\n<\/p>\n
Alexander Zverev won more of the big titles this year and has the No. 1 ranking. It\u2019s Carlos Alcaraz, though, who goes to the ATP Finals as the player to beat.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Alcaraz, who missed four-and-a-half months in the middle of the year due to a right wrist injury, has displayed the best form lately.<\/p>\n
While Zverev arrives on a two-match losing streak, Alcaraz comes to Turin on a 10-match winning run after titles in Vienna and Paris and is hungry to raise the trophy at the Finals for the first time after losing to Jannik Sinner in last year\u2019s final.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a tournament that I really want to win one day,\u201d Alcaraz said after beating Ben Shelton in the Paris Masters final last weekend. \u201cI\u2019m going to go this year with a lot of confidence, with a lot of information in my bag to do the things that I really wanted to improve and be better in that tournament, and I\u2019m going to go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Finals, the season-ending event for the year\u2019s top eight men\u2019s players, starts on Sunday in Turin, Italy.<\/p>\n
Sinner, the two-time defending champion, is sitting out after ending his season early due to a right knee injury.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t all that long ago that Alcaraz struggled indoors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have no experience playing on indoor courts,\u201d Alcaraz said two years ago at the Finals as he failed to advance. \u201cI\u2019ll be a really good player on indoor courts, I\u2019m sure about it. But I think it\u2019s about time, about getting experience. … A lot of players are better than me on indoor courts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not anymore.<\/p>\n
Alcaraz has dropped only one set during his 10-match winning streak indoors.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally tired athletes often run low on patience,\u201d Tennis Channel analyst and former No. 1 Jim Courier said in an email to The Associated Press. \u201cCarlos is generally making better choices with his shot selection than a few years ago and his mental freshness, given the time away from tour due to injury this year, is also a factor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zverev has appeared mentally tired during his recent losses to Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti in Vienna and Paris, respectively.<\/p>\n
And not just because it\u2019s the end of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m the only world No. 1 in tennis history that has to explain why it\u2019s OK for me to be world No. 1, which I find quite difficult, because I think I deserve to be where I am,\u201d Zverev said after falling to Musetti in his Paris opener.<\/p>\n
While Zverev claimed his first two Grand Slam titles this year and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time, he\u2019s faced continuous questions about earning the top spot after injuries to Alcaraz and Sinner.<\/p>\n
Zverev added the criticism \u201cis annoying, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n
A third career title for Zverev at the Finals \u2014 preferably with a victory over Alcaraz \u2014 would go a long way toward quieting the questions.<\/p>\n
Another player displaying top-level tennis at the end of the season is Shelton, who reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
The American beat Alcaraz in what was likely the match of the year during his run in New York, taking a fifth-set super tiebreaker to conclude a quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about the little details. The difference in our match in the U.S. Open was the little details, and same (in Paris),\u201d Shelton said after losing to Alcaraz in two close sets last weekend. \u201cEspecially on a super-fast surface like this, the margins are going to be small.\u201d<\/p>\n
One not so minor detail for Shelton is that he recently added Juan Carlos Ferrero \u2014 Alcaraz\u2019s former coach \u2014 to his staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper hungry,\u201d Shelton said, \u201cand excited going into Turin.\u201d<\/p>\n
John McEnroe group: Alexander Zverev (1), Ben Shelton (3), Arthur Fils (6), Rafael Jodar (8).<\/p>\n
Ivan Lendl group: Carlos Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (4), Flavio Cobolli (5), Frances Tiafoe (7).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n