The battle for the ATP Finals is heating up and Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, and Taylor Fritz just got a major boost.
There are only a handful of weeks left until the end of the season, which means there is only a limited amount of events left. That makes every match that much more important, as every point matters.
Alexander Zverev was in a great spot ahead of this week, holding one of those tickets to the 2023 ATP Finals in Turin, but an early loss at the Japan Open complicates things for him.
He's got a couple of players like Rune, Ruud and Fritz in pursuit, and they're all playing this week. Zverev leads Rune by 305 points right now, but the Dane is playing in Stockholm, where he won the trophy last year.
If he does that again, he'll get 250 points, shortening the gap considerably. If he repeats his indoor season from last year, then Zverev is in trouble.
Zverev leads Taylor Fritz by 450 points, but the American is playing an ATP 500 event in Tokyo this week. Not only that, he's actually the defending champion, having won the event last year, and if he does that again, well, he'll overtake Zverev in the Race.
Casper Ruud has by far the toughest job to do. He trails Zverev by 620 points which is a lot and short of some amazing runs where he wins at least two trophies in the next few weeks likely won't get it done.
He's not known as an indoor specialist so it seems unlikely but he'll try. A run to the trophy in Tokyo would certainly make it a lot more likely.
A couple of great players are in pursuit of Zverev, who leaves Tokyo empty-handed. That's less than ideal, especially since it's an ATP 500 event.
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