TURIN, Italy: Carlos Alcaraz will spend a nervous week watching the ATP Finals as Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas bid to usurp the Spanish teenager as year-end men’s world number one.
The top-ranked Alcaraz is powerless to stop his rivals because he is out with an abdomen injury he suffered at the Paris Masters over a week ago.
Nadal will hope he has shaken off the rustiness he displayed in Paris when he lost in his first singles match in two months after spending time at home in Mallorca with his wife and newborn son. The 36-year-old fell to American journeyman Tommy Paul.
The surest way for Nadal, who won the Australian and French Open titles in 2022 and is ranked second, to finish year-end number one for a sixth time is by winning the title in Turin.
Yet he is seemingly unconcerned about joining Pete Sampras in second on the all-time list of year end number ones.
“Like I’ve often said, it’s not a priority for me anymore, because you need a consistency of results that is really only possible for the younger players,” he told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
“And to be honest I don’t like talking about what could happen in the future.”
Nadal could also top the rankings if he wins all three of his Green Group games and reaches the final while Tsiptsipas stumbles.
The third-ranked Greek, who is in the Red Group, needs to win all his matches on his way to the title.
Nadal would topple US Open champion Alcaraz if the two Spaniards finish level on points. Nadal has a better overall record in the Grand Slams and Masters tournaments
Nadal opens his campaign on Sunday against big-serving American Taylor Fritz. His other two group rivals are Norwegian Casper Ruud and in-form Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Tsitsipas, who has never been higher than third, has a very different attitude to Nadal.
“The rankings are there for a reason. They signify something important,” he said in August when he regained third spot.
“I think that the very next step would be the No. 1 spot, which I hope I can get to one day.”
The 24-year-old has enjoyed a successful year with two titles and five other finals, though a Grand Slam title still eludes him.
Were he to succeed in finishing number one he would emulate Chilean Marcelo Rios in 1998 as the only players without a Grand Slam crown to top the rankings.
Tsitsipas’s task appears harder than Nadal’s as his group contains two former world number ones in Serbian Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev.
Another Russian the exciting mop-haired Andrey Rublev — a quarter-finalist at both the French and US Open this year — makes up that quartet.
Djokovic is hoping his rollercoaster of a year — starting with his expulsion from Australia because he was not vaccinated against Covid to the high of another Wimbledon crown — ends happily.
The 35-year-old Serb is targeting equalling the retired Roger Federer’s record of six ATP Finals titles.
It would be “a perfect ending,” Djokovic told ATP Media on Friday.
“The cherry on the cake, for sure, but it’s a long way. It’s a long week.”
“It’s the last week of the year on the Tour, it’s kind of a last sprint, if you will, for all of us.
“From the very first match you are going to have extra high intensity.”
For Ruud the finals present a chance to capture a significant title after losing both the French and US Open finals. He faces added pressure as his two grandmothers will be in Turin to watch him.
“They don’t come to too much,” Ruud told the ATP website.
“Sometimes they are a little bit frustrated with me that I don’t invite them too often.
“They are great, but as all grandmothers, they can maybe be a bit too much at times,” he added smiling.
Alcaraz powerless as Nadal and Tsitsipas eye number one spot
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Alcaraz powerless as Nadal and Tsitsipas eye number one spot
- Nadal will hope he has shaken off the rustiness he displayed in Paris when he lost in his first singles match in two months
- The third-ranked Greek, who is in the Red Group, needs to win all his matches on his way to the title
Arsenal thrash Villa 4-1 while Chelsea and Man Utd both held
- Arsenal end Aston Villa’s 11-game winning streak
- Wolves earn third point of season against Man United
LONDON: Arsenal closed out 2025 in emphatic fashion, smashing third-placed Aston Villa 4-1 on Tuesday to surge five points clear at the top of the Premier League.
Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw by bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers, who collected their third point of the season, while Bournemouth grabbed a point at stuttering Chelsea, forcing a 2-2 draw after a frantic first-half display.
Man United are sixth, level on 30 points with fifth-placed Chelsea.
At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal slammed the door shut on charging Villa, ending their club-record winning run of 11 games.
Goals by Gabriel Magalhaes and Martin Zubimendi early in the second half gave Arsenal control of a game that had looked fraught with danger.
Gabriel bundled in the opener from a corner in the 48th minute before Martin Odegaard slid a pass through for Zubimendi to score four minutes later. Arsenal secured the points when Leandro Trossard fired home from the edge of the area before Gabriel Jesus came off the bench to add the fourth.
Ollie Watkins grabbed a consolation goal for Villa in stoppage time.
“I think it was amazing,” Jesus told Sky Sports. “It’s always hard to play against them... The mentality of the team is really, really growing and each game is growing even more and I think we are winning today because of the mentality.”
Arsenal top the standings with 45 points, while second-placed Manchester City can close the gap when they play at Sunderland on Thursday.
Villa are six points adrift of Arsenal.
It took six minutes at Stamford Bridge for Bournemouth to shock Chelsea when David Brooks grabbed the opener. Cole Palmer equalized from the spot in the 15th minute and Fernandez put Chelsea ahead with a bullet shot eight minutes later.
Justin Kluivert brought Bournemouth back level in the 27th, to grab a point, adding to the London side’s unenviable record of one win in seven league games. Chelsea sit fifth, while Bournemouth are 10 spots below them.
Man Utd struggle
Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee made the most of a rare start by giving the depleted hosts the lead with a deflected shot from the edge of the box in the 27th minute.
But Wolves managed to level just before the break thanks to a header from Ladislav Krejci.
Patrick Dorgu briefly celebrated what he thought was a 90th-minute winner, but it was chalked off for offside.
“We struggled in all the game,” United boss Ruben Amorim said. “We had a lack of creation... the fluidity offensively wasn’t there.
“We didn’t play well. When you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without it.”
Wolves have three points from 19 games, 15 points from the safety zone.
Newcastle United’s Joelinton scored after 65 seconds and Yoane Wissa doubled their lead five minutes later in a 3-1 thrashing of 19th-placed Burnley, who are winless in their last 10 games.
Josh Laurent pulled one back in the 23rd minute, but Bruno Guimaraes sealed Newcastle’s rare away win with a goal in stoppage time.
Everton climbed to eighth in the standings with a 2-0 win over their former manager Sean Dyche and Nottingham Forest thanks to goals from James Garner and Thierno Barry.
West Ham United drew 2-2 with Brighton & Hove Albion in a game that featured three penalties in the first half.
Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta, from the penalty spot, scored before the break for West Ham, while Brighton’s Danny Welbeck struck from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute but fired another off the crossbar.
Joel Veltman scored for Brighton in the 61st minute to secure the draw.
There are four more games on New Year’s Day, including fourth-placed Liverpool hosting Leeds United at Anfield.
