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ATP Finals

Immagine dalla pubblicazione di Il Post
From Il Post, 2019-04-24

The ATP Finals, known as the Nitto ATP Finals since 2017, is the tournament that closes the men's professional tennis season each year: it features the eight best players in the annual singles ranking and the eight best doubles pairs[1]. Since 2021 it has been played in Turin, at the Inalpi Arena, the venue built for the 2006 Winter Olympics[2][3]. It is the first time an Italian city has hosted the season-ending event of the circuit[3].

Half a century of Masters

The tournament originated from the Grand Prix circuit, created in 1969 by Jack Kramer, the ATP's first executive director. The first edition was held in Tokyo in December 1970 and was won by the American Stan Smith[2]. In the 1970s it changed venue almost every season, from Paris to Barcelona, Boston, Melbourne, Stockholm and Houston; from 1977 to 1989 it settled at Madison Square Garden in New York, then moved to Frankfurt and Hannover, then to Lisbon (2000), Sydney (2001), Shanghai (2002), Houston (2003-2004) and Shanghai again (2005-2008). From 2009 to 2020 its home was the O2 Arena in London[2]. The name has also changed several times: Masters until 1989, ATP Tour World Championships in the 1990s, Tennis Masters Cup from 2000, ATP World Tour Finals from 2009, and the current name since 2017[2]. The first edition was played as a single round-robin group[2]; today the participants are divided into groups, and each plays three matches that decide the rankings and access to the semifinals[1].

The bid and the award

The Italian Tennis Federation launched the bid in November 2018, backed by the Government, the City of Turin, the Piedmont Region and CONI[4]. On 24 April 2019, in London, the ATP announced its choice: Turin would host the tournament from 2021 to 2025, beating out London, Tokyo, Singapore and Manchester[5][3]. According to the Region, a decisive factor was that Turin was the only Italian city with a suitable arena, the Pala Alpitour designed by Arata Isozaki with over fourteen thousand seats[5][3]. Officials at the time estimated an economic impact of between 120 and 150 million euros a year[5][4].

Federation president Angelo Binaghi described it as an achievement for the whole country: «The award of the ATP Finals to Turin represents a huge international success, not so much for the Italian Tennis Federation as for the entire country-system»[4]. Mayor Chiara Appendino, for her part, claimed credit for the project: «The key to Turin's success lies in the quality of an excellent, innovative proposal»[4].

The Turin editions

2021-2023: Zverev and Djokovic

The first Turin edition, still with reduced capacity because of the pandemic[6], closed on 21 November 2021 with a win for the German Alexander Zverev, who beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 6-4, 6-4 to claim his second title after the one in London in 2018; the doubles title went to the French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut[7]. On 20 November 2022 Novak Djokovic defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud 7-5, 6-3 and, winning the tournament again after seven years, equalled Roger Federer's six titles[8].

In 2023 the tournament turned into an Italian phenomenon. In the group stage Jannik Sinner beat Djokovic for the first time, 7-5, 6-7, 7-6, and on 19 November met him again in the final; the Serb took his revenge 6-3, 6-3 and, with his seventh title, surpassed Federer's record[9]. After the match, Djokovic addressed his opponent in Italian: «You are very close to being able to win a Slam and become number one»[9].

2024-2025: the Sinner era

On 17 November 2024 Sinner won the tournament, beating the American Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 24 minutes: it was his first ATP title won in Italy[10]. Mayor Stefano Lo Russo announced a proposal to grant him honorary citizenship[10]. A year later, on 16 November 2025, Sinner repeated the feat against the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 7-6, 7-5, without having lost a single set all week, extending his indoor winning streak to 31 matches[11]. «Celebrating this trophy at the end of the year after a couple of such intense months: there's no better way to finish», he said after the final[11]. That edition featured two Italians in the singles draw, Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, and the pair Simone Bolelli-Andrea Vavassori, the first Italian doubles team to reach the semifinals[12].

Numbers and impact on the city

Attendance has grown rapidly. In 2024 attendance exceeded 210,000, up 77 percent on the first edition, with all sessions sold out and a fifth of spectators coming from abroad; according to the Boston Consulting Group study presented by the organizers, the economic impact exceeded 500 million euros, generating 3,431 jobs[6]. That year's prize money, 15.25 million dollars, was the highest in the tournament's history[13]. In 2025 ticket sales reached 229,879, up 93 percent compared to 2021, and the estimated overall economic impact reached 591.1 million euros[12]. The Sinner-Alcaraz final was watched on television by 7 million viewers, the most-watched tennis match in the history of Italian television according to the ATP[14].

Around the arena the organizers set up a Fan Village every year, which in 2024 covered about 8,900 square meters of indoor space with a capacity of over five thousand people[6], while in the city the calendar of side events «Silence Please» drew over seven thousand participants in 2024[10].

The future

On 17 November 2024 the ATP and the Federation announced that the tournament would remain in Italy for another five years, until 2030, leaving the choice of venue after 2025 open[13]. On 16 July 2026 Turin was confirmed as the host for the 2026 and 2027 editions as well, with the announcement of works to expand the Inalpi Arena beyond 13,500 seats and of a new show-court practice facility in the Fan Village[14]. ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi remarked that Turin had become synonymous with the Nitto ATP Finals[14].

Pages linking here

Related articles: Chiara Appendino, Inalpi Arena

Sources

  1. Nitto ATP Finals
  2. Nitto ATP Finals
  3. Il Post — 24 April 2019
  4. Prima Comunicazione — 24 April 2019
  5. Regione Piemonte - Piemonteinforma — 24 April 2019
  6. Nitto ATP Finals — 17 November 2024
  7. Il Post — 21 November 2021
  8. ANSA — 20 November 2022
  9. Corriere dello Sport — 19 November 2023
  10. Turismo Torino e Provincia — 17 November 2024
  11. Nitto ATP Finals — 16 November 2025
  12. Federazione Italiana Tennis e Padel — 16 November 2025
  13. Federazione Italiana Tennis e Padel — 17 November 2024
  14. ATP Tour — 16 July 2026

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