Turin without its champion: the Sinner ATP Finals no one predicted in January
Three days. On Sunday 15 November the eight best players of the season walk into the Inalpi Arena in Turin, and the one name everyone expected to defend the title will not be among them.
The absence of Jannik Sinner adds an unpredictable twist to this year’s Sinner ATP Finals.
What changed since last year
Jannik Sinner won this event in 2024 and 2025. On 6 October he ended his season with inflammation in his right knee, writing that he also needed “to think about my long-term career”. He had not played since Wimbledon.
His absence opens the draw more than any single result could. Half the field are debutants: Flavio Cobolli, Arthur Fils, Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jódar.
Jódar is the story nobody wrote in January. The ATP says no player since at least 1990 has reached the Finals after starting the year ranked lower than No. 168. He is 20, in his first full season as a professional, and he took the eighth and last place only when Carlos Alcaraz beat Taylor Fritz in the Paris quarter-finals.
The groups
- John McEnroe Group: Alexander Zverev (1), Ben Shelton (3), Arthur Fils (6), Rafael Jódar (8)
- Ivan Lendl Group: Carlos Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (4), Flavio Cobolli (5), Frances Tiafoe (7)
Two in each group go through to the semi-finals.
What is at stake
For Zverev, the top seed, this is the clearest path to a big title he has had in years, with no Sinner to meet. For Alcaraz, who lost last year’s final to Sinner 7-6, 7-5, it is the one big title that has so far resisted him, now without the man who beat him. For Italy, it is a home Finals with a home debutant in Cobolli instead of the home champion.
And there is the venue itself. Turin hosts the event through 2027. What comes after has not been decided, and a week without Italy’s biggest draw is a week the organisers will be watching closely.
What we will cover
The opening-day analysis on 15 November, then a read on each group after the second round of matches.
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