The ATP Finals have got underway in Turin as the curtain prepares to come down on the 2025 campaign.
Lorenzo Musetti is delighted that the qualification criteria is changing for next year’s event, and he managed to sneak in through the back door this year when Novak Djokovic withdrew.
Musetti hasn’t had a great year on the ATP Tour, however and it’s perhaps a poor indictment of the event that he’s qualified despite making one final and three semifinals of either Masters 1000 or Grand Slam events.
Indeed, Alexander Bublik – the first alternate for the event – might be left a little bit sore about missing out and perhaps the time has come for the ATP to give the ATP Finals a revamp and spruce things up a bit.
The ATP should make a big change to the ATP Finals
A lot of the matches at the ATP Finals aren’t always overly entertaining. Most of them tend to finish in straight sets, with some players either out of form or simply shattered after a long season.
Furthermore, for someone like Musetti, is he really deserving of a place at the event? He didn’t actually win any silverware this year and hasn’t lifted a trophy since 2020, when he beat Matteo Berrettini to win the Napoli Cup.
Given that the ATP Finals is supposed to celebrate success over a calendar year, it feels somewhat flawed that players are allowed to enter when they’ve not actually won a tournament over that period.
Other sports – most notably snooker – have a Champion of Champions event, which is essentially only open to all of the players who have won tournaments, making it a more prestigious event.
If the ATP did something to mix the ATP Finals up, they’d be wise to adopt a similar qualification criteria, and if that had been the case this year, it would have benefited Bublik considerably.
Why Alexander Bublik deserves a place in the ATP Finals
Bublik is one of the most charismatic players on the ATP Tour, and he is currently in Turin preparing for any eventuality that any of the players drop out injured.
But that shouldn’t be the case. With four title wins this year, he should have qualified for the ATP Finals, and it does feel like the current format is somewhat flawed, dated, and so tired it’s borderline pointless.
John McEnroe is a fan of Bublik and his win over Jack Draper at the French Open earlier this year showcased just how capable he is against the top players.
Some people will point to the fact that by including every player to have won a title in 2025 in the ATP Finals, it would cause chaos and make the field somewhat overcrowded.
No fewer than 35 players won titles in 2025, but even if they kept a format similar to the one they do now, they could say that it goes to the top eight players in terms of ranking points, but if you haven’t won a title, the place is up for grabs.
Still, a straight knockout tournament featuring 35 players would arguably still be more entertaining than the stale format that gets served up now.
Bublik can count himself very unlucky not to make the event. He claimed wins at Halle, the Swiss Open, the Austrian Open, and the Hangzhou Open yet missed out on the ATP Finals.
That doesn’t feel quite right and it’s time for the ATP to revamp the tournament.
The last player to qualify for the ATP Finals without winning a title that year
This actually happened last year, with Daniil Medvedev qualifying for the event in fourth place in the Race for Turin, but not winning a title in 2024.
It clearly showed that he arrived not used to winning either. He was beaten comfortably by Taylor Fritz and Jannik Sinner before beating Alex de Minaur, but still crashed out at the group stages.
Medvedev would actually have been more deserving this year, having won a title. Instead, he was a qualifier last year, offering another nod towards the completely baffling and boring format of the tournament.
The ATP are unlikely to change things any time soon with regards to the Turin-based tournament, but with Bublik missing out after winning four titles this year, perhaps this is the year that makes it quite clear that changes are required.
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