ATP Finals tennis: Carlos Alcaraz v Alex de Minaur – live | ATP Finals
Key events
Alcaraz 4-2 De Minaur* Oh dear. Alcaraz quickly makes it 0-30 and then, attacked from behind, he lifts a backhand wide, the 21st shot of a fantastic rally, and there’s little he can do about it: his best isn’t even good enough to get close to the blonde bombshell in this kind of form. But he knows how to compete, saving three break points before rushing in to secure an improbable hold.
*Alcaraz 4-1 From Minaur There’s not much anyone can do when Alcaraz hits like that, but after a T-serve, De Minaur makes a desperate return to the back… and into the corner. What a shot, even if winning points like that is not sustainable, and a flat forehand, a belted center, restores parity at 15 for all. And even if, at 40-15, Alcaraz lands his own forehand, Demon then goes long, and it’s the approved break. This match is going exactly as we thought it would.
Alcaraz 3-1 De Minaur* Alcaraz makes it 0-15, a backhand down the line is good enough not to come back, then a beautifully disguised fall raises three break points. De Minaur therefore seeks to attack the backhand… and another Belter, this time a clear winner, secures the advantage and concludes an almost perfect match.
*Alcaraz 2-1 From Minaur The balls don’t bounce very high, which is a good thing for De Minaur; this limits Alcaraz’s power advantage and prevents him from hitting the ball. He makes 30-15 with the help of an ace, but on the game point, he is hampered by a return to the baseline and cannot respond. Oh, and look: De Minaur attacks a second serve, as she should, then takes control of the rally with a big forehand down the line, then cleaning up to make it two points. Alcaraz, however, can’t convert his advantage, seeing his first drop of the match run out, but he does enough with his second; De Minaur will be nauseous at not being able to bowl more than a second delivery.
Alcaraz 1-1 De Minaur* De Minaur played positively in the first game and he pushes the action here, outlasting Alcaraz in an 18-shot exchange; well, sort of. He dominates the rally, but a bad shot almost costs him dearly; the Spaniard, however, scores a forehand. An ace follows, the next serve is not returned, and it’s a confident hold from D-Min.
*Alcaraz 1-0 De Minaur (*denotes server) Alcaraz, wearing Australian colors, makes it 15-0 then slides a backhand into the top of the net. Then, at 30-15, a beautiful backhand cross from the Demon gives birth to a winning forehand in table tennis, spinning across the court with maximum damage. Naturally, an ace follows… then another. You have to laugh.
De Minaur won the toss and elected to receive; ready… play.
Sinner and Alcaraz are fighting to finish the year ranked first in the world. Alcaraz needs 450 points to secure this honor; he can achieve this by winning all three of his round robin matches or by reaching the final.
If he loses all three matches, Sinner must win two and take the title; if he wins one and loses two, Sinner must win two and take the title; and if he wins two and doesn’t reach the final, Sinner must win every match en route to the title.
So what can De Minaur do to win? Um, not that much, but he might want to prolong the rallies, negating Alcaraz’s angle by hitting down the middle and hoping to frustrate him by going for too many unlikely winners. Or he could throw as many shots as possible, Wawrinka style, looking for winners and hoping to hit a seam. Unlike the Stanimal, however, he doesn’t really have the game for the latter, which leaves him with the former.
…And here’s the genius.
Here is the Demon…
Our players are ready to take the field; “all the phones are off,” our host says, people preserving a moment they didn’t experience. I wonder if even one of them will ever see his video again.
It also happens:
Some pre-match readings;
I’d like to think Fritz has the power to beat the big two on a good day, but I’m afraid I can’t convince myself. Every time they’ve competed in a tournament this year, one of them has won.
Word of the wise: nothing to do with tennis, but Wu Yize leads John Higgins 8-4 in the final of the international snooker championship. He hasn’t won a ranking title yet, but he seems almost certain to win this one and, at just 22 years old, he’s a looming superstar.
Complete the field, in the Björn Borg group are Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton, who will meet tonight, as well as Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime, whose competition we will cover tomorrow evening.
Also in the Jimmy Connors group: Lorenzo Musetti and Taylor Fritz, who will meet tomorrow afternoon. The former is there as a substitute, involved only because Novak Djokovic beat him last night in a marathon Hellenic Championship final, then withdrew from this week’s competition injured.
Men’s tennis is in an interesting situation, isn’t it? Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have alternated the majors this year and are undoubtedly moving away from the chasing pack. This is good in a way – rivalries are crucial in individual sports, where most are not fanatically attached to a single player – but, at the same time, while Grand Slams remain fantastic because they are so much more than the first two, they also seem predictable in that we know, almost with certainty, which players will compete in the final. The hope is that, within a year or two, Jack Draper, João Fonseca and perhaps Jakub Mensik and Jiri Lehecka will improve enough to take on the challenge, but, in the meantime, we can expect more of the same.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the 2025 ATP Finals – day one!
Our week of fun begins with perhaps the most fun. Very few people enjoy the stress of competition as much as Carlos Alcaraz, his unique power and creativity unlike anything we have seen before, the pleasure he takes in his virtuosity as assertive as the virtuosity itself.
On the other hand, Alex de Minaur makes tennis look as difficult as it is, chasing and rushing to alleviate his relative lack of power while having little apparent enjoyment in the process. In four matches he has yet to beat the world number 2 and, if we’re honest, that doesn’t look likely to change this afternoon.
But if Alcaraz has a day off – and just a fortnight ago he lost to Cameron Norrie in Paris – De Minaur, consistent enough and mentally strong enough to punish him, has a chance.
Reading: 12:00 p.m. local, 1:00 p.m. GMT
