2022 ATP Finals: When does it take place, venue, players in the draw, prize money, TV and streaming info
The 53rd edition of the ATP Finals takes place in Turin and we give you the lowdown of the important things ahead of the season-ending event.
What is the ATP Finals?
The prestigious ATP Finals is the season-finale for the men’s tennis season and is the biggest tournament on the calendar after the four Grand Slams. The top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams receive entries into the event.
This year marks the 53rd singles edition while it will be the 48th that the doubles have been part of the tournament. The first-ever Finals was held back in 1970 and it went by the name of Masters Grand Prix before being renamed the Tennis Masters Cup, then the ATP World Tour Finals and finally the Nitto ATP Finals (thanks to its sponsor).
When will this year’s tournament take place?
The ATP Finals starts on November 13 with the singles and doubles finals taking place on Sunday November 20.
The singles finals was initially scheduled to start at 16:00 GMT, but was pushed back to 18:00 to avoid clashing with the FIFA World Cup opening match in Qatar. The doubles final gets underway at 15:00 GMT.
What about the venue for this year’s tournament?
Turin’s Pala Alpitour, the largest indoor arena in Italy, hosted the event for the first time last year – replacing London’s O2 Arena, and its contract runs until 2025.
It cost €87 million (£75m) to build and opened its doors in 2005, hosting the likes of Lady Gaga, U2, Ed Sheeran, Madonna, Rihanna and Green Day since then. It has flexible stands can hold up to 16,600 spectators, but only 12,000 seats are available for the ATP Finals.
Tell us more about the format, please…
Unlike other tennis tournaments that are straight knockout events, the ATP Finals starts off with a round-robin phase as the eight singles players and eight doubles teams are divided into two groups.
The players/teams who finish in the top two of each group qualify for the semi-finals with qualifier one in one group taking on qualifier two from the other group.
Naturally, the winners qualify for the finals.
The final standing of each group is determined by the first of the following methods that apply:
a) Greatest number of wins;
b) Greatest number of matches played (2-1 won-loss record beats a 2-0 won-loss record; a 1-2 record beats a 1-0 record)
c) Head-to-head results if only two (2) players are tied.
If three players/teams are tied, a very complicated formula is applied, but that’s very rare.
Who are the eight players/teams who have qualified for the 2022 edition?
World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz was the first player to qualify, but the Spaniard will have to wait to make his debut as an abdominal injury forced him out of the season-ending tournament.
It means Rafael Nadal will be the top seed in Turin, but there are also doubts over his participation as he is not fully match fit.
But for now he is in the draw along with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz.
American Fritz was initially an alternate, but he booked a ticket into the main draw after Alcaraz’s withdrawal. It means Holger Rune and Hubert Hurkacz are the alternates.
As for the doubles, Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski are the top seeds and they are followed by Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury; Marcelo Arévalo and Jean-Julien Rojer; Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic; Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek; Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliövaara; Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos; and Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios.
The roll of honour so far…
The first edition was won by Stan Smith in 1970 and the who’s who of men’s tennis have collected the title since as Ilie Năstase, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have all won the title.
The one name missing from the list is Rafael Nadal as his best performances are a couple of runners-up spots.
Federer holds the record for most titles (6) with Djokovic, Sampras and Lendl on five. McEnroe and Peter Fleming holds the record for most doubles titles with seven while Mike Bryan won five titles and Bob Bryan four.
Alexander Zverev is the reigning champion, but he won’t defend his title as he missed the bulk of the season due to an ankle injury sustained at the French Open.
The doubles defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut will also not be in Turin as they are no longer a team.
When does the draw take place?
The draw is usually a fancy event as it takes place on the Friday before the tournament starts.
The pots for the draw are as follows:
1. Nadal, Tsitsipas
2. Ruud, Medvedev
3. Auger-Aliassime, Rublev
4. Djokovic, Fritz
What about points and prize money?
If a player wins the tournament undefeated he will collect 1,500 ranking points while an undefeated champion will walk away with a $4,740,300 cheque – the biggest winner’s prize money in tennis.
Points are awarded as follow for the singles and doubles:
– 200 points for a win in the round robin
– 400 points for a semi-final win
– 500 points for winning the final
Singles prize money:
– Alternate $150,000
– Participation Fee $320,000*
– Round-robin match win $383,300
– Semi-final match win $1,070,000
– Final win $2,200,400
– Undefeated champion $4,740,300
The participation fee works as follows in the singles:
3 matches = $320,000
2 matches = $240,000
1 match = $160,000
Doubles prize money:
– Alternate $50,000
– Participation Fee $130,000*
– Round-robin match win $93,300
– Semi-final match win $170,000
– Final win $350,400
– Undefeated champion $930,300
Participation fee for the doubles:
3 matches = $130,000
2 matches = $97,500
1 match = $52,000
Which TV channels and streaming services will broadcast the tournament?
Amazon Prime Video has the exclusive broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland. Don’t forget, new customers can sign up for £8.99 a month, and are eligible for a free 30-day trial.
Tennis Channel has the rights for all ATP tournaments in the United States with a TSN covering Canada and ESPN the go-to channel in Latin America. beIN Sports broadcasts ATP events in Australia, the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Asia.
Other broadcasters include Eurosport (France and several other European countries), Canal+ (France), Sportcast (Italy), Sky Deutschland (Germany), SuperSport (Southern Africa), Telefonica (Spain) and WOWOW (Japan).
