The ATP Finals is in jeopardy of not being the event that it is billed up to be.
Other than the four Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP Finals is the biggest tournament for men’s tennis players, rewarding the best eight players from the season with one final event to go head-to-head.
The ATP Finals this year is already confirmed to have Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton and Daniil Medvedev, with half the field set for Turin.
However, Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner will not be at the ATP Finals this year after ending his season early due to a knee injury, and he is not the only player contending to compete in Turin who is experiencing physical issues, exposing a real flaw within tennis right now.
Players are struggling to stay fit to compete at the ATP Finals
Medvedev is the latest player who has confirmed his qualification into the ATP Finals, with Roland Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli the top player in those who have yet to officially qualify.
However, there is currently some concern hanging over Cobolli, who retired in tears during his match against Matteo Berrettini, as a result of a leg issue. Cobolli has since released a statement to reveal that he has suffered a ‘minor muscle strain’, but he is not the only player in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals who is having physical issues.
Following Cobolli in the race to the ATP Finals is Frenchman Arthur Fils, who also retired in his latest match. Fils could not complete his match against Taylor Fritz in Basel, and he has since confirmed that he is also struggling with a leg issue. Fils is no stranger to injury issues, having spent over five months on the sidelines due to a stress fracture in his lower back.
The relentless calendar is putting its best players’ bodies under too much pressure, highlighting recent comments made by Jack Draper, who called out the ATP Tour after missing all four Grand Slams this year due to his ongoing arm injury.
With players trying to earn points to qualify for the ATP Finals, they are needing to play tournaments when they can at this crucial stage of the season. However, this is having an impact on a number of players’ fitness and the likes of Cobolli and Fils are at risk of not even being able to physically compete in Turin, something Sinner has already had to sacrifice as the two-time defending champion.
While it is understandable that players will have some fatigue at the end of the season going into the ATP Finals, it feels as though the quality of the event is currently in jeopardy as a result of the relentless calendar.
Tell us the five names you think will qualify for the ATP Finals and why 👇
There’s not many tournaments left to play…
Tennis should schedule itself more like another sport going forward
A lot of the injury issues within tennis right now come as a result of some of the rules surrounding mandatory two-week Masters 1000 tournaments and requirements to play ATP 500 level events.
There has been a lot of backlash for this from both players and fans, particularly towards the expansion of the Masters 1000 tournaments, but if tennis wants to keep the events as they are then it needs to take inspiration from sports like Formula One.
Formula One currently models itself to have so many races a year and all drivers are required to compete in those events and those events only. If tennis was to take inspiration from this then top players, like those attempting to qualify for the ATP Finals, would only need to play the four Grand Slams and the Masters 1000 events, as well as potentially in the Davis Cup.
This would likely significantly reduce the amount of fatigue players are feeling and raise the quality of the product, including the ATP Finals.
The ATP Finals will get underway on November 15, and it will be interesting to see if Sinner is the only casualty by the time the eight best players get to Turin.
