Defending champs are Krawietz/Puetz, while Cash/Glasspool compete as top seeds

Former champions, event debutants, previous finalists out for redemption and two teams in a battle for ATP Year-End Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours: There are plenty of storylines to be had from the doubles lineup at the 2025 Nitto ATP Finals.

The best eight performing teams across the season gathered on Saturday at Inalpi Arena in Turin for media day ahead of the prestigious season finale. Among them were 2024 titlists Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, who will this year line up as the sixth seeds.

Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz
Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz were welcomed back as defending champions on media day in Turin. Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

“Very nice [to be back], of course,” Krawietz told ATPTour.com in Turin. “I’ve got a lot of nice memories coming here. To practise here and see the guys and end up here in the top eight, that was our goal at the beginning of the season. We made it again, so let’s go to compete.”

Puetz added: “I think we had a really consistent year doing really well in most tournaments. If you make it here, it’s just proof you’ve had a good year. It doesn’t matter where you are coming from or where you got the points, you must have got a lot of points. I feel really proud of being back.”

Krawietz and Puetz line up alongside debutant team Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool, 2024 finalists Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos and home favourites Simone Bolelli/Andrea Vavassori in Peter Fleming Group.

Cash and Glasspool will contest their maiden Nitto ATP Finals together as the top seeds, and the duo is also on the brink of claiming ATP Year-End Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours. The Britons lead second-placed Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten by 1305 points in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings.

Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool lead the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings. Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Yet Heliovaara says he and his partner are ready to pounce on any slip-up from their rivals, particularly in the wake of he and Patten’s first ATP Masters 1000 triumph last weekend at the Rolex Paris Masters, where they defeated Cash and Glasspool in the final.

“It happened naturally, the 1000 win. I don’t think we felt that much pressure about it,” said the Finn. “We had some semi-finals in the past and last week was the one when it was our turn to win. The [Nitto ATP Finals] does not come around as often, so I don’t know if there is extra pressure to win it because the next chance might never come. We are confident, feeling quite calm. We will play match by match and try our best.”

Heliovaara and Patten join Marcelo Arevalo/Mate Pavic, Joe Salisbury/Neal Skupski and Christian Harrison/Evan King in John McEnroe Group at Inalpi Arena. Salisbury, who won back-to-back Turin titles with Rajeev Ram in 2022 and 2023, is excited at the prospect of another Turin title bid.

“It’s great to be back,” said the former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings Salisbury. “It’s always exciting coming back for the Tour finals. Obviously, it means you have had a great year. You get treated better than anywhere else and you are one of only eight teams, so it’s really special.”

Arevalo and Pavic do not need to look too far back for motivation this week in Turin. A year ago, the pair lost out in a hard-fought championship match with Krawietz and Puetz, with both sets in that match going to tie-breaks.

“It’s always the goal to be back in Turin,” said Arevalo. “We were pretty close last year, because we lost the final in two tie-breaks, so a couple of points would have changed the whole history. We are happy. We had a great season last year and we are having a great season so far also this year, and this is just the cherry on top of the cake. Hopefully we can play well here again.”

Meanwhile American pair Harrison and King are the only team in which neither player has previous Nitto ATP Finals experience. They are also one of five teams featuring two players from the same nation, the most same-nationality teams at a single edition of the Nitto ATP Finals since 2004.

“I saw Stan Smith and Arthur Ashe won in 1970,” said King when asked about the United States’ storied history in Nitto ATP Finals doubles. “I thought that was pretty sweet. Other than that we’re just trying to do us. If we could do some good stuff here, it would be sweet. Maybe if we did well enough, we would get picked for Davis Cup and that would be pretty cool, but we are just out here competing.”

Evan King/Christian Harrison
Evan King and Christian Harrison on Saturday in Turin. Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour