Six of the world's Top 8 players have jetted in Turin ahead of the 54th edition of the ATP Finals, which will commence on Sunday, November 12.
Jannik Sinner was the first to touch down in his home country after a premature exit in Paris. The hard-hitting Italian was forced to withdraw from the last Masters tournament due to fatigue following a late-night finish to his second-round match.
Sinner held his first practice session behind closed doors in the presence of his fitness coach Umberto Ferrara and shared a short clip on his social media handle. The 22-year-old has previously played at the ATP Finals as an alternate, but never as a qualifying player.
But after a career-best season in which he won four ATP titles including a maiden Masters 1000 in Toronto, Sinner will shoulder all home expectations. No Italian player has won the year-end championships since the tournament was incepted back in 1970.
Of the eight-man caravan, World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz has arrived in Turin ahead of his much-anticipated debut. Fellow contenders Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, and Holger Rune have also landed.
All five of them are scheduled to hold their first hitting session under the gaze of their coaching teams on Wednesday. There is no confirmation of the arrival of Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev. Djokovic won the Paris Masters last Sunday, his 40th title at that level, and might probably be the last man to arrive.
Both Djokovic and Medvedev don't feature on Wednesday's practice schedule. The defending ATP Finals champions will have the chance to cement his status as the year-end No. 1 for an eighth year. Djokovic needs just one round-robin win to do that.
Medvedev, for his part, can nudge ahead of Alcaraz in second spot. But the Russian will need to win the title as an undefeated champion and hope the Spaniard doesn't win more than one round-robin match.
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