Taylor Fritz turns down £118k as rival set for big ATP Finals payday instead

Detailed summary

Taylor Fritz has turned down the opportunity to bank a guaranteed £117,892 ($156,000) as one of the alternates at the ATP Finals. The American has competed in the season-ending c…

Taylor Fritz has turned down the opportunity to bank a guaranteed £117,892 ($156,000) as one of the alternates at the ATP Finals. The American has competed in the season-ending championships three times, finishing runner-up in 2024, but he narrowly missed out on a place this year. The eight players who earn the most ranking points in a single season qualify for the ATP Finals, and this year, it went down to the player in ninth place after Jannik Sinner ruled himself out due to injury.

Had Fritz reached the semi-finals of the recent Paris Masters, he would hav secured the eighth and final place. He held two match points against Carlos Alcaraz in the quarters there and almost made it to Turin, but blew both and went on to lose. While he missed out on the ATP Finals, Fritz was still ranked high enough to be one of the alternates.

Two alternates travel to the tournament to fill in incase of any withdrawals during the round-robin group stage. And they are guaranteed a prize money cheque of just under £118k even if they don’t play any matches during the week.

This year, Fritz and Alex de Minaur were expected to take that position after finishing 10th and 11th in the race. But the former finalist in Turin has now decided not to travel and be an alternate, even though he stayed in Europe to compete at the recent ATP 250 event in Stockholm, where he claimed the title.

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De Minaur is still one of the alternates, but the second man is something of a surprise. Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime, who finished 17th in the race and has not played a match since he retired from the Shanghai Masters injured, has flown to the ATP Finals to be the second alternate, as nobody else was available.

Auger-Aliassime competed in the year-end championships in 2025 and even reached the semi-finals.

The former world No. 4 is expected to represent Canada at the Davis…

Giv…

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