For Fritz, the math in Paris was brutal: beat Alcaraz and the eighth spot was his. He got as far as match point before Alcaraz turned the quarterfinal around. The last seat in Turin went to Jodar.

Tommy Paul’s elimination came one round earlier the same week. His three-set defeat to Ben Shelton knocked him out of contention and, in the same stroke, locked in Frances Tiafoe’s qualification. Paul finished the Race to Turin on 2,925 points, outside the alternate positions. Those go to Alex de Minaur and Fritz, who will travel to Italy only if one of the eight withdraws.

No one has qualified from No. 168 before

Jodar ended the qualifying race on 3,234 points, just 64 ahead of de Minaur. That margin alone would have made him the story. His starting point makes it extraordinary.

The Spaniard opened 2026 at No. 168 in the ATP rankings. No qualifier for the season finale has ever come from that far down the calendar. The previous benchmark belonged to Argentina’s Mariano Puerta, who had been No. 133 at the start of 2005. Behind Puerta in the record book sit Arthur Ashe (No. 130 in 1978) and Goran Ivanisevic (No. 129 in 2001).

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Jodar, born in Madrid in September 2006, turned professional in 2025 after a spell at the University of Virginia. He won his first ATP title in Marrakech in April and broke into the top 10 for the first time this month. He is also the first player to qualify for the Finals in the same season he made his tour-level debut.

Sinner’s withdrawal opened the door

Part of the reason the bottom of the race ran this deep was the shape of the top. Jannik Sinner, who finished the qualifying period second with 7,950 points, is out for the rest of the season with knee inflammation, which turned the top eight into a nine-player scramble and ultimately handed Jodar the crack he needed.

The seven qualifiers alongside him, as confirmed by Last Word on Sports, are Alexander Zverev (9,350 points), Alcaraz (5,500), Shelton (4,920), Daniil Medvedev (3,820), Flavio Cobolli (3,680), Arthur Fils (3,625) and Tiafoe (3,390). Zverev arrives with the year-end No. 1 ranking already secured; Fils, Tiafoe and Jodar are all debutants.

Play starts next Sunday in Turin

The ATP Finals begin on Sunday, November 15, and run through November 22 at the Inalpi Arena in Turin. The draw will split the eight into two round-robin groups of four, which means Jodar will play three of the other seven once the seedings are published.

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