The final event of the ATP Tour season is upon us as the leading eight singles players and doubles teams descend on the o2 Arena in London for the penultimate time as the ATP World Tour Finals are played out in what is always a great week of tennis.
We have seen a couple of shock winners of this event in recent times which will keep the big guns on their toes this week. It is Alexander Zverev who defends the singles crown which he won so clinically 12 months ago.
Recent Winners
2018 – Alexander Zverev
2017 – Grigor Dimitrov
2016 – Andy Murray
2015 – Novak Djokovic
2014 – Novak Djokovic
2013 – Novak Djokovic
2012 – Novak Djokovic
2011 – Roger Federer
2010 – Roger Federer
2009 – Nikolay Davydenko
The Format
We have already had the draw for the singles and doubles events which have seen the eight players and teams put into two groups of four for the opening round. That sees each player or pair playing the other three in their group. At the end of that stage the top two in each group move into the semi-finals where the winner of one group plays the runner up of the other one. The two winning semi-finalists meet in the final for the title on the second Sunday of the event. Each singles match is the best of three sets with a tiebreak in the decider while the doubles are the best of three sets with the third set being a match tiebreak.
Andre Agassi Group
The world number one Rafael Nadal is due to headline the Andre Agassi group at the time of writing this preview although there is a chance he could pull out with injury. If he does play his chief rival in terms of the rankings of the players on show will be the man he beat in that epic US Open final Daniil Medvedev. Stefanos Tsitsipas, like the Russian, is making his tournament debut in this group while the defending champion Alexander Zverev completes what looks a very competitive section of the event.
Bjorn Borg Group
I would imagine much of the attention in the first part of the week will be on the Bjorn Borg group where the recent Paris Masters winner Novak Djokovic headlines the quartet on show. At some point in the week he is going to face off with Roger Federer in which if the seeding counts for anything will be the group decider. That isn’t guaranteed to be the case though as Dominic Thiem is more than capable on his day while debutant Matteo Berrettini showed at the US Open what he is capable of and has little to lose in this event.
Doubles
All eyes will be on the number one team of the year Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal to see if they can crown off a magnificent year with the o2 title. They are in an absolutely loaded Max Mirnyi group which contains the French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Miles, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau and the classy French pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who not only won the Australian Open at the start of the year but come in here after winning the Paris Masters.
The other group is headed by the former number one pair of Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot who are the only pair on show not to have won more than one title this term. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury finished the season well to come in here ranked as the fourth best team. The Wimbledon semi-finalists Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus and the fast finishing Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek pairing complete the teams in action.
Singles Betting
When you attack the singles draw in this tournament you have to pick out the value. The winner plays five matches at the end of a hard season so upsets are going to happen, as we’ve seen in the last two editions of this tournament. That said, if Novak Djokovic turns up fully fit and firing he’s the only possible winner. That is reflected in the price though. I’m in no rush to back Nadal under a fitness cloud at a venue where his record is ordinary and I just wonder if Daniil Medvedev has come off the top edge of his form. Roger Federer could go well but hasn’t taken this title down since 2011 and missing the Paris Masters highlights he is feeling the length of the campaign.
Dominic Thiem is a much more improved player on faster courts this year and hasn’t played as much as he did last year so he’s a danger and I wouldn’t be surprised to see debutants Tsitsipas and Berrettini offer something in these conditions but I think Alexander Zverev is a touch overpriced to defend the title. The German can be as erratic as they come but he’s the fourth best player in the world at his best and showed a liking for these conditions last year. 2019 has been tough off the court for him but since holding his nerve to win the Laver Cup for Europe he has started to find some form. After the year he’s had he might see this as a bonus event and deliver his best stuff. If he does that he could surprise the field again at 18/1.
Doubles Betting
Given the year they have had I am a little surprised that Juan Sebasian Cabal and Robbie Farah aren’t favourites for this tournament but they have landed a horrendously bad draw where actually they will face off with the favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the group stage. I think the other group is much weaker and that is where my bet is going to come from here.
When you look at the rankings and the statistics and things Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek are quite interesting. I say that because they have only played 11 events together, half of every other team apart from Herbert and Mahut, and yet still qualified for the finals. If you doubled their points tally they would be sitting second in the rankings despite only playing two of the four slams. They head to London in decent enough touch considering they only got together in Turkey just before Wimbledon. In 11 starts as a pair this year they have won two titles, including in China last month, lost another final and come out second best in four other semi-finals. Dodig is no stranger to the o2 and this pair look like dangerous outsiders to me at 7/1.
Tips
Back A.Zverev to win ATP World Tour Finals (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with Boylesports (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back I.Dodig & F.Polasek to win ATP World Tour Finals Doubles (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 8.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
Back them here:
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