When Felix Auger-Aliassime arrived at the Pala Alpitour for his debut performance at the Nitto ATP Finals, the 22-year-old relished seeing his name among the season’s best eight players and reminisced on childhood memories as he located his locker.

“That’s a twist that’s special here,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Having your personal locker, your face on the door. I remember seeing behind the scenes videos of it growing up and I thought, ‘How cool is that!’ to have a personal locker. And here I am. When I got on site, it was the first thing I went for.

“I remember watching [the Nitto ATP Finals] for the first time in my early teenage years. I remember just being inspired by it and feeling that it would be amazing to be a part of that. Now that I’m here, it’s a full circle moment. It’s really special and I hope it’s not the last time.”

While the World No. 6 has achieved a lifelong dream, he is hungry for more. Felix, who is the youngest player in this year’s field, boasts a 56-25 match record this year. Only two men have collected more victories this season: Stefanos Tsitsipas (60) and Carlos Alcaraz (57). With the chance to close out the year with the most wins, Felix comes into the season final’s event with deep confidence.

On indoor hard courts, Felix has racked up a season-leading 27 wins and has collected each of his four titles (Rotterdam, Florence, Antwerp, Basel). In the latter part of the season, Felix went on a career-best 16 match-winning streak, including three straight titles, to help him seal a spot at the season finale in Turin.

“It’s one thing to believe in your process and in your work but it’s another to actually step up to the challenge,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I was kind of backed up against the wall to qualify after the US Open, there were some other guys who were big contenders. To go on a run like I did, at that moment, for me it showed a lot of character and mental strength to push through and make the best effort I can to qualify here.”

Felix, who is just the second Canadian (Raonic ‘14, ‘16) to play the Nitto ATP Finals in its 53-year history, will first look to avenge his Montreal loss to Casper Ruud, who upset him 6-1, 6-2 at his home tournament in August.

“That was a tough memory,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I lost pretty badly in front of my fans in my hometown. It was one of those days where you just want to leave the court at some point because nothing is working, you lose hope. I’m looking forward to the rematch and hopefully a very different scenario. I’m sure it’s going to be a hard-fought match but I believe in my chances to win.”

Felix is set to compete in the Green Group alongside Ruud, Taylor Fritz, and Rafael Nadal. The Nitto ATP Finals, which features the world’s best eight players, runs from 13-20 November.

The eight 2022 Nitto ATP Finals singles competitors gathered on Friday at Turin’s Gallerie d’Italia, an art gallery located on the city’s renowned Piazza San Carlo, for the season finale’s official group photo. 

Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Taylor Fritz will compete in Green Group, with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Novak Djokovic drawn together in Red Group for the round-robin stage. Play begins on Sunday, when Ruud takes on Auger-Aliassime and Nadal meets Fritz.

The photoshoot was part of media day for the prestigious season finale. The players also spoke to local and international media ahead of next week’s action at the Pala Alpitour, Italy’s largest indoor arena. 

Nadal and Tsitsipas will try to capture year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings from Carlos Alcaraz, while Djokovic seeks a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals trophy. 

Singles and doubles stars at this year’s Nitto ATP Finals came together Thursday night at Nuvola Lavazza in Turin for the official tournament gala dinner. Former champions Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas joined fellow 2022 qualifiers Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz to meet with VIPs and tournament partners. The game’s best eight doubles teams were also on hand for the evening.

The players will come together again on Friday for the official group portrait and other media commitments. The tournament begins Sunday 13 November and runs through 20 November, when the champion of champions will be crowned.

Nadal and Tsitsipas both have a chance to finish the year as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz forced to withdraw from the event through injury.

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Photos: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

After three days of group play at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, the semi-finals are set for Friday in Milan.

Group winners Brandon Nakashima and Dominic Stricker will both look to take their strong form into the knockout rounds after finishing the round-robin stage with perfect 3-0 records. The American will face Jack Draper in a Top 50 showdown while Stricker meets Jiri Lehecka, with both second-place finishers securing their progress with wins on Thursday.

We look ahead with previews of both marquee matchups at the Allianz Cloud.

[4] Brandon Nakashima (USA) vs. [3] Jack Draper (GBR)

One of two returning players in Milan, along with Lorenzo Musetti, Nakashima has matched his 2021 result at the 21-and-under event by reaching the semis. Set to age out of the competition next season, the experienced American has attacked this year’s event with great purpose. He enters his meeting with Draper on the heels of seven consecutive sets won; after a five-set victory against Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi in his opening match, he scored straight-sets wins against Lehecka and Francesco Passaro to seal his place atop the Green Group.

The fourth seed improved with each round-robin match and used a dominant serving performance to ease past Passaro on Thursday, 4-3(4), 4-2, 4-1, saving the only break point against him. Nakashima’s dominance on his own delivery is demonstrated by his 8.6 Serve Quality score, a metric which uses a variety of statistical inputs to measure a shot’s effectiveness on a 10-point scale.

“I thought my level was really high today,” Nakashima said after defeating Passaro. “It was nice to see it carrying over from yesterday. To come out and play like that was super special.”

While Nakashima needed to win only one set against the Italian to guarantee progress to the knockout rounds, Draper faced a win-or-go-home matchup against home favourite Musetti on Thursday evening. The Briton played his best match of the week in a 4-1, 4-0, 4-3(3) win to deny the Italian an extended run in front of the Milan crowd.

“I like crowds, if they are with me or not,” Draper said after the victory. “This is what I have wanted to do since when I was younger. I wanted to entertain people. This is why I train every day.”

He’ll hope to enjoy more support as he seeks to hand Nakashima his first loss of the week.

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Draper did not face a break point against Musetti and will aim to use his serve and powerful ground game to pin the American back on the slick hard courts. But Nakashima’s game is also based on aggression, with the American hitting his way to his first ATP Tour title earlier this season in his home city of San Diego. 

Expect a heavy dose of first-strike tennis as both men seek their first title in Milan. If their Pepperstone ATP Rankings are any indication, this one could go down to the wire: Nakashima is the World No. 49, while Draper sits at a career-high No. 41.

[7] Dominic Stricker (SUI) vs. [5] Jiri Lehecka (CZE)

Stricker did not just survive the loaded Red Group — he thrived by earning victories against the two highest-ranked players in the Milan field. But the Swiss’ wins did not come easily against Draper and World No. 23 Musetti.

In an all-lefty battle, he edged Draper in three tie-breaks despite a one-for-seven mark on break points. Stricker followed that up with a historic 4-3(5), 4-3(6), 3-4(7), 3-4(6), 4-3(3) win against Musetti in which he fired a tournament-record 20 aces. The late-night thriller is the only match in the history of the event to feature five tie-breaks.

With one eye on the semi-finals, his status as group winner secured after Day 2, Stricker completed his perfect group campaign with a dominant victory against Chun-Hsin Tseng on Thursday — no tie-breaks needed.

“It was not easy for me to come out here and play my best again because mentally, of course you’re already thinking a bit more of tomorrow, of the semis,” Stricker said post-match. “But I think handled it very well, I played a great match and I’m super happy with my performance. Now I can think all about tomorrow.”

Lehecka secured his semi-final place with a straight-sets win against Arnaldi on Thursday. He beat two Italians to advance, earning an opening win against Passaro on Tuesday, also in three sets.

“When I came here, my goal was to qualify for the semi-finals and then anything can happen,” the Czech said after advancing to the knockout rounds. “I am looking forward to tomorrow.”

The 21-year-old can draw from his experience of reaching the semis in Rotterdam, where he came through qualifying to make a shock run at the ATP 500 event, claiming his first tour-level wins in the process. While he lost to 2019 Milan champ Stefanos Tsitsipas in that semi-final, Lehecka is now two wins away from matching the Greek’s feat at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.

In a blockbuster winner-takes-all clash at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals Thursday, it was Jack Draper who stepped up and delivered, defeating Italian Lorenzo Musetti 4-1, 4-0, 4-3(3) to reach the semi-finals in Milan.

Draper and Musetti headed into the match holding a 1-1 record in the Red Group, knowing only a win would be enough for them to join Dominic Stricker in the last four. In front of a packed Italian crowd, Draper produced a ruthless display to silence the home supporters, punching holes in the Musetti defence with his fierce groundstrokes to advance.

“Yesterday I played a bit better than my first match and then today I really hit some form,” Draper said. “I played well, served great. Lorenzo is a great player and he may have been a bit tired after his match yesterday, but I am glad with the way I played today.”

The 20-year-old, who is making his debut at the 21-and-under event, flew out of the blocks, hitting his flat backhand through the court. The Italian, who took a tumble at the start of the second set, was unable to handle Draper’s aggressive forehand and swinging lefty serve, with the Briton overpowering the Italian to earn his 19th tour-level win of the season.

“I like crowds, if they are with me or not,” Draper said. “This is what I have wanted to do since I was young. I wanted to entertain people. This is why I train every day.”

With his 56-minute victory, Draper has set a semi-final meeting against 21-year-old American Brandon Nakashima on Friday. Stricker will face Jiri Lehecka in the other semi-final.

Draper has enjoyed a breakthrough year. He won four ATP Challenger Tour titles, before he upset Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Montreal.

Home favourite Musetti lifted tour-level trophies in Hamburg and Naples this season, but was unable to find his best level in Milan, falling at the round-robin stage for the second consecutive season.

With his position atop the Red Group already secured at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, Dominic Stricker stayed red-hot on Thursday in Milan with his third victory in as many days. The Swiss earned a 4-2, 4-1, 4-2 victory against Chun-Hsin Tseng to maintain his perfect record in the group stage, finalising at 3-0.

“It was not easy for me to come out here and play my best again because mentally, of course you’re already thinking a bit more of tomorrow, of the semis,” Stricker said post-match. “But I think handled it very well, I played a great match and I’m super happy with my performance. Now I can think all about tomorrow.”

He will next face Jiri Lehecka, who finished in second place in the Green Group, in Friday’s semi-finals.

Each of the first eight sets Stricker played were decided by tie-breaks, including all five against Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti on Wednesday evening. But the 20-year-old quickly broke that pattern against Tseng in a match he dominated from start to finish.

Stricker broke at the first opportunity in each set and did not face a break point in sets two and three. The opening set was the most competitive, with Tseng closing to 2-3 by converting on his fifth break point, only to surrender serve — and the set — in the very next game.

“I think my serve again was very good today. It helped me a lot,” he said, one day after hitting a tournament-record 20 aces against Musetti. “My forehand was working great. I took the second serve pretty early. It helped me to keep the upper hand in the rallies. I’m super happy. He’s such a great player, he’s never losing the baseline, he’s such a great competitor. But I’m super happy with my game today and let’s hope the best for tomorrow.”

Stricker finished with 24 winners in the 56-minute match, the only contest on the week to finish in under an hour.

The sixth-seeded Tseng, who won the opening set against Jack Draper on Wednesday, was the second Asian player to compete at the Intsa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals after Hyeon Chung won the 2017 title in the event’s first edition.