The Paris Masters tournament director holds an unwanted ATP record which was almost broken recently

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The Indoor hard-court season has seen a number of impressive campaigns so far, with the Paris Masters still to come.

Daniil Medvedev won his first title since 2023 at the Almaty Open, beating Corentin Moutet to finally end his drought on the tour.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud both added to their title tally in Brussels and Stockholm, respectively.

At ATP 500 level, world number two Jannik Sinner came through a difficult test in the Vienna Open final against Alexander Zverev to claim his 22nd tour-level crown.

Meanwhile, in Basel, Joao Fonseca made history by becoming the first Brazilian to win a title above ATP 250 level since Gustavo Kuerten in 2001, but his opponent, on the other hand, was handed yet another loss in a final.

The record-holder for the most finals losses in an ATP season

While it was jubilation for Fonseca, the Basel runner-up, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina suffered his fourth near-miss of the season.

The Spaniard has reached five ATP finals in his career, four of which have come this year, and he has lost all of them.

Davidovich Fokina became the sixth player since 1990 to tally a 0-4 record in finals during a single season.

He matched some greats of the game with his total, equalling Pete Sampras from 2001 and Tim Henman from 1999.

• Sergi Bruguera – 0-4 (1997)
• Tim Henman – 0-4 (1999)
• Pete Sampras – 0-4 (2001)
• Nicolas Kiefer – 0-4 (2004)
• Ivo Karlovic – 0-4 (2014)
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina – 0-4 (2025)

His tally is not the worst since 1990, however, with one former player going 0-5 in tour-level finals within a season.

In 1993, the current Paris Masters tournament director Cedric Pioline lost in the championship match of an ATP event five times.

That year, Pioline was beaten in the title bouts in Monte-Carlo, Toulouse, Bolzano, Lyon, and New York, where he lost the US Open final to Sampras.

Cedric Pioline’s record at Grand Slam events over the years

Following his loss in the 1993 final at Flushing Meadows, Pioline struggled to reach the latter stages of a Grand Slam until 1997, when he made the final of Wimbledon.

At the All England Club, the Frenchman had enjoyed an incredible campaign, but failed to get over the line in the championship match, losing, once again, to Sampras.

The year after, he achieved his best finish at Roland Garros, advancing to the semifinals in Paris before being knocked out of the tournament by Alex Corretja.

Pioline returned to the semifinals of the US Open in 1999, but this time he lost to a different American in the form of Todd Martin.

In the seasons that followed, Pioline did not make it past the fourth round of a major, and ultimately retired from professional tennis in 2002.

He became the Paris Masters tournament director in 2008, and still holds the position today.