Bublik is already at work, and today Ruud joined him: they collect their tokens and are ready to step in if someone else withdraws. Their life in Turin
Aleksandr Bublik is one of the nicest tennis players on the circuit, and he’ll forgive us for using him as a guinea pig. After Djokovic’s withdrawal and Musetti’s subsequent qualification, he became the first reserve for the ATP Finals. In addition to the eight “starters,” the Masters tournament welcomes two “alternate” players, chosen in order of ranking and ready to step in in case of withdrawals during the round-robin phase, clearly on the condition that the player who forfeits has at least one match left to play. Once in the competition, the reserve plays independently, so he does not inherit the results of the player he replaced.
Bublik has been in Turin for a few days, joined today by Casper Ruud, called in by the ATP to replace Musetti: they are respectively number 11 and 12 in the Race (Draper, No. 10, has been out for some time due to injury). Unlike the Norwegian, the Kazakh, who started the season in 33rd place in the rankings, has had a taste of the Finals from the outset. He loves Turin, where he won the Super Challenger hosted by the Circolo della Stampa in May. Yesterday, he trained with Carlos Alcaraz and then was a guest of Juventus at the Allianz Stadium, watching the derby with Torino: Juventus president Gianluca Ferrero presented him with a personalized jersey. Bublik does not yet know if his trip to Italy will result in an official commitment. In the meantime, he is enjoying the city, training with the best in the world, and is already guaranteed to pocket a check for $155,000.
How much can he earn? That is the token amount given to the Finals reserves, as part of a record prize pool of $15.5 million (next year, with the start of the new cycle in Italy, it will grow even more). . If someone were to withdraw and he managed to win a match in the round robin, he would round off his haul with $396,500 and 200 ATP points, which are awarded for each match won in the first phase. Two hundred points that would allow him, or Ruud, to overtake Draper and finish the year in the top ten. In the last 30 years of the Finals, there have been 15 substitutions. The last reserve to win a match was Jannik Sinner. In 2021, he replaced the injured Berrettini, beat Hurkacz, and was defeated by Medvedev, ending his first experience in the Finals with prize money of $266,000 ($93,000 in appearance fees plus $173,000 for the victory) and 200 points in the rankings.
