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Felix Auger-Aliassime is determined to respond at the Nitto ATP Finals following his round-robin defeat Sunday against Casper Ruud in Turin.

The Canadian arrived at the prestigious year-end event having won 16 of his past 17 matches. However, he was unable to find his best level against the Norwegian at the Pala Alpitour, leaving him with work to do if he is to qualify for the semi-finals.

“My back is against the wall,” Auger-Aliassime said in his post-match press conference. “It would have been better to start with a win here. For Casper, I'm sure it's a big weight off his shoulders. For me, I need to bounce back and play better, play a little bit better. I'm not far from playing well, but there are a few things I can do better. I will try to use the day tomorrow to do that, to work on a few things.”

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The 22-year-old enjoyed an impressive end to the season, lifting tour-level trophies in Florence, Antwerp and Basel. His form propelled him to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, before he sealed qualification in Paris.

Nitto ATP Finals debutant Taylor Fritz answers a lightning round of questions about Italy...

Visit the Colosseum or climb Mount Vesuvius?
I would probably visit the Colosseum. It sounds a little easier. Sounds like a more chill day.

Attend a Serie A football match or watch the historic Italian Grand Prix at Monza?
I’d go to the football match. I like soccer.

Films set in Italy: The Godfather or The Italian Job?
The Godfather.

Espresso or Cappuccino?
Cappucino.

In a battle between two of the biggest forehands on the ATP Tour, Casper Ruud downed Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6(4), 6-4 on Sunday to kick-start his 2022 Nitto ATP Finals campaign with a win.

A Green Group encounter largely dominated by serve was decided by a few crucial moments. Ruud stayed the more consistent to pull clear in the first-set tie-break after the first five points had gone with serve, while a solitary break in the seventh game of the second set proved enough for the third seed to wrap a one-hour, 51-minute victory in the opening singles match of the week at the Pala Alpitour.

The third-seeded Ruud is looking to progress from the round-robin stage for the second consecutive year in Turin. The Norwegian fell to Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals in 2021.

It was a tough tournament debut for Auger-Aliassime, who was unable to find the level that saw him win 16 straight matches and lift three consecutive ATP Tour titles across October and early November. The 22-year-old Canadian will seek to bounce back in his remaining round-robin matches against Rafael Nadal and Taylor Fritz.

More to follow…

Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara tasted victory on Sunday at the Nitto ATP Finals, where the sixth seeds opened their debut campaign at the season finale with a 7-5, 7-6(3) triumph against Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer.

The British-Finnish pair produced a high-class serving performance to seal victory at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, firing 11 aces and winning 83 per cent (39/47) of points behind first serve against the reigning Roland Garros champions.

After saving two break points to keep parity at 2-2 early, Glasspool and Heliovaara clinched a decisive break at 6-5 to seal the first set. With little to separate the two teams in the second set, Glasspool and then Heliovaara fired stunning returns on consecutive points to open a 4/1 lead in the tie-break. The debutants did not let slip their advantage, as they dropped just two more points to wrap a a 91-minute triumph.

Heliovaara let out a jumping roar of delight as he and Glasspool notched their maiden Nitto ATP Finals victory, just less than two years after they first teamed at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Portugal.

The pair's win also avenged their straight-sets defeats to Arevalo and Rojer in both the Dallas and Stockholm finals this season. Despite those disappointments, the sixth seeds have enjoyed a consistent year on Tour, highlighted by winning their maiden ATP 500 title in Hamburg in July.

When Andrey Rublev saw the Nitto ATP Finals groups, the World No. 7’s eyes lit up as it was revealed that he would collide with all three of the tournament’s former champions in the draw: Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. A heavy-hitting, tough-as-nails Red Group.

But as Rublev anticipates his opening match Monday, a first encounter this season against Medvedev, the 25-year-old is narrowing his focus to the job at hand.

“Against Daniil, that’s going to be a real chess match,” Rublev said. “I’m not even looking at my other matches. I believe both of us will show a great level that spectators will enjoy. “My first reaction [to the group] was not good. “I thought, ‘What am I doing here, in this group?’”

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Rublev is aiming towards a strong run in his third appearance at the season finale, which showcases the world’s best eight players. He hopes to improve upon his previous round-robin exits. But there is no easy path.

Jiri Lehecka may not have finished the 2022 season by lifting the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals trophy on Saturday, but the 21-year-old leaves Milan with a positive outlook thanks to his performance at the year-end showcase.

After winning his third ATP Challenger title in August on home soil in Liberec, the Czech's rise up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings was slowed by an inconsistent close to the season. Now Lehecka can look forward to 2023 with renewed confidence after reaching the final in Milan.

"This has been a great end to the season," he said of the 21-and-under event. "After some tough losses in the past few weeks, after the US Open, I wasn't feeling very comfortable on court. I didn't feel like it was going the right way.

"So this for sure has been a great impact to my game and to see what I need to work on again. To [help] improve stuff we need to improve to get to the highest level and compete against the best guys. In the past few weeks, I've shown that I have the game to beat top guys — that I have the tennis I need for playing very good tennis."

Despite his 4-3(5), 4-3(6), 4-2 defeat to Brandon Nakashima in Saturday's final, Lehecka enjoyed his time at the Allianz Cloud this week.

"This is an incredible event. I enjoyed this week fully," he said. "I'm very happy that the ATP organised something like this, because it's a nice gift for players to be able to compete in this event. For me, it was the best end of the season that I could wish for. Unfortunately, I didn't get a win today, but if somebody told me before this season that I would be in the final, I would take it, for sure."

It is not often the fifth seed at the Nitto ATP Finals enters the season finale with the most momentum of any player in the field. However, that is the case for Felix Auger-Aliassime.

The Canadian arrives in Turin playing the best tennis of his career. Before the ATP 250 in Florence last month, the 22-year-old owned one ATP Tour title. He then rattled off 16 consecutive victories and captured three trophies along the way in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.

“There’s not really a specific moment when it clicked,” Auger-Aliassime told ATPTour.com. “But I can say after the first title, I felt like, ‘If I keep playing this way, I’ll give myself a chance to win more’.”

Auger-Aliassime has dominated with a not-so-secret weapon. The 6’4” righty has powered past opponents behind the strength of his serve, winning 95 per cent of his service games (167/175) during his winning streak. He has won 86 per cent of his service games for the year.

Felix hit 175 aces during the 16-match stretch and saved 31 of the 39 break points (79%) he faced.

Brandon Nakashima made a list of goals at the start of the season. Eleven months on and the American revealed that he had achieved his targets as he reflected on his impressive season after winning the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

The 21-year-old American downed Jiri Lehecka in the Milan final on Saturday to round off a year that also saw him win his maiden tour-level title in San Diego and rise to a career-high No. 43 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“I think it has been a great season for me,” Nakashima said following his straight-sets win. “I've definitely learned a lot every match and every tournament. At the beginning of the year, I had some goals. [One was] to win my first ATP title and to be able to do that in San Diego was super special. Then to finish off the year here winning the title at Next Gen is super special.

“I think the whole year for me has been very consistent. I have such great memories both on and off the court and I'm super thankful for everyone that has been a part of it.”

Nakashima won all five of his matches at the 21-and-under event, which plays host to a range of rules and innovations. The fourth seed feels that the tournament provides the perfect opportunity for the Tour’s up and coming stars to make their mark.

With the pre-tournament pageantry complete in Turin, Sunday marks the start of play at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. Group-stage action will light up the Pala Alpitour, with top seed Rafael Nadal set to close opening day with his matchup against tournament debutant Taylor Fritz.

Casper Ruud takes on the red-hot Felix Auger-Aliassime in the afternoon, after Roland Garros champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Marcelo Arevalo open play against Harri Heliovaara and Lloyd Glasspool. Last year's doubles finalists, Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram, will also take the court against Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

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[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [8] Taylor Fritz (USA)

Nadal fell out of the rhythm of the ATP Tour in the second half of the season, for reasons both good and bad. He welcomed the birth of his first child in October but also spent time out of action as he recovered from two abdominal tears, suffered at Wimbledon and just before the US Open.

After an early exit at the Rolex Paris Masters, he said he would travel to Turin early in his bid to get back to the peak form that saw him start the season with a personal-best 20 straight wins. Indeed, the Spaniard was one of the first to begin practising in Northern Italy.

One year ago, Brandon Nakashima fell in the semi-finals of the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. The American would suffer no such heartbreak in his second - and final - appearance in Milan, defeating Jiri Lehecka 4-3(5), 4-3(6), 4-2 in Saturday's title match to emerge as an undefeated tournament champion.

The 21-year-old quickly found his range, striking his fierce groundstrokes with precision and power in front of a vocal crowd at the Allianz Cloud to become the first American to triumph at the 21-and-under event.

“I am super happy right now,” Nakashima said. “It was a great tournament, this whole week. This final was another tough match. Just a few points that could have gone either way. I am happy with my level today. It is a good way to finish off the year.

“It was a final, so there are going to be some pressure moments. There were some nerves at the beginning, but I am happy I was able to turn it around quickly and close it out at the end.”

In a hard-fought clash, Nakashima rallied from 1-3 in the first set and saved two set points in the second-set tie-break as he raised his level under pressure. The American struck 19 winners and committed just four unforced errors to secure his standout victory in 80 minutes.

After a "crazy" string of matches led him to the title match last year at the Nitto ATP Finals, Daniil Medvedev returns to Turin with his sights set on a third straight run to the final at the prestigious event.

The 26-year-old was an undefeated champion in London in 2020, and again reached the final with a perfect 4-0 record last season before falling to Alexander Zverev. Each of his round-robin matches in 2021 went three sets as he defeated Hubert Hurkacz, Zverev and Jannik Sinner.

"They were crazy," he said of his group-stage contests. "Two final-set tie-breaks, and against Hubert was also a crazy, close match. I remember it like if it was yesterday.

"That's the thing about the [Nitto] ATP Finals. Every match is going to be tough. Even if you're going to, for some reason, win with an easy score, it's going to be a tough match still — tough mentally, where from the first to last point you have to show your best tennis. That's what we love about it."

That will certainly hold true this year, as Medvedev was drawn into a stacked Red Group that also includes five-time Nitto ATP Finals champ Novak Djokovic, 2019 winner Stefanos Tsitsipas and sixth seed Andrey Rublev.

On the steps of the Gallerie d’Italia in the majestic Piazza San Carlo, Rafael Nadal explains that his son, who was born in October, is with him in Turin. The 36-year-old is set for his debut in the Italian city, where he will be competing in his 11th Nitto ATP Finals starting on Sunday. 

The Spaniard, who has a chance to finish the year as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the sixth time in his career, is bidding to claim the only big title that is yet to adorn his trophy cabinet, and to put the icing on the cake of his unforgettable season.

“I arrive here without match time, but in Paris I was playing well, a set and break up against Tommy Paul, a good player,” the World No. 2 told ATPTour.com, having fallen at the first hurdle in the Rolex Paris Masters. “I’m happy because I’ve been able to train and I’m excited to play well. If I didn’t think I had a chance to fight for what I came for, I wouldn’t be here. I think I have a chance.”

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After several weeks without playing, Nadal returned to competition at the ATP Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy, where he bowed out in his opener against the American Paul in three sets. He was evidently fatigued.

“There was no big problem,” admitted the Spaniard. “A long time without competing. I had a small problem with my stomach. I was nauseous at the end of the third set, I felt awful, but I didn’t say anything because it wouldn’t have been right,” he added. “I’m fine. A bad day. Later I was able to get back to training normally without any problems.

Stefanos Tsitsipas knows what it takes to win the Nitto ATP Finals. After claiming the title in London in his 2019 debut, the Greek is looking forward to making new memories in Turin, where his 2021 showing was cut short by an elbow injury.

If the second seed can recapture the year-end title as an undefeated champion, he will finish the season atop the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

"I'm actually very determined and extremely privileged to be in a position to be fighting for the World No. 1 spot, because it's always been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to be crowned World No. 1," he told ATP Media ahead of the event.

"It would definitely mean a lot. It's an amazing thing to accomplish something like this. I'm going to try to be relaxed, enjoy the process of it, not think too much of the destination, but the journey is the one that matters the most. In this case, playing good tennis and enjoying myself out on the court is much more important than obsessing over that World No. 1 title, which might come now or come later. It's more of a marathon than a sprint."

While the Greek admitted nerves about his opportunity to reach No. 1 contributed to his first-round exit at the US Open — where a title would have lifted him to the top spot — he enters Turin with a fresh mindset, full of confidence after a consistent season in which he captured two titles and won a tour-leading 60 matches.

The Nitto ATP Finals returns to Turin for the second year, with the game's elite set to once again light up the Pala Alpitour with eight days of world-class tennis. 

Two singles players — Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas — enter with a chance to finish the season as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, while Novak Djokovic seeks to match Roger Federer's record of six Nitto ATP Finals crowns.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things to watch this week.

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1) Nadal's Double Chance In Turin Debut: A 17-time qualifier for the Nitto ATP Finals, Nadal will make his first appearance in Turin as he seeks to win the lone big title that has eluded him in his legendary career. A two-time finalist at the event (2010, 2013), the top-seeded Spaniard knows that a title will not just complete his trophy cabinet — it will also earn him his sixth year-end No. 1 honour.

The Nitto ATP Finals has arrived. All eight singles players competing in the season finale are champions — they have combined to claim 26 titles between them in 2022.

But only one man will emerge the ultimate champion from the Pala Alpitour.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have claimed plenty of hardware in their historic careers. The all-time greats own 182 tour-level crowns between them. Djokovic has been particularly successful at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he can tie Roger Federer’s record of six season finale titles this year.

Nadal, a 17-time qualifier for the year-end championships, will try to earn glory at the tournament for the first time. The Spaniard is as eager as always to give his all on court.

“When I enter a tennis tournament, I want to win and I'm going to try my best to achieve that goal,” Nadal told ATP Media on Friday. “Here I was not able to make it, I was not good enough to make it in the past. So I just accept that and I'm happy to give myself another chance at the age of 36 — something, for me, that was difficult to imagine years ago."

Of the 16 doubles players competing at the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals, seven are making their first appearance at the season-ending event. Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara are two of those debutants, and the British-Finnish pair is relishing the opportunity to compete in Turin.

“It’s a highlight [of my career],” Glasspool told ATPTour.com at the pre-tournament media day on Saturday. “It’s something I will remember forever, hopefully my first of many. The first one, and even if this is it, I will definitely remember it. It’s a reward for a very good, consistent and hard-working two years.”

The British-Finnish duo is no stranger to the big stage, having reached quarter-finals at Roland Garros and the US Open and lifting their maiden ATP 500 title in Hamburg this season. Heliovaara is confident that the pair is ready to shine in the spotlight once again when they take to court in the intense atmosphere of the Pala Alpitour.

“I don’t think it will add nerves,” said the Finn. “It’s obviously interesting. Our first time here, so everything is new, but also everything is super nice. Huge stadium, a lot of people. It’s exciting but I’m pretty sure it’s going to make us play better.”

Glasspool and Heliovaara’s opening match on Sunday at 11:30 a.m (CET) is also the first of the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. There will be another debutant on the other side of the net in Marcelo Arevalo, although the Salvadoran has the considerable experience of his partner, 2015 champion Jean-Julien Rojer, to fall back on.

Andrey Rublev hides one of his biggest weapons in plain sight: Prowess returning first serves.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the eight players competing in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin this coming week identifies Rublev as the leader winning first-serve return points once the return has been put back in play. The data set comes from the first 10 months of the 2022 season.

Rublev’s Turin opponents will be probing both corners of the service box in the Deuce and Ad court, looking for a soft spot in his strong return game. They will quickly find that one doesn’t exist.

The Infosys ATP Stats Serve and Return Tracker uncovered that Rublev led all eight players in Turin with first-serve return points won to the four corners in both service boxes. Overall, Rublev averaged winning 51.7 per cent of first serve returns from serves to the corners that were returned in play. The only other player to break through the 50 per cent threshold was Novak Djokovic, winning 50.6 per cent.

Deuce Court Wide
Serving wide to Rublev in the Deuce court was a losing proposition for opponents if he could get the return back in play. Rublev won 53.4 per cent of these points, driving 67 per cent of them back cross through the Deuce court and 33 per cent down the line to the Ad court. The leading three players at this location were:

When the Nitto ATP Finals groups were released, Taylor Fritz’s eyes keyed in on a Sunday evening clash with Rafael Nadal. It will be Fritz’s third meeting this season against the 22-time major champion.

In March, the American ended Nadal’s personal best 20-match winning streak to win his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title on home soil at Indian Wells. Three-and-a-half months later, the Spaniard ousted Fritz in a dramatic five-setter in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

“Playing Rafa is a big deal,” Fritz said. “The match we had at Wimbledon was very close. Between the two matches we’ve played, there were highs [after Indian Wells] and lows [following Wimbledon].”

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The 25-year-old went on to collect two more titles, Eastbourne and Tokyo, racking up a 43-19 record in 2022. This past month, Fritz climbed to a career-high No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and now sets his sights on making a strong debut at the Nitto ATP Finals.

For the second time in four days, Brandon Nakashima and Jiri Lehecka will square off at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. In Saturday's title match, the fourth-seeded Nakashima will bid to complete a perfect week by becoming an undefeated champion, while fifth seed Lehecka seeks revenge after a round-robin defeat against the American on Wednesday.

In a 4-1, 4-3(2), 4-2 victory, Nakashima used an attacking game plan — particularly off his powerful forehand wing — to defeat the Czech.

“He plays a very solid game, very flat, a very progressive game, so I knew I had to minimise the errors on my side and try to be aggressive off the first ball as much as possible," Nakashima said after the mach. "I thought I did that pretty well today, so [I am] happy to get the win.”

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Lehecka had his moments in the 68-minute match, firing 18 winners to Nakashima's 21, and he led 2-0 in the final set before the American used a finishing flourish to close the door.