The ATP Tour is officially over, we’re now in the offseason and looking forward to the 2025 season. While this part of the season doesn’t feature much tennis, it’s a vital part of the calendar. This is when players lay the groundwork for next season, which begins with a bang in January.
What should each of the sport’s elite be focusing on over the next month? Here’s our take on what the top 10 of the ATP Tour can improve this off-season.
10. Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov had what many would consider his most complete tennis season, and they’re not wrong. The Bulgarian experienced a second youth in the past year, playing superb tennis across all surfaces with a very stable level each week.
The biggest problem for him is a lack of proper peak. He doesn’t seem to be able to go one level up where the likes of Alcaraz and Sinner reside, which prevents him from truly contending for the biggest trophies again.
The question for him will be whether he can tap into that, becoming an even sharper player tactically. He’s a complete player now, he knows how to play, he knows his body well; it’s just about whether he can take it up a notch.
A strong preseason could help him with that, but considering his age it’s unlikely that he has much time to really search for another peak. Very few players are able to do that, but it would be spectacular if he could.
He’s one of the best players to have never won a Grand Slam and while it’s unlikely that he will win it in 2025, it would be quite a story if he could come close.
9. Alex de Minaur
Alex de Minaur is another player who had his career-best season last year. For him, it mostly came down to finally stepping into the court and dictating play. His game for much of his career has been based around his athleticism and speed, and being able to grind down opponents.
This year, the Australian became much more aggressive, actually attacking and finishing off points which did wonders for him. It was best shown at the US Open, and if he can further solidify that approach, he might just be able to challenge for the top five.
An aggressive approach combined with his speed around the court makes him a nightmare to play against, but he needs the weapons to become even bigger. When he faced Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros, the lack of weapons hurt him, but he started to turn the ship around towards the end of the year.
After finally booking a spot at the ATP Finals, De Minaur will not want to go backwards in 2025, so that’s the next step for him: become an elite offensive player.
It’s just where the sport is trending and many are changing their style to fit into that. Alexander Zverev is another notable example of a player who is not offensive by nature but is embracing it and unlocking his game to become a better player. De Minaur needs to do the same and he made a good step this year towards that goal.
8. Andrey Rublev
Rublev had a bit of a weird year overall because he didn’t really take a step forward even though he did play pretty strong tennis at times. It’s been like that for a while for the Russian as he’s been stuck in that No 4 to No 8 purgatory with the occasional burst, but for the most part, he’s not been able to elevate himself a step above.
He doesn’t lack weapons or anything in particular, though his athleticism and overall fitness could be a bit better. It’s one of his weakest parts and it really comes back to haunt him in some matches.
The main aspect he needs to improve on over the offseason is his mental game, which is still very shaky compared to the rest. He has moments when he looks unshakable but then at other times he completely wastes very good performances by falling apart in a tiebreak or another similar pressure situation.
It’s time for him to mature, because if he doesn’t, he will never crack that dream of winning a Grand Slam. It would be a shame because many saw him as a player who could dominate once Novak Djokovic finally hangs it up. There is still time for him but time is fickle, it passes quickly.
7. Novak Djokovic
This one is rather interesting because in essence Djokovic doesn’t really need to improve upon anything. He is by many metrics the perfect player but he did have a pretty lackluster season compared to his usual high standards.
He’s getting older so naturally it’s going to be tougher and tougher with each year, but for him it’s mostly about solving the Alcaraz and – more importantly – Sinner puzzles. He can beat the rest of the field still but these two players have proven quite tough for him.
Both are super aggressive which gives him problems, as their youth and quickness combined with that approach makes it very hard to play. He must find a way to outsmart them both because he likely won’t be able to hit through them.
Outlasting them in a five-set match seems unlikely as time passes either so tactically he’ll just need to find something of a formula and stick with it. If he can’t do that, he’s unlikely to win much more and the calls for retirement might become louder and louder.
Another slightly odd aspect for Djokovic to improve is his mental game. Bottom line, if he’s to have a successful 2025, he needs to go to the well, find his motivation all over again, then come out locked in. Fail to do so, and he’ll be swept aside by Sinner and Alcaraz.
6. Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud has a similar problem to Rublev. He’s been stuck on the same level for a while without really any tangible progress. At times he will play well, but for the most part, he can’t seem to crack what he needs to move up in the rankings.
His game is based on baseline play, but his forehand isn’t the most spectacular. It’s good, but it’s not one that you can’t counter. Players like Alcaraz and Sinner have no issues playing against him.
His fitness is pretty decent, but overall he just seems to be limited by where he can go. He needs to find a way to make his forehand even more deadly and just improve overall to be able to challenge some of the best players. If he doesn’t, he’ll be stuck in that David Ferrer role for the rest of his career.
He’ll be in the top 10, possibly top four, rather consistent, but without any Grand Slams or any way of challenging the top guys. That’s not where he wants to be, and he’s well on his way to doing that if he doesn’t change something.
5. Daniil Medvedev
Another player who needs to figure out what he wants is Daniil Medvedev. He really didn’t have a very good year in 2024 even though he started well by making the 2024 Australian Open final and winning the first two sets.
For Medvedev, it simply comes down to taking things a bit more seriously. He’s always been a very loose player, but you can’t help but think that he could become even more deadly if he adopted a precision like Djokovic.
His game is actually one of those that gives both Sinner and Alcaraz trouble when he really executes it well. He doesn’t do it often and he needs to because he’s not an offensive player. To really force the errors from the opposite side he needs to play his game to the most impressive level he can.
If not, then both Alcaraz and Sinner will just punish him as they did often. It doesn’t change the fact that his game still gives them massive problems; he just needs to find that mojo back and play a bit more precise.
His serve also took a dip in 2024, which should be rectified in the offseason.
4. Taylor Fritz
Fritz had a very strong year, especially the way he finished indoors where he made the final of the ATP Finals. For him, it’s just about doing what he’s been doing so far and that’s improving slightly every year.
When Fritz gets in the zone, he’s very tough to play because he has a massive serve which he can hit at a high rate. He has a forehand that is very heavy and just obliterates you. The backhand can be very tough as well, so it’s just this machine-like grind which is very hard to counter even against the best.
To really challenge for the top, which for him now would be the No 1 rank and winning a Grand Slam, Fritz needs to find ways to play that game consistently. He really fumbles at times, getting into his head a bit too much.
If he can get his first serve to a really elite level and then learn to play behind it, he can certainly be a player who will challenge both Sinner and Alcaraz in the coming years. He has those massive weapons that some other players might not have.
3. Carlos Alcaraz
No player had a stranger year than Carlos Alcaraz because the year itself featured two very opposite versions of the player. He’s the only player to beat Sinner twice this year, which in itself tells you that he’s still capable of some spectacular tennis, since the Italian has been historically good this year.
He won two Grand Slams as well, which again demonstrates his top level. But equally, he had some other performances where you sit back and ask yourself how he was able to win any of those things at all. The US Open exit was very frustrating for his fans and for good reason.
So for Alcaraz, it’s just about making sure that those things don’t happen. He’s rather consistent but there is an elite level of consistency which he needs to get to really take the next step. He basically needs to prove that he can have a season like Sinner had right now.
The Italian was the best player in 2024 and it wasn’t even close because his consistency was unmatched. Alcaraz needs to show that similar dominance because so far he’s been able to do it only for a period of time.
He’s never gone a full season where he dominated the Tour and that’s the next step for him – becoming that impossibly consistent player across the course of a year.
2. Alexander Zverev
One player who has impressed in recent times is Alexander Zverev. There is a very good reason for that, and it’s that he’s really improving to a level which few expected.
Zverev always had the level to win a Grand Slam but he’s never been able to get it done despite playing in a few finals. He might just do it next year but it will depend on if he can take the next step.
The step is simple: he needs to become an elite server consistently because it’s a massive weapon which changes every matchup. Another thing is to continue improving as an attacking player. This year was the first year where Zverev stepped into the court and attacked.
It unlocked his game in a pretty meaningful way and he needs to keep that going. This is the era of attacking players and if you want to win you need to play that way. Zverev will be nearly unstoppable if he can develop his serve to a consistently deadly weapon and add more attacking into his game.
His defensive approach is already very good on return but he needs to become a player who is impossible to break. If he can do that then watch out, we might just be getting the scariest version of Zverev ever.
1. Jannik Sinner
Sinner was the best player in 2024 and it’s not by chance. He just had an iconic tennis season which will be remembered in history. Just look at these numbers: he played 84 matches this year and won 78 of them, losing only six matches.
He finished the year on a 17-match winning streak with his record post the Canadian Masters being 33-1. The only loss he got since then was against Alcaraz in the China Open final and he nearly won that match.
Essentially there is a chance he might have been 34-0 in the last 34 matches he played. He finished the year with an 11-2 record on clay, a 42-3 record on hard courts, 9-1 on grass, and 13-0 indoors. That’s just absurd but he has truly been that good and the next step for him is just to build upon that.
Sinner needs to get even stronger physically because his body is still not as great as it can be. He needs to become even more precise as a player and if he gets all of that done we might be looking at a player that is truly impossible to beat.
Many have noted that Sinner plays tennis as a sort of machine or AI that calculates the best possible move and hits it every time. That’s impossible to play against and only a historically good player in Alcaraz was able to beat him twice this year. Let that sink in.
