The ATP Finals begin on Sunday in Turin, Italy, featuring the eight best singles players and eight best doubles teams of 2024.
The field is led by World No.1 Jannik Sinner, who won the first two Majors of his career during 2024. He sits atop the Nastase round-robin group, which opens play on Sunday, and also includes Daniil Medvedev, Taylor Fritz, and ATP Finals debutante Alex de Minaur.
The Newcombe Group will play their first matches on Monday, and features Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, and Andrey Rublev.
Each day, this preview will analyze the most intriguing matchup, while highlighting the other matches on the schedule. Sunday’s play begins at 11:30am local time.
Jannik Sinner (1) vs. Alex de Minaur (7) – Not Before 8:30pm
The past 18 months on the ATP tour has been dominated by Sinner. He is 65-6 in 2024, and since July of 2023, is a stellar 97-11, with 10 titles. This season, the Italian went 7-1 in finals, triumphing at both hard court Majors. It was a year ago during this tournament that he truly elevated himself to the top of the game. Despite losing the final to Novak Djokovic, he went 4-0 heading into the final, and defeated Djokovic in an over three-hour three-setter during round robin play.
2024 has also been the best season of de Minaur’s career, which has seen him go 47-16, and win two titles (Acapulco, ‘s-Hertogenbosch). In addition, the 25-year-old reached the second week of all four Majors. Alex is the first Australian singles player to qualify for the ATP Finals since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
But their shared history has been completely one-sided. Sinner is 7-0 against de Minaur, with six of those matches taking place on hard courts. And out of the 17 sets they’ve contested, Alex has only claimed one, with Jannik taking the last 13. At the biggest event in his home country, the World No.1 is a huge favorite to win again on Sunday.
Other Notable Matches on Sunday:
Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic (3) vs. Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson (5) – Koolhof and Mektic won this event back in 2020, and claimed three Masters 1000 titles in 2024, including the last two. Purcell and Thompson claimed four titles this season, all in North America, including the US Open.
Daniil Medvedev (4) vs. Taylor Fritz (5) – Medvedev is 45-19 on the year, and for the first time since 2017, he’s failed to win a title this season. Fritz has gone 49-21, has won two titles, and reached his first Major final in New York. Surprisingly, they’ve only played once before, with Daniil taking a straight-setter two years ago in Cincinnati.
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (2) vs. Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten (7) – Granollers and Zeballos were finalists here a year ago, and have since collected two more Masters 1000 titles. Heliovaara and Patten were the shocking champions of Wimbledon this year, in one of the most thrilling matches of 2024. These two teams met six months ago in this same country, when Granollers and Zeballos prevailed in the first round of Rome on clay.
Sunday’s full Order of Play is here.
