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The ATP Race to London is over
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
6th November, 2017
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(AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Ritesh Misra
Roar Guru
6th November, 2017
1

The year end Nitto ATP finals is a much-awaited elite tennis event played by the top eight ranked players of the preceding 12 months.

While 250,000 fans will see the prestigious event live the TV global viewership will be more than 100 million.

The first two players to qualify this year were Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. Both the Champions had incredible and amazing years. They took all of the four Grand Slams of the Year and will also finish the year at Number 1 and 2.

Let’s look at the eight who made it and how they did it.

Rafael Nadal
The first player to qualify for this year’s year end tournament was Rafa, as early as in early June 2017 when he lifted his 10th Roland Garros title. Rafa first qualified in 2005 and has since then qualified for 13 straight seasons.

Strangely this giant however has never won this elite tournament. His best results came in 2010 and 2013 where he lost in the finals to Federer and Djokovic respectively. He will be hoping to set the record straight this year.

Looking forward to see a fit and strong Rafa at London.

Roger Federer
Federer was next to qualify when he won his eighth Wimbledon title. This was his 15th entry. He had missed the 2016 edition but had played a record 14 in a row from 2002-2015. He has won here a record six times. He has also lost in the finals four times as well, thrice to Djokovic and once to David Nalbandian.

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None of the other six players have won here. Let’s take a look at them.

Alexander ‘Sascha’ Zverev Jr
The third player to qualify was Sascha, who at 20 became the youngest to qualify for the year-end event since Juan Martin Del Potro in 2008. The youngster had a super first half of the year, winning the Rome and Montreal Masters through defeating Djokovic and Federer.

Since then his form has slipped quite a bit though. Sascha has also qualified for the inaugural Next Gen Finals at Milan featuring the leading seven under 21 players in the world, plus one wild card. However he opted out of Milan and opted for London as both tournaments were back to back.

Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem was the fourth to qualify. This will be the second straight year he will play and he became the second Austrian player to qualify more than once since Thomas Muster, a former French Open Champion and world Number 1.

Dominic Thiem, of Austria, at the Australian Open.

(AAP Image/Tracey Nearmy)

Commendable performances by Thiem in the year were final losses to Nadal at the Mutua Madrid Open and the Barcelona Open. He also defeated Rafa at Rome and advanced to semi-finals of French Open by defeating Djokovic in the Quarter-finals.

Marin Cilic and Grigor Dimitrov
Sam Querrey losing in first round of Vienna made things easier for both Cilic and Dimitrov who qualified. For Cilic it’s a third entry in last four years while it’s the first for Dimitrov who became the first Bulgarian ever to qualify.

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Goffin and Sock
It finally came down to Paris Masters with incredibly six players still fighting for the last two positions. They were David Goffin, Pablo Carreno Busta, Sam Querrey, Kevin Anderson, Del Potro and Pouille. There were also four dark horses Bautista-Agut, Tsonga, Sock and Isner. Amazing that ten players would be fighting out for two spots.

The seventh player to qualify was David Goffin who though himself did not do well at Paris got his spot when Pouille lost his match. Goffin became the first Belgian player to qualify and this has been the best season of his career with more than 50 wins.

His best win of the year was over Novak at Monte Carlo before running into Rafa in the semi-finals.

The last and eighth player to qualify in a most thrilling manner was Jack Sock of USA. Incredibly when Paris Masters started he was ranked 24th. However each and every result went his way.

Those who were contenders were knocked out early. Sock on the other hand was a se down as many as thrice and rallied each and every time to not only win the Paris Masters but also book a place for the ATP Finals.

Sock became the first American to enter the year end event after Mardy Fish in 2011. The last tennis player to qualify the WTF by winning Paris was Tsonga in 2008 and Sock emulated him.

Who will be the Champion in 2017? It is difficult to look beyond Fed and Rafa with Fed having an edge because of back to back hardcourt triumphs and four wins this year over Rafa, all on hard courts.

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Yet if anyone can do the impossible it can be Rafa who will be aiming for his first triumph here and stopping Fed from his seventh title here

Looking forward to a great tournament.

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