Alcaraz, Fritz, De Minaur ready to 'make life difficult for each other' in Turin
Before they face off at the Nitto ATP Finals, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur are adjusting to the conditions — and the high stakes — in Turin.
During Friday’s Media Day, the trio participated in a photo shoot and sat down for a group press conference ahead of the tournament action, which begins on Sunday. Novak Djokovic is set to join them in the Jimmy Connors Group after playing the Athens ATP 250 final on Saturday.
The stakes are especially high for World No. 1 Alcaraz, who is playing not only for his first Nitto ATP Finals title, but also for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.
“This is one of the best and most important tournaments that we have on Tour that all the players are trying since the beginning of the year to qualify to this tournament, so it’s a really special one,” Alcaraz said. “I’m excited and I’m really motivated to do a good performance here and to play a good tennis, giving myself the chance to try to win, so let’s see.”
While Alcaraz is seeking to hold off defending champion Jannik Sinner and maintain his No. 1 spot in the PIF ATP Rankings, the Spaniard must first worry about his group opponents. Djokovic is in fine form, having reached at least the semi-finals at his past six events, while Fritz and De Minaur present their own problems for anyone across the net.
Fritz is a returning Turin finalist, with round-robin wins against De Minaur and Daniil Medvedev, and a semi-final victory over Alexander Zverev in last year’s tournament.
“I just felt like I was playing very good tennis the whole week. I had a really good training week leading into it. Obviously making the final was a really good result. I would say that moment, winning the semi-final match, was the best,” said the American, who beat Zverev in a third-set tie-break in the semi-finals.
Apart from his on-court success, Fritz also holds fond memories of the Turin crowd: “Even though I played Jannik twice, and Jannik in the final, I thought the crowd was amazing and incredibly nice to me, so that was great as well.”
De Minaur, seeking his first Nitto ATP Finals match win in his second appearance, enters this year’s event with a 42-14 record on hard courts, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. His 42 victories are the most tour-level wins on the surface for any player this season, and his 55 overall wins are a personal record, eclipsing his previous best of 48.
“Overall I’m very pleased with the year I’ve had. I think I’ve shown some really good consistency and I’ve been able to play some good tennis on this surface,” said the Aussie, who won the Washington, D.C., title and reached the Rotterdam final.
“Now looking towards the competition ahead, I think we’ve got a very tough group. We’re all very capable of playing some good tennis and making life difficult for each other. Saying that, I think we’re all excited for the competition to start. It’s what we’re all aiming for, the last tournament of the year, to have a really good week and show everything that we’ve accomplished throughout the whole year.”
As the Turin seventh seed, De Minaur clinched his Turin place in the second-to-last week of the regular season by reaching the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters. While he is relieved to have sealed his spot, he empathised with Felix Auger-Aliassime and Lorenzo Musetti, whose Turin fates will have to wait until the final day: If Musetti beats Djokovic in Saturday’s Athens final, the Italian will overtake Auger-Aliassime for the eighth and final Nitto ATP Finals spot.
“Obviously at the end of the year, it becomes a little stressful, trying to wait and see when exactly you’re going to qualify, who’s winning matches, et cetera,” he said. “We’ve still got a couple players still fighting it out right now, but ultimately I’m very happy to be back here and I’m very excited.”
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