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.