TURIN — Greg Rusedski has named Carlos Alcaraz as his favourite to win the ATP Finals ahead of Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev after two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner was ruled out of Turin with a knee injury. The 2026 ATP Finals begin on Sunday, 15 November, and will guarantee a new champion after Sinner ended his season early this week having not played since Wimbledon.
Speaking on the latest episode of ‘Off Court with Greg Rusedski’, the former Grand Slam finalist said: “I say Carlos [Alcaraz], and I say Novak Djokovic is the danger man. Let’s not forget, [Alexander] Zverev has won it on two occasions, so it’s going to be a battle of those three guys. But if I had to pick one guy right now, I think Carlos is building nicely; he’s still not at his best, but he’s winning.” Djokovic is a record seven-time ATP Finals champion and Zverev lifted the trophy in 2018 and 2021, while Alcaraz has never won the year-end championships.
Rusedski admitted Alcaraz is not yet at his best and pointed to his serve, which he believes was more accurate earlier this year at the Australian Open. “It’s the foot movement as well as the toss being lower. I think he had the perfect balance in Australia; it was more accurate, a little bit more similar to Novak Djokovic. He’s trying to get that toss lower. When you get a lower toss, you get more disguise; you also get a little bit more pop, but it’s harder to time,” he said. He added: “I feel his rhythm isn’t quite there with the toss and the footwork; he’s trying things out. It’s going to come down to Sammy Lopez and Carlos, what they feel is best. At the moment, I just don’t see him serving quite as well and as accurately as he was at the start of the year; it might be his wrist as well – we don’t know. We’re not a part of the team.”
Alcaraz only recently returned at the US Open after several months sidelined with a wrist injury. He did not win the title in New York but has since re-emerged as a frontrunner after winning the Laver Cup and the Japan Open. On Sinner, who is trying to avoid surgery, Rusedski said: “He’s probably taking the cautious route, trying to do it without surgery. When you can avoid surgery, it’s always better not to have it. If he had no choice, he would have had surgery by now and been recuperating, so he’s trying to avoid that.”
Rusedski added: “It will be interesting to see what the problem is, whether it’s a meniscus or a patella problem, where the injury in the knee is exactly, and finding a solution. He won’t leave any stone unturned. We heard the rumours that he might not be playing for the rest of the season; this is confirmed, and that means we’re going to have a new world number one guaranteed, most likely Sascha Zverev.” Zverev leads Alcaraz in the Live ATP Race by an almost insurmountable margin and is expected to become world number one for the first time later this year, with eight men set to compete in Turin.