Alcaraz avoids Jódar and will face Medvedev, Cobolli and Tiafoe in the ATP Finals

The Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz has been drawn this Thursday in the Ivan Lendl Group in the ATP Finals, which will be held at the Inalpi Arena in Turin between November 15 and 22, along with the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the Italian Flavio Cobolli and the American Frances Tiafoe, while Rafa Jódar will play against Alexander Zverev, Ben Shelton and Arthur Fils in the John McEnroe Group.

Carlos Alcaraz already knows his rivals at the ATP Finals 2026. The Murcian will seek to win one of the great titles that is missing from his record in Turin. To do this he will have to overcome Medvedev, Cobolli and Tiafoe in the group stage, with whom he has been drawn in the Ivan Lendl Group. In addition, he already knows that his debut will be against the American, who has not been measured since 2024.

He also does not have many precedents against Flavio Cobolli, against whom he has played only once on the ATP circuit, a duel in the first round of Roland Garros 2023 that fell to the Spaniard’s side by a resounding 3-0. Much more recent is the last time Medvedev and Alcaraz met, with victory for the Spaniard in the semifinals in Vienna a few weeks ago. Furthermore, the only match between the two in the Finals also fell to the Spanish side (6-4, 6-4) in 2023.

For his part, the other Spaniard present in the tournament, Rafa Jódar, will be part of the John McEnroe Group along with the world number one and two-time ‘master’ Alexander Zverev, the American Ben Shelton and the Frenchman Arthur Fils. The Madrid native will make his debut against Zverev, to whom he lost in the Roland Garros quarterfinals. He has better memories against Fils, whom he has beaten in his last two games, while against Shelton it will be the first time he meets.

A draw that would allow a hypothetical final between two Spaniards, something that has only happened once in history, in the 1998 edition in which Álex Corretja defeated Carlos Moyá in the final in Hannover (Germany). More recent is the last time that two representatives of Spanish tennis reached the semifinals: David Ferrer and Rafa Nadal in 2007.