World No. 1 Jannik Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in the round-robin stages of the ATP Tour Finals in Turin, Italy.

Carlos Alcaraz, the world No. 3, was drawn alongside world No. 2 Alexander Zverev.

Taylor Fritz, the U.S. Open finalist who lost to Sinner in New York, is also in the Italian’s group alongside Australian Alex De Minaur, who is making his ATP Tour Finals debut; Casper Ruud and Andrey Rublev, who qualified as world No. 9 after Novak Djokovic withdrew, round out the second group.

The draw means that Sinner and Alcaraz will both have to qualify first (or second) in their groups to avoid facing each other in the semifinals. Alcaraz leads their head to head 3-0 in 2024, with each match going to a deciding set, though Sinner triumphed in the final of the Six Kings Slam in Saudi Arabia, which was not an ATP-sanctioned event.

Although Medvedev defeated Sinner in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Sinner has won seven of their last eight meetings, with Medvedev winning the first six. They faced each other in last year’s round-robin stage, with Sinner victorious 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-1. Sinner has a 7-0 record against De Minaur and a 2-1 record against Fritz.

Alcaraz and Zverev also faced each other in last year’s group stage, with the German winning in three sets; their head to head for the year is 2-2. Ruud and Rublev, who avoided having to take part in a qualifying shootout this week when Djokovic withdrew, will be fighting their recent form in a bid to make the semifinals. Ruud lost in straight sets to world No. 124 Benjamin Bonzi in Metz, France, while Rublev has not gone beyond a quarterfinal since August, when he reached the final of the Canadian Open in Montreal, beating Sinner en route.

With a field that on the face of it lacks a bit of intrigue, it’s perhaps a shame that Alcaraz and Sinner have been kept apart in the group stage. The way the tournament works means they could have played then and still met in the final; no one would have been complaining about two helpings of the most compelling rivalry in men’s tennis right now. Instead fans have to wait until the semis or final for a possible 11th installment in their matchup.

That’s if both men can navigate the group stage. Sinner will certainly be expected to do that, with his main rival a man he has beaten in seven of their last eight meetings, Medvedev. Fritz and De Minaur will hold similarly few fears for the world No 1.

As for Alcaraz, there’s added spice in his group because of the fact that he has been overtaken as the world No. 2 by Zverev. To reclaim that spot in time for the Australian Open, Alcaraz will need to better the German’s results in Turin (assuming that like last year Alcaraz doesn’t play any warm-up events ahead of Melbourne). If he doesn’t overtake Zverev then Alcaraz risks being in the same half of the draw as Sinner at the Australian Open. That could end up being good news for the absent Djokovic, were he to be drawn in the opposite half.

Ruud and Rublev will hope to challenge Zverev and Alcaraz as the other two players in the John Newcombe group, but neither player comes into the event with much form. The Canadian Open in August is the last time either player reached a final, when Rublev lost to Alexei Popyrin.

How does the ATP Tour Finals draw work?

The eight players who qualified were split into four pots for the draw. Pot 1 is No. 1 and No. 2, Pot 2 is No. 3 and No. 4, and so on.

These seedings follow the players’ rankings in the ‘ATP Race to Turin,’ the table which only counts ranking points earned in 2024.

Each player then plays three round-robin matches. The top two players from each group contest the semifinals, with the winners meeting in the final.

This year, Andrey Rublev has qualified as the eighth player despite being No. 9 in the race. Novak Djokovic, who finished at No. 6, withdrew from the Tour Finals with an “ongoing injury,” so Rublev took his place as the next-highest ranked player.

Who won last year’s tournament?

Djokovic won the 2023 ATP Tour Finals in Turin, beating Sinner 6-3, 6-3 in the final to avenge a round-robin defeat to the Italian. The victory crowned a superb season for Djokovic, who won three of the four Grand Slams alongside the Tour Finals. This year, he misses the event without an ATP Tour title to his name.

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What is the prize money for the ATP Tour Finals?

The total prize money is $15.25million (£11.76m), which is a record for the event. Prize money is allocated per match win, and is structured so that the champion will take home $4.88m (£3.78m) if they go through the event undefeated with five wins (three round-robin wins, a semifinal win, and then victory in the final).

The winner of the final will receive $2.24m (£1.74m) while the winner of each semifinal will receive $1.12m (£870,000); the prize for a round-robin match win is $396,500 (£307,100) and each player receives $331,000 (£256,000) just for appearing at the event, provided they fulfil all of their round-robin matches.

The prize for the winner is larger than any of the four Grand Slams, the largest of which is the U.S. Open at $3.6m (£2.77m). It is also the same size as the pool for the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but is structured slightly differently: the winner there will take home over $5m (£3.87m).

(Top photo of Jannik Sinner: Tullio Puglia / Getty Images)