Race to Turin: Stefanos Tsitsipas becomes fourth man to qualify

ATP Tour

Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas became the fourth player to qualify for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, joining Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz and Casper Ruud in the season finale.

Tsitsipas will be making his fourth consecutive appearance at the ATP Tour finals, which will be held at the Pala Alpitour in Turin from 13-20 November.

The season finale returns to Turin for the second year in a row.

The 24-year-old clinched his spot Friday as a result of other matches with the World No 6 taking the week off.

Four spots remain in the singles field of the year-end championships with three of those likely to be filled by players who finish in the top seven while the other slot appears destined to be landing int the hands of Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic has to remain in the top 20 of the ATP Rankings in order to be granted the slot for a Grand Slam winner, but he looks to be headed towards achieving that after back-to-back wins in Tel Aviv.

Tsitsipas captured the ATP Finals trophy in 2019, when he triumphed at The O2 in London.

In that edition, he would end up defeating Dominic Thiem for the trophy.

The Greek has enjoyed a consistent 2022 season. Tsitsipas made a quick start in Australia, where he advanced to the semi-finals of the Australian Open. The Athens native then reached the final in Rotterdam just two weeks later.

Tsitsipas made his biggest splash of the year at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he successfully defended his title to claim his second ATP Masters 1000 trophy.

Titles dried up but he continued to excel at the Masters level by reaching the championship match in Rome and Cincinnati. Tsitsipas also lifted an ATP 250 trophy in Mallorca.

The 24-year-old has won 49 matches this season, second on the ATP Tour behind only World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz (52).

Tsitsipas took the week off after his participation in the Laver Cup but is set to get back in action at the Astana Open which is now an ATP 500 tournament.

The Greek World No 6 is set to be handed the third seeding in Nur-Sultan at a tournament that will also feature the likes of Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Djokovic and Andrey Rublev.

The Tour has bumped the Astana Open up to an ATP 500 tournament after being forced to call off the proposed Chinese swing.

READ MORE: Huge weekend ahead for padel as Andy Murray’s former coach gives us his verdict

Stefanos Tsitsipas

Latest