The opening day of the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals takes place inside an empty o2 Arena in London on Sunday and while the atmosphere in the stands will be stone cold the action on the court should be red hot as we get going in good style.
It is the London 2020 group which starts the tournament off in the singles which means that we see Rafael Nadal in action while the doubles group is the one with the only British representative in the event in it, so there is much to look forward to on this first day of action.
Afternoon Session
Kevin Krawietz & Andreas Mies vs Wesley Koolhof & Nikola Mektic
The first match of the tournament as ever is the doubles and in the afternoon session we see the French Open champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies in action when they go up against Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic who will be making their debut at the event as a pairing.
I don’t think I’m stretching the truth too much to suggest that these are the two weakest pairs in the group on paper. I acknowledge that the Germans have won the French Open for the last two seasons but this tournament is on an indoor court not clay. Given that these are the weakest pairs this is a match that neither of them will want to lose but I actually think the Dutch-Croat pair might offer a bit of value at even money here. They have won two of the three matches between the two pairs this season with the one they lost being in the French Open semi-finals where they weren’t exactly disgraced. Krawietz and Mies never set the world alight here last year and with this tournament probably being a bonus for their opponents they can play with some freedom and come out on top here.
Dominic Thiem vs Stefanos Tsitsipas
The opening singles match of the 2020 Nitto ATP World Tour Finals is a repeat of the last singles match inside the o2 as Dominic Thiem looks to avenge his loss in the final of the tournament last year when he goes up against the Greek star and defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening match of the London 2020 group.
Tsitipas came out on top in a three-set epic final last year with the match needing a tiebreak in the final set to determine who would win the title and if this contest is anything like that one was it will be some way to get the singles show up and running. There is a bit of an injury cloud over both men going into this match, more on Tsitsipas who has been struggling with a hip that he has acknowledged has affected him mentally. The last time we saw Thiem he had a blister on his foot so we just need to keep an eye on both men here. I’m already on Thiem outright so given the cloud over the two I’m happy to leave my interest in this match at that.
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Evening Session
Rajeev Ram & Joe Salisbury vs Marcelo Melo & Lukasz Kubot
The pick of the opening doubles rubbers in the Mike Bryan Group is very much the second one of the day as the number two seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury go up against the recent Vienna champions Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot, who are former finalists here.
This should be a cracking way to get the evening session underway because these are two excellent pairings. Salisbury and Ram are the Australian Open champions whereas Melo and Kubot are the eighth seeds but that is because they played so few events in a year dogged with the pandemic. The Brazilian-Polish pairing have played a fair bit recently and look to be hitting their stride whereas Ram and Salisbury have stuttered a little since the first lockdown. If I was betting on this I’d go with the form of Melo and Kubot but I respect the Anglo-American pair enough to just watch this game rather than bet on it.
Rafael Nadal vs Andrey Rublev
It might well be that the most intriguing match on the opening day card is the one right at the end of it when the tennis legend Rafael Nadal begins his quest for what would amazingly be his first year end title when he takes on the Russian debutant Andrey Rublev, who certainly isn’t making up the numbers in this tournament.
There are two reasons why Nadal has struggled in this tournament in the past. The first is it usually comes after a crazy hectic year where he goes deep in all the Grand Slams and most of the Masters Series events and secondly his record in indoor events is really poor for a player of his undoubted quality. The first issue might not be much of a concern this year because the season has only been half as long as normal and Nadal didn’t play much of the early part of things after the restart. The latter issue is very much a concern.
Rublev isn’t without his own concern, that notably being that this is his debut here and he hasn’t even been an alternate in the past so he is starting completely new here so he could have nerves and things. What he does have aside from that though is bucket loads of form having won five titles this season and if he has the belief he can beat Nadal and attacks him early I think he can reel in his man. I have to admit I’m not a massive fan of the price of the Russian but that it is relatively skinny does highlight the chance he has in this match. I’ll side with him here.
Tips
WON – Back W.Koolhof & N.Mektic to beat K.Krawietz & A.Mies for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with 888sport
Back them here:
Back A.Rublev to beat R.Nadal for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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