ATP Finals 2026: Shelton, Tiafoe Carry U.S. Hopes as Sinner Sits Out

For the second straight year, two Americans are headed to the ATP Finals 2026. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe will be in Turin, Italy, when the eight-man season finale starts Sunday, Nov. 15, and they’ll walk into a field that looks very different from the last two years. Two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner is out with a knee injury, and half the field is making its debut.

The draw is Thursday at 6 a.m. ET, when the eight players will be split into two round-robin groups of four, according to the ATP Tour.

ATP Finals 2026 field

Four first-time qualifiers in one year is a lot for this event. Cobolli, Fils, Tiafoe and Jodar are all new to Turin.

Taking their places 🇮🇹

Tiafoe among quartet of Nitto ATP Finals first-time qualifiers 👏 #PIF | #PIFATPRankings | #Partner pic.twitter.com/eZO1Yp19xi

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 9, 2026

Tiafoe finally gets his Turin moment

Tiafoe clinched his spot on Nov. 6 without hitting a ball. Shelton beat Tommy Paul 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the Paris Masters quarterfinals, which ended Paul’s chase for the last spots and sent his close friend to Turin, AP reported. Shelton called Tiafoe one of his best friends after the match.

The Maryland native earned it. Tiafoe reached his second Masters 1000 final in Cincinnati this summer and made the U.S. Open semifinals for the third time, beating Medvedev along the way, per the ATP.

It’s also a nice moment for American men’s tennis. This is the second year in a row with two U.S. players in the field after Shelton and Taylor Fritz last year. Before that, it hadn’t happened since Andy Roddick and James Blake in 2006.

Shelton’s shot at history

Shelton comes in with a chance to do something no lefty has done in more than four decades. He’s trying to become the first left-handed player to win the ATP Finals since John McEnroe in 1984, the ATP noted.

He showed good form in Paris, too, firing 19 aces against Paul on his way to his first semifinal at that event.

A former college player in the field

The last spot came down to the final Friday of qualifying. Fritz held two match points against Carlos Alcaraz in the Paris quarterfinals, then lost 6-7 (10), 7-5, 6-3, according to Tennis Majors. That loss sent 20-year-old Rafael Jodar to Turin instead.

College tennis fans know the name. A year ago, Jodar was playing at the University of Virginia and ranked No. 166, Tennisnerd reported. He’s now the first man to qualify for the ATP Finals in the same year he made his tour-level debut.

No Sinner in Turin

The biggest name missing is the home favorite. Sinner hasn’t played since winning Wimbledon in July and shut down his season Oct. 6 to treat a right knee injury. He won the last two ATP Finals without dropping a set and owns a 15-2 record at the event, according to the ATP.

At a news conference in Milan on Tuesday, Sinner said he hopes to return at the 2027 Australian Open but won’t rush it, the Tico Times reported.

Schedule, format and how to watch

Round-robin play runs Sunday, Nov. 15 through Friday, Nov. 20. The semifinals are Saturday, Nov. 21, and the final is Sunday, Nov. 22. Group winners face the other group’s runner-up in the semis, and singles matches are best-of-three sets with tiebreaks.

In the U.S., the tournament airs on Tennis Channel, with streaming on Tennis TV. Singles sessions are scheduled to start at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET during round-robin play, according to CableTV.com.

The groups come Thursday morning. That’s when Shelton and Tiafoe find out whether they’ll have to go through Zverev or Alcaraz just to reach the weekend.

For more coverage, see our tennis news page.

Sources: ATP Tour (2, 3, 4), AP, Nitto ATP Finals, Tennis Majors, Tennisnerd, Tico Times, Sky Sports, CableTV.com, ATP Tour on X