and each player receives $331,000 (£256,000) just for appearing at the event, provided they fulfil all of their round-robin matches.
The prize for the winner is larger than any of the four Grand Slams, the largest of which is the U.S. Open at $3.6m (£2.77m). It is also the same size as the pool for the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but is structured slightly differently: the winner there will take home over $5m (£3.87m).
(Top photo of Jannik Sinner: Tullio Puglia / Getty Images)
