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Alcaraz hasn’t played that well so far this week, but he’s played well enough. When Fritz put him under pressure, he responded just in time, and whenever he’s in trouble, there’s the sense he can find a level his opponent cannot. Which is characteristic of the best on any sport: the ability to beat top players having their best day.
Musetti has managed it once, but that was in 2022; he’s lost six on the spin since then, most recently in the semis at Roland Garros, when he won the first set before losing the next two and retiring. I guess he has to go for his shots, looking to target the backhand and second serve, while being alert to drops, and hope Alcaraz isn’t at it because he’s already through. Thing is, if Alcaraz wins tonight, he guarantees that he’ll be the year-end world no 1, so it’s not like he’s no incentive to win.
So how does Musetti beat Alcaraz? Er…
I mean, what a turnaround.
I feel for Fritz, but it’s still beautiful.
Preamble
Good evening and welcome to the ATP Finals 2025 – day five!
I can’t remember the last time the group stages of this competition were this good. And the even better news is, we’re not done yet – not by a long chalk.
On Sunday, Alex de Minaur lost to Carlos Alcaraz then, on Tuesday, he lost to Lorenzo Musetti in front of a baying Turin crowd – the 16th time in a row he’d failed to beat a top-10 player. Victimised by his athletic limitations and already playing at his ceiling, his interview after that second match was grim viewing, a window into the agony and torment of elite sport.
If I really want to be serious about taking the next step in my career,” he said, “these matches, I can’t lose ’em. I just can’t. I mean, it feels like I’ve lost a lot of them this year. I mean, more than anything it’s getting to a point where mentally it’s killing me.
It’s something that if it doesn’t get sorted, it’s going to eat me alive. I need to get it sorted sooner rather than later. Yeah, I don’t know how many times I can deal with a loss like this one.”
Sore, right? So why am I subjecting us all to it again, before a match in which he’s not even playing? Because this afternoon, he produced one of the gutsiest displays we’ve seen this year to beat Taylor Fritz – so brilliant in losing to Alcaraz the other day – in straight sets, eliminating the American in the process and saving himself. Now, then, if Alcaraz beats Musetti – and the crowd – this evening, he’s into the last four.
Musetti, though, will not simply roll over. He’s played loads of late, spending last Sunday losing to Novak Djokovic in an epic Athens final, but somehow he’s still going, his comeback against the aforementioned Demon so unlikely it felt pre-ordained – especially when he ended the contest with a barely believable winner which defied the laws of physics and sent the arena stratospheric.
Doing something similar against the world no 1, though, is a different thing. But it’s going to be very special watching him – and the crowd – try.
Play: 8.30pm local, 7.30pm GMT
