With Jannik Sinner out of the equation, the player coming in the ninth spot on the ATP Finals Rankings is guaranteed a spot in Turin, which is why Alex de Minaur fans would have been overjoyed, as the Australian became ninth on the Race Rankings after his runner-up finish in Vienna, ahead of Rafael Jodar. However, they were in for a rude awakening, as it seems that there was a calculation mishap by the governing body.
“So… after showing wrong numbers all week in their website, dozens of times on the TV World Feed and ATP Media Notes, the @atptour finally decided to correct their rankings, keeping Jodar ahead of De Minaur in the Race, which changes the scenarios for next week in Paris,” said tennis insider Jose Morgado on X. “Props to @AnnaK_4ever, who was correct as always.”
If one were to look at Morgado’s X feed, the insider had shared a screenshot of the ATP Race Rankings after De Minaur’s loss to Carlos Alcaraz in the Vienna final. With 330 points added to his tally, the Australian was on 3210 points, one point ahead of Rafael Jodar and edging the Spaniard out of the ninth spot on the rankings.
While the runner-up finish at Vienna does award 330 points, De Minaur’s run should have seen the Australian get 280 points. This is because the Australian has already played the 18-tournament allocation for the 2026 season. The points for the ATP Race Rankings are based on the 18 events played; if any player plays more than that, the 19th tournament result and so forth would replace the lowest result in the rankings rather than just adding to the tally.
The Vienna Open was De Minaur’s 21st event of the season, which is why his runner-up finish replaced his lowest score from his 18 slotted events, which was among his 50-point finishes at events like the US Open and the Canadian Open. Even for Jodar, the ATP had made a similar mistake, as it had allocated 50 points on the ATP Race Rankings for the Spaniard’s second-round exit in Basel.
However, even for Jodar, the 18-event allocation had already been surpassed, which is why his net gain was adjusted to 25 points in the official rankings, based on his lowest-point finishes at Delray Beach and Dallas. With the corrected points, Jodar remains in ninth with 3184 points, De Minaur in tenth with 3160, and the race still close.
With the 18-event limit, the ATP ensures that players do not gain an advantage by qualifying for the ATP Finals simply by playing more events and boosting their point tallies in the rankings. Having resolved all the points issues, the ATP Race is all set for a grandstand finish at the Paris Masters.
The ATP Finals Race Set for a Tight Finish in Paris
Four spots for the Turin event have already been taken, as Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and Ben Shelton have already qualified for the ATP Finals. The next players below the rung are the duo of Flavio Cobolli and Arthur Fils, who are on 6th and 7th on the Race Rankings with 3690 and 3525 points, respectively. While their current tallies might already be enough for Turin, a couple of wins at the Paris Masters will seal the qualification for both.
Ranked 8th is Frances Tiafoe with 3380 points, followed by the duo of Jodar and De Minaur. Their qualifications will mostly depend on who has a better run at the Paris Masters. All eyes will be on 11th-placed Novak Djokovic, but the Serb will need at least a semifinal run, if not the title, to book a spot in Turin. He has got a brutal draw at Nanterre, beginning his campaign against Valentin Vacherot, who just won the title in Basel and has beaten Djokovic in the only match they have played in Shanghai in 2025.
For the players below Djokovic, such as Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, the chances of qualification are slim but still possible if either of them win the title. That is also true for the 17th-placed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who can qualify for Turin if he wins the title in Nanterre, and given that the Spaniard just won the last Masters event in Shanghai, he might still be in with a good shot.