As we head towards the end of the season, the battle for the number one spot has intensified. Andy Murray will claim the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings list if one of these situations unfold - (a) Murray wins the title & Djokovic fails to reach the final, or (b) Murray reaches the final & Djokovic fails to reach the semi-finals. But a lot is at stake for the other players too as two tickets to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are still up for grabs. Let us have a look at 5 players to watch out for this week.
1) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Tsonga's one player who loves to play in front of his passionate home fans. Having been forced to tearfully retire midway through his 3rd round match at the French Open, Tsonga will look to make amends here.
He finally seems to have been able to put behind the injury setbacks that he suffered in the early part of the season, as he reached the final of the ATP 500 event at Vienna last week, losing to an in-form Murray. A title here might just be able to land him a London spot, provided other results go his way. This would definitely act as added motivation.
2) Marin Cilic
The indoor hard courts at Paris will suit Cilic's brand of power tennis perfectly. Cilic has himself conceded that he loves playing indoors, & it is quite evident by the fact that he won the first ATP 500 title of his career at the Swiss Indoors in Basel only last week, beating Nishikori in the final.
"Paris will be deciding everything, I want to finish the regular season in a good way and hope to refresh myself in the next couple of days to be ready again", said Cilic, after winning the title in Basel last week.
Coming into this week in red-hot form, Cilic would look to cap a stellar season, which also saw him winning his first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati, with a chance to showcase his skills at the O2 Arena. He will assure himself a London berth if he manages to reach the final in Paris.
3) Grigor Dimitrov
Dimitrov entered a mid-season crisis after having lost the ATP 250 Istanbul final 7-6 6-7 0-6, after being 7-6 5-2 up against Argentine Diego Schwartzman. Dimitrov lost 5 matches on the trot after the Istanbul final, & was in a self-admitted "bad place", mentally.
But he seemed to have finally overcome that loss & has managed to get his motivation levels up back again, which has led to him enjoying a late-season surge. He reached the semi-final of the Cincinnati Masters and the final of the ATP 500 Beijing event only last month, losing to Murray in a well-contested final.
With his London hopes all but over, Dimitrov will look to do well in Paris to ensure that he has some momentum heading into the 2017 season.
4) Lucas Pouille
Pouille has enjoyed a breakthrough season this year, having breached the top 20 mark for the first time in his career. He also won his first ATP Tour level title at Metz 250 event earlier this year.
He's a player who likes the big stage and thrives in big moments, as is evident by his win against old warhorse, Rafael Nadal, in a fifth set tiebreaker at the US Open this year.
With two grand slam quarter-final results to show for this season, Pouille has established himself as one of the bright young stars to look out for in the future. Backed by his home crowd, he'll be looking to put up a strong performance this week. A slight chance of qualifying for London if he wins the title this week will only spur him on.
5) David Goffin
Goffin is another player who's in with more than a decent chance to make the cut for London. The sprightly young Belgian, with a diminutive body structure, has surprisingly managed to hold his own amongst giants, ever since he burst on to the scene.
He's performed consistently well this season, reaching the quarter-final stage(or better) 11 times, with his best result coming at Tokyo where he lost in the final to Nick Kyrgios. He'll look to seal his London berth with a strong showing this week.
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