The ATP Race to Turin is still alive at both ends of the spectrum, but the Paris Masters could determine the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are separated by just 500 points ahead of the final stop of the Masters 1000 tournaments. Djokovic will secure top spot if he wins the Paris Masters for an unprecedented seventh time, and Alcaraz loses in the second-round stage.
If that is not the case, then it will go down to the wire, in the final tournament of the season in Turin where the world's Top 8 will battle to win the prestigious ATP Finals. So far, Djokovic is in the box seat, and has warmed up for this torunament, by beating Alcaraz in a practice tiebreak set at the weekend.
The year-end No. 1 ranking isn't the all potential sublplot in Bercy. Three more spots for the season finale are undecided. Djokovic, Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and Andrey Rublev have qualified. Three more names will be added to the mix, with Paris holding key for many of the contenders.
Stefanos Tsitsipas, lying in sixth, appears set to join the the caravan. The Greek is stuttering on his way to Turin, but may just about clinch his place by default even if he doesn't win another match. That is because as many as five players are hunting down Holger Rune, who occupies the last seat in the race.
Alexander Zverev has 3,505 points in seventh place but is not safe. As is Rune in eighth with 3,290 points. The Dane is the defending champion in Paris, but his mixed form makes him vulnerable to an early upset. Zverev might only need three wins just to be sure.
At the moment, Hubert Hurkacz and Taylor Fritz, who have touched the 3,000-mark in points total, appear to be the liekliest challengers for the 7th and 8th spots. But do not rule out a fairytale run from someone like Alex de Minaur or Tommy Paul, akin to what Rune did last year.
De Minaur and Paul must win the Paris Masters to have a chance of changing this whole conversation, as that is the only realistic way of qualifying or at least overtaking Ruud, Hurkacz, and Fritz before next week's tournaments in Metz and Sofia.
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