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ATP FINALS 2026: Capsules on the 8 qualifiers

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A look at the competitors who have qualified for the ATP Finals, the season-ending event for the year’s top eight tennis players, which starts on Sunday in Turin, Italy (seedings in parentheses):

Alexander Zverev (1)

Having claimed his first two Grand Slam titles and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time, Zverev has enjoyed his greatest year. The big-serving German has also won the Finals twice (in 2018 and 2021) and a third title would punctuate his season and also help silence criticism that he reached the top spot only because of injuries to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Zverev comes to Turin on a two-match losing streak.

Carlos Alcaraz (2)

After missing 4 ½ months in the middle of the year due to a right wrist injury, Alcaraz is rediscovering the form that helped him end last year at No. 1. After losing last year’s final in Turin to Sinner, Alcaraz aims to finally win the Finals for the first time and assert his status as the player in the best form at the end of the season. Alcaraz enters on a 10-match winning streak after titles in Vienna and Paris.

Ben Shelton (3)

Shelton lost all three of his matches in his Finals debut a year ago. He’ll expect much more this time after reaching the U.S. Open final, moving into the top five of the rankings and having just reached another big final at the Paris Masters. The big-serving lefty has a game suited to Turin’s fast indoor court and he’s got a new, high-profile coach in Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Daniil Medvedev (4)

Medvedev triumphed at the 2020 Finals and it’s the seventh time that he has qualified for the elite event. After missing the Finals last year, Medvedev broke the 50-wins mark for the first time since 2023 and claimed four titles this year. But the former No. 1’s season will likely be remembered most for two incidents of bad behavior on court: In April, he smashed his racket seven times during a loss at the Monte Carlo Masters, and last month at the China Open he struck a spectator with a ball and was disqualified.

Flavio Cobolli (5)

Cobolli is set to become the fourth Italian to play at the Finals since Turin started hosting the event in 2021 after Matteo Berrettini, Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti. Cobolli reached his first Grand Slam final this year at the French Open and has made it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals for two straight years. He withdrew from the recent Paris Masters due to a left leg injury.

Arthur Fils (6)

Fils is the first Frenchman to compete at the Finals since Gael Monfils a decade ago. The 22-year-old didn’t start his season until February after an eight-month layoff due to a back injury and then also missed the French Open. But he claimed titles in Barcelona and Cincinnati and reached the semifinals at Masters 1000 events in Miami and Madrid.

Frances Tiafoe (7)

After shaking up his diet and training regimen, Tiafoe had the most consistent year of his career, reached the U.S. Open semifinals for a third time, and is now making his Finals debut at age 28. By qualifying along with Shelton, it marks the second straight year with two Americans at the Finals after Taylor Fritz and Shelton last season. Before that, two Americans hadn’t qualified since Andy Roddick and James Blake in 2006.

Rafael Jodar (8)

The 20-year-old Jodar was ranked outside the top 150 a year ago and still playing college tennis at the University of Virginia. He’s only the fifth player to qualify for the ATP Finals a year after making his debut at the Next Gen ATP Finals — the year-ending tournament for the top under-20 players. Jodar made his tour-level debut at this year’s Australian Open.

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