This season was a memorable and perhaps era-defining year on the ATP Tour, with superstars Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner reigning supreme.
But there is one more tournament to play and a lot to look forward to.
While most professional tennis players have had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it start to the offseason, the elite men are still in action and focused on ending 2025 with an ATP Finals crown. The event, which will be held for the fifth consecutive year at the Pala Alpitour Arena in Turin, Italy, will feature the top eight singles players and eight doubles teams and will open with round-robin group play on Sunday. After six days of competition in which each player or pair plays three matches, the top two from each group advance to the semi-finals.
The tournament concludes on November 16th, with the undefeated singles champions taking home a record-breaking $5,071,000 and the winning doubles team taking home up to $959,300. The undefeated winner in both singles and doubles will earn 1,500 in ranking points. (Players or teams that win the title will earn less prize money and ranking points if they lose a match during group play.)
Not sure what to expect or who to keep an eye on at the final ATP tournament of the season? Here’s everything you need to know.
who is in it
single
jimmy conners group
1. Carlos Alcaraz
4. Novak Djokovic
6. Taylor Fritz
7. Alex de Minaur
Bjorn Borg Group
2. Jannik Sinner
3. Alexander Zverev
5. Ben Shelton
8. Felix Auger-Aliassime or Lorenzo Musetti (More on this below)
doubles
peter fleming group
1. Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool
3. Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos
6. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz
7. Simone Borrelli and Andrea Vavassoli
John McEnroe Group
2. Hari Heliovara and Henry Patten
4. Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic
5. Joe Salisbury and Neil Skupski
8. Christian Harrison and Evan King
Big 2 battle for No.1
It’s hard to adequately express how impressive Alcaraz and Sinner have been this season. Currently, the two players are separated by more than 5,000 points in the rankings from the rest of the tour, with Alcaraz winning the French Open and US Open, and Sinner winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, splitting the four major titles into two. They faced each other in the finals of three of these competitions.
And even after leaving the majors, their ferocious grip on the trophy remained strong. Alcaraz won six titles this year, including three at Masters 1000 events, and Sinner won three titles this fall, including the Paris Masters earlier this month.
But while the differences between the Big Two and the rest are vast, there is very little that separates Alcaraz and Sinner. And the distinction of number one at the end of the year is also relevant. The 24-year-old Sinner has barely regained top spot after his victory in Paris, but it will be a short stint. The 22-year-old Alcaraz is back in position to qualify for the ATP Finals and could stay there for the rest of the year if he remains undefeated in three round-robin games or reaches the final.
Alcaraz, who was ranked No. 1 in 2022, has never won an ATP Finals, while Sinner won the title last year and finished the 2024 season at the top. It may not have been clear yet here, but both are definitely favorites to attend the event. The only question is, can someone stop them?
djokovic factor
Novak Djokovic’s lack of play in the second half of the season has led to a lot of speculation about his place at year-end events. Outside of Slams, he has played in just two tournaments since May, and missed the final Masters 1000 of the year in Paris earlier this month.
Djokovic, 38, officially qualified for the ATP Finals last month after a season in which he reached the semi-finals of all four major tournaments and won the 250-level title in Geneva. But he’s been elusive about his plans to play.
“I can confirm that Djokovic will come to Turin,” Italian Tennis Federation president Angelo Binaghi told Italian radio channel Rai Gr Parlamento on Monday.
However, the 24-time major champion denied Binaghi’s claims on Tuesday. “I don’t know where[Binaghi]got this information from, certainly not from me or my team,” Djokovic told reporters after winning the round of 16 at the Greek Championships in Athens. In Athens, his older brother Jorge is the tournament director. “I will make a decision after this tournament is over.”
As of Friday, Djokovic has yet to reveal his plans, but to be fair, he hasn’t reached the end of the tournament. On Saturday, he will face Lorenzo Musetti in his third final of the season (more on why this is an incredibly attractive matchup below), after which he is sure to announce whether he will travel to Turin or end the season.
Whatever he does, this will be Djokovic’s 18th ATP Finals appearance, tying Roger Federer’s all-time record, and a chance to add to his record with an eighth title if he does. Djokovic withdrew from the 2024 tournament, but won the championship the previous two years, in 2022 and 2023. He himself admits that he had a tough time against Alcaraz and Sinner, but maybe Turin will be the stage for his revenge.
If he plays, that is.
american
Ben Shelton and Taylor Fritz will compete in Italy, marking the first time two American men have competed for the year-end singles title since Andy Roddick and James Blake in 2006. And while neither is considered a favorite (see previous section on the Big 2 for clarity), both are having strong seasons and could make it to the semifinals or pull off the ultimate upset.
In fact, Fritz knows exactly what it takes to return to the ATP Finals after reaching the finals in 2024. Following on from last year’s breakout season in which he also reached the US Open final, the 28-year-old reached the quarter-finals of the US Open this year, won two ATP titles and reached the Wimbledon semi-finals for the first time this year. At the Japan Open in September, he played in the final and lost to Alcaraz. Fritz will be competing in the ATP Finals for the third time, reaching the semi-finals in his debut in 2022 and once again aiming to advance from group play.
Fritz has experience, but Shelton, 23, qualified for the first time this year after a significant season. Shelton, currently ranked a career-high No. 6, won his first Masters 1000-level title at the Canadian Open, as well as reaching the semifinals at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Although he was sidelined with a shoulder injury at the US Open and was sidelined for more than a month, he still made it to the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters in late October, securing a spot in Turin.
Shelton said he tried not to focus on making it to the ATP Finals while playing in Paris, but once he officially earned his ticket, he couldn’t hide how much it meant to him.
“I knew at the end of the day that if I wanted to control my destiny, I had to go for a win today,” Shelton said after qualifying. “And when I went out on the court, I knew I had to die on this court before I went down…It’s huge. It’s huge for me. It’s always been a big goal. (And) the most important thing is to get back to this level that I played today. That’s where I want to get to.”
In doubles, the All-American duo of Christian Harrison and Evan King took the bottom spot after an impressive debut season. Coming into this year, neither Harrison, 31, nor King, 33, had ever won an ATP title. This year, they won three times, including 500-level tournaments in Dallas and Mexico, and reached the semifinals of a major for the first time at Roland Garros. They will be the first American team to reach the ATP Finals since eventual champions Mike Bryan and Jack Sock did so in 2018, and will end 2025 the same way their compatriots won their biggest title yet.
person who procrastinates
Alcaraz qualified for Torino in July, followed by Sinner the following month, while other players qualified for the game against Torino. very Just before finalizing your travel plans. (Warning: If you plan your trip and want to book your flights months in advance, this section may not be for you.)
Like Shelton, Alex de Minaur qualified for the tournament on October 30th (for the second year in a row) after a strong performance at the Paris Masters. And now there’s only one spot left. At this point, Musetti was in second place, with a 290 point lead over Felix Auger-Aliassime.
But here’s where things get interesting. Musetti had lost in the round of 32 in Paris, but Auger-Aliassime seized the opportunity to reach the final. A win would have guaranteed him a spot, but despite losing to Sinner, he still entered the final week of the regular season with a 160-point lead over Musetti.
However, a knee injury forced the Canadian to withdraw from the tournament, leaving his fate in Musetti’s hands. Musetti, who plays in Athens, can only qualify by winning the title on Saturday. Yes, just one day before the ATP Finals is scheduled to begin in another country.
And, however unlikely it may sound, that is the situation we find ourselves in now. As previously mentioned, Musetti will face Djokovic in Saturday’s final. It’s been a tough week for Musetti – he needed three sets against Stan Wawrinka in the round of 16 and then held off a match point in Friday’s close three-set battle with Sebastian Korda in the semi-finals – but he somehow found a way to keep his hopes of making his first ATP Finals appearance alive.
Will he be able to end his miraculous run on Saturday with a trophy and a ticket to Turin? Or will Auger-Aliassime win the bid? stay tuned.
Double the fun
Harrison and King will aim to make an impact on the field, while Kevin Krawitz and Tim Puetz will aim to defend the trophy in Italy. The German duo made their first appearance as a team in 2024 and left with the ultimate parting gift. They won titles in Halle and Shanghai this year and also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Will they be able to join the list of regular champions?
perhaps! But it’s not easy. Marcel Granolles and Horacio Zeballos won both the French Open and the US Open this season, along with three other titles, and are 5-0 in the 2025 finals. They will reach the final in 2023 and Granolles won the title in 2012 and could be the favorite to win.
Australian Open winners Hari Heliovaara and Henry Patten and Wimbledon winners Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool will also be in attendance. Heliovara and Patten went on a winning streak at the Paris Masters, while the top-seeded British pair of Cash and Glasspool reached an astonishing 11 (!) Tour Finals in 2025, winning seven of them. There is no doubt that both teams will be more motivated than ever to end this milestone season with another trophy.
