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The impending battle of the top stars is all set to take tennis fans on a mesmerizing journey that shall further bring the curtains down on the season. The year ending showpiece, the Nitto ATP Finals that will commence from the 11th November till the 18th promises to be a tennis treat for fans who look forward to watching their favorite stars battle it out for the year-end crown.
In what will be the 49th edition of the singles and 44th in doubles, the O2 Arena in London is all set to witness the gladiators sweep the crowds off their feet with some supreme tennis on display for a week.
The elite eight top players who will fight it out, including six-time tournament champ Roger Federer, World No 1 Novak Djokovic, debutants Kevin Anderson and John Isner along with Alexander Zverev, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic, and the Austrian Dominic Thiem.
The 2018 season has brought forth numerous stories of grit and determination. Some that inspired, some that had us in awe, and a few others that instilled belief in hard work and perseverance. While the great Spaniard Rafael Nadal endured a tough season inflicted with injuries and forced to sit out many of the tournaments, there was a certain Serb who quietly worked his way up to the zenith. The season also shared the agony of defending champion in London, Grigor Dimitrov who was nowhere close to his brilliant run like the year last and kept slipping down adding to his dwindling form.
The latter half of the year obviously was underlined with Djokovic’s tremendous resurgence. But not to forget, it was also an overwhelming story of the Japanese Kei Nishikori’s relentless spirit who will feature for a fourth time at the ATP Finals after missing out last season due to injury.
Meanwhile, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the two significant names who have been winners six and five times respectively at the Finals. World No 3 Federer who has a staggering 55-14 W-L at the event will be eying a record seventh title in London while Djokovic who is 32-11 at the O2 will look to join the Swiss for a sixth title at the event.
It will be intriguing to see if we will see a new champion emerge from the pack or will it be either of Federer or Djokovic who will claim the title again.
We preview the two groups and analyse the chances of these eight contenders.
The eight players who will play in a round robin format are divided into two groups. Every player will play each other in their group and the two of them with the best results proceed to the semifinals to play against the other two runners-up from the other group which is the knockout stage.
The two groups are Group Guga Kuerten and Group Lleyton Hewitt.
Here is a dive into the draw:
GROUP GUGA KUERTEN will feature the following four:
#1 Novak Djokovic
#3 Alexander Zverev
#5 Marin Cilic
#8 John Isner
Novak Djokovic (seed 1, ranking No 1)
The World No 1 Novak Djokovic obviously begins as the favourite. Having claimed the title five times, the Serb is well versed with winning ways. Looking to cap a sensational end to a brilliant season, Djokovic will leave no stone unturned to be able to wear the season ending crown with elan.
Having missed out on the latter half of the last season due to an elbow injury, the Serb has endured the most roughest time of his career. Even after his comeback from injury this season, the start was a dampener. It was only at Roland Garros, where reaching the quarter finals ensured that he was on an upward scale despite his loss to Marco Cecchinato.
From thereon, the 31-year-old went on to win the Wimbledon Championships, the US Open and also won two Masters 1000 titles that came in Cincinnati and Shanghai catapulting him to the zenith of the ATP rankings.
Djokovic, who was a winner at the tournament in 2008 and from 2012- 2015, is once again set to give it his best in London at the Finals.
Alexander Zverev (seed 3, ranking No 5)
The German Alexander Zverev is making his second appearance at the ATP Finals. Zverev had lost in the group stage at the tournament last season. His only win came against the Croat Marin Cilic. He lost against Federer and Jack Sock in the next two matches. The World No 5 most certainly will look to go a step further this time.
Having come off a fairly great season with a 54-18 win-loss, the 21-year-old won three titles that include titles in Washington, Munich, and the Madrid Masters this year.
In the head to head with others in the group, Zverev is 5-1 against Marin Cilic, 1-1 against Djokovic, and 4-1 against John Isner.
With this encouraging ratio, the World No 5 should easily be able to make it to the semi-finals unless he loses his sheen which happens on numerous occasions and is signature of the German.
Marin Cilic (seed 5, ranking No 7)
The 30-year-old Marin Cilic will be making his fourth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. But it has always been a very disappointing outing for the Croat. He has managed to win only one match out of the nine he has played at the Finals. His only win has come against Kei Nishikori in 2016 at the group stage where he won 3-6 6-2 6-3 against the Japanese.
He lost all the three matches in 2014 in the group stage which included losses against Djokovic, Wawrinka, and Berdych. Last season was equally brutal when Cilic endured tough losses to Federer, Jack Sock, and Alexander Zverev at the tournament.
The World No 7 has a dismal 1-5 head to head against Zverev, but a fairly encouraging 7-3 against the big-serving John Isner. He needs to put his best foot forward if he intends to break free from the match losing streak at the ATP Finals that he is grappled with.
Cilic who began the season with a semi-final finish in Pune, went on to finish as runner-up at the Australian Open. He also reached the semis in Rome and Cincinnati and won his only title of the season at the Queens club.
The Croat has all the weaponry to tackle the best in business but more than often falters in the crucial stages of a match. And therefore it will remain to watch out if things can get better for Cilic this time in London.
John Isner (seed 8, ranking No 10)
Isner qualified for the season-ending event after Nadal’s last-minute withdrawal due to injury. Making his debut at the season-ending finale, the American will look to make it large in London. Having won two titles in the season, the 33-year-old can trouble the members of this group.
Isner might be the underdog in this tournament but he is coming off a brilliant season. The American won his first career Masters 1000 title in Miami and a hard court title in Atlanta this year. Isner also made a Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon where he played an epic five-setter against Kevin Anderson which almost sent shock waves against tennis fans. The deciding set almost went to 24-26 and the American had to taste a bitter defeat in a match that was so close.
It was heartening nevertheless to see Isner catch up after a slow start to the season and making it to the prestigious final eight.
GROUP Lleyton Hewitt will feature the following four:
#2 Roger Federer
#4 Kevin Anderson
#6 Dominic Thiem
#7 Kei Nishikori
Roger Federer (seed 2, ranking No 3)
The 37-year-old Roger Federer who has an excellent record at the ATP finals winning the event six times will go for a record seventh title in London which will also be his 100th career title if he wins. The Swiss Great is 46-8 this season with four titles at his resume. Of course, the magical year of 2017 saw him amass seven titles and script a golden resurgent season but this year things were a bit different. Albeit, the maestro managed to keep winning.
Federer began the year by successfully defending his Australian Open title. He also emerged triumphant in Rotterdam. The Swiss legend was on a 17-match winning streak until the final of the Indian Wells where his streak was broken by the Argentine Juan Martín del Potro. The World No 3 began his grass court campaign with a bang by winning in Stuttgart and a runner-up finish in Halle. Federer also reached the final in Cincinnati and made the semi-finals in Shanghai and Paris.
Drawn alongside Federer in this group are Dominic Thiem, debutante Kevin Anderson, and Kei Nishikori.
Federer has a dominant 7-2 head to head against Kei Nishikori and in all probability will win that match against the Japanese. He is 4-1 against Anderson and we all know that his only loss against the South African came at Wimbledon when Anderson mounted one of the most memorable comebacks from two sets down to eliminate the Swiss Great in the quarter-final at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile against Dominic Thiem, Federer is 1-2 with the Austrian winning both their previous matches. The Swiss has only one win to his credit against Thiem back in the semi final at Brisbane in 2016. But looking at Federer’s form from what he was in 2016, it goes without saying that the Swiss has the upper hand in handling almost anyone who could claim to surpass him this time.
Kei Nishikori (seed 7, ranking No 9)
The 28-year-old Nishikori finished one spot outside the automatic qualification in the ATP race but his entry was aided with Del Potro's withdrawal. The Japanese is making his fourth appearance at the Finals. He has made the semis twice, in 2014 and 2016.
Nishikori was on a comeback trail this season after having missed the latter part of the last year due to injury. He began the season by picking the Dallas Challenger title and then went on to make the semi-finals in New York. The World No 9 also reached the quarters at Wimbledon where he stretched Novak Djokovic to four sets but eventually lost against the Serb.
Nishikori was flawless in his quarter-final match against Marin Cilic at the US Open where he played a brilliant five-setter to knock out the Croat and proceeded to the semis where he eventually went to down to Novak Djokovic again.
The Japanese was a finalist at the Japan Open and Vienna too. Nishikori made the quarterfinals at both Shanghai and Paris but in both of the matches, it was Federer who got the better of him. Nishikori has compiled a brilliant 42-19 this season and his comeback has been worth applauding.
He is 5-3 head to head against Kevin Anderson and 3-1 against Thiem. With these favorable numbers, Nishikori most certainly has a shot at making the semis of the finals for the third time. The need of the hour is to stay injury free and maintain the mental composure.
Dominic Thiem (seed 6, ranking No 8)
Dominic Thiem steps into London for a third consecutive time. But the Austrian has not had an encouraging experience at the O2. He has lost both the past editions at the group stage with a mere 2-6 at the prestigious Finale. He has managed to win only two matches, one against Gael Monfils and the other against Pablo Carreno Busta. But the World No 8 would seriously be looking to go the distance this time.
Thiem has come off a brilliant season this year with a scintillating 53-18 and winning three titles. The Austrian who is called the Prince of clay has proved this year that he can win on surfaces other than the red dirt too. He picked up the St Petersburg title to prove that the hard courts can be tamed too. He has won the titles in Buenos Aires and Lyon, both of which are clay courts.
Dominic has been spectacular all throughout the clay season making the quarterfinals in Monte Carlo and Barcelona and reaching the Finals of the Madrid Masters and Roland Garros. Albeit Thiem’s best was that quarterfinal match against Nadal where he pushed the Spaniard to five sets. Making the semifinals at the Paris Masters, Thiem has no signs of fatigue that is usually the trademark of the Austrian towards the fag end of the season. And this should lend him a lot of confidence as he checks into London.
Kevin Anderson (seed 4, ranking No 6)
Kevin Anderson makes his debut at the season-ending showpiece event. The South African has been sublime all through the year. A very consistent performance has been the hallmark of the World No 6 this season. He has won two titles this year in Vienna and New York.
Anderson began the season a the ATP 250 Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune where he reached the finals. From there he went on to pick the title in New York and also a finalist in Acapulco. He was a semi-finalist in both the Masters in Toronto and Madrid. It was the first ever semis of a Masters 1000 for the South African. Anderson made it to the final of the Wimbledon where he lost a very close match against Novak Djokovic.
Anderson holds a winning record against both Nishikori and Thiem in the group. He is 3-5 against the Japanese and 6-2 against the Austrian.
The way Anderson has held himself till now in this season, it makes it very favorable for him to have a shot and make it large in London on his first-ever appearance at the Finals.
With only two days to go for the action to unveil, fans will wait with bated breath to revel in the week-long tennis extravaganza.
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