What will remain of these ATP Finals (which aim to stay in Italy after 2025)

Anyone who has visited the Pala Alpitour in Turin in the last seven days has been able to realize that the image offered by the Atp Finals in this year’s edition was a kind of revenge compared to the last edition. In November 2021, the Technical-Scientific Committee decided, a few hours before the start of the event, that the stands could only be 60 percent filled. Last week, 155,900 people passed through the structure created to host the 2006 Olympics, for a total of over 15 million euros. Slightly inferior to the Internationals of Italy held in May in Rome. “The Nitto ATP Finals do not create budget holes, but wealth, and give the world a positive image of Italy”, said the president of Federtennis in the final press conference Angelo Binaghi. Giving ample prominence to the beneficial effects on related industries, which recorded a return of over 77 million euros in the city. So much so that now the organizers – including the federation – in addition to the sponsors are working to understand the feasibility of a candidacy even at the expiry of the agreement with the ATP: that is, after 2025. The previous one is closest in time, after all , proves that the hypothesis is not so far-fetched, given that London was entrusted with the Finals for five years and then the tournament remained in the setting of the O2 Arena for nine editions in a row.

That concluded with the victory of Novak Djokovic on Casper Ruud it was the tennis tournament with the richest prize money ever (the Serbian took home over 7 million euros including bonuses). But beyond the economic side, it served to remind us how the Finals also and above all on the competitive side have untapped potential. Not only has a player capable of establishing a new record (6 victories, equal to Roger Federer) triumphed by remaining undefeated. There was a return to the field of Rafael Nadal, who has already said that he wants to work “to be in better shape next year” and that he wants to return to Turin, which he considers “a beautiful city”. This keeping in mind how the number one in the world were absent Carlos Alcaraz (due to injury) as well as Italian players, who qualified last year by making a sort of handover (let’s talk about Berrettini and Sinner). And it is precisely on the appeal and attractiveness deriving from the growth of our athletes that it is expected that interest in the end-of-year event will increase even more. Stay in Turin? In recent days, Binaghi told Il Foglio that the option is on the table, given the results. But Milan’s prices are also on the rise. Above all because from 2026 it will be possible to use the new infrastructures built for the Olympics organized in conjunction with Cortina in the Milanese capital.

And speaking of Italian tennis: last year part of the final phase of the Davis Cup was played in Turin, the week following the Finals, in the same Pala Alpitour. It did not lead well to the blue colors, which were eliminated by Croatia. But after the interlude in Malaga this year, the leaders of Italian tennis are already moving to try and grab the next edition or one of the following years. And it doesn’t mean that we can’t repeat last year’s pairing.