ATP finals 2026: Alcaraz has the momentum while Zverev motivated to silence critics

Alexander Zverev won more of the big titles this year and has the No. 1 ranking. It’s Carlos Alcaraz, though, who goes to the ATP Finals as the player to beat.That’s because Alcaraz, who missed four-and-a-half months in the middle of the year due to a right wrist injury, has displayed the best form lately.While Zverev arrives on a two-match losing streak, Alcaraz comes to Turin on a 10-match winning run after titles in Vienna and Paris and is hungry to raise the trophy at the Finals for the first time after losing to Jannik Sinner in last year’s final.“This is a tournament that I really want to win one day,” Alcaraz said after beating Ben Shelton in the Paris Masters final last weekend. “I’m going to go this year with a lot of confidence, with a lot of information in my bag to do the things that I really wanted to improve and be better in that tournament, and I’m going to go for it.”The Finals, the season-ending event for the year’s top eight men’s players, starts on Sunday in Turin, Italy.Sinner, the two-time defending champion, is sitting out after ending his season early due to a right knee injury.It wasn’t all that long ago that Alcaraz struggled indoors.“I have no experience playing on indoor courts,” Alcaraz said two years ago at the Finals as he failed to advance. “I’ll be a really good player on indoor courts, I’m sure about it. But I think it’s about time, about getting experience. ... A lot of players are better than me on indoor courts.”Not anymore.Alcaraz has dropped only one set during his 10-match winning streak indoors.“Mentally tired athletes often run low on patience,” Tennis Channel analyst and former No. 1 Jim Courier said in an email to The Associated Press. “Carlos is generally making better choices with his shot selection than a few years ago and his mental freshness, given the time away from tour due to injury this year, is also a factor.”Zverev has appeared mentally tired during his recent losses to Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti in Vienna and Paris, respectively.And not just because it’s the end of the season.“I feel like I’m the only world No. 1 in tennis history that has to explain why it’s OK for me to be world No. 1, which I find quite difficult, because I think I deserve to be where I am,” Zverev said after falling to Musetti in his Paris opener.While Zverev claimed his first two Grand Slam titles this year and ascended to the No. 1 ranking for the first time, he’s faced continuous questions about earning the top spot after injuries to Alcaraz and Sinner.Zverev added the criticism “is annoying, to be honest.”A third career title for Zverev at the Finals — preferably with a victory over Alcaraz — would go a long way toward quieting the questions.Another player displaying top-level tennis at the end of the season is Shelton, who reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open.The American beat Alcaraz in what was likely the match of the year during his run in New York, taking a fifth-set super tiebreaker to conclude a quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m.“It’s all about the little details. The difference in our match in the U.S. Open was the little details, and same (in Paris),” Shelton said after losing to Alcaraz in two close sets last weekend. “Especially on a super-fast surface like this, the margins are going to be small.”One not so minor detail for Shelton is that he recently added Juan Carlos Ferrero — Alcaraz’s former coach — to his staff.“Super hungry,” Shelton said, “and excited going into Turin.”John McEnroe group: Alexander Zverev (1), Ben Shelton (3), Arthur Fils (6), Rafael Jodar (8).Ivan Lendl group: Carlos Alcaraz (2), Daniil Medvedev (4), Flavio Cobolli (5), Frances Tiafoe (7).