The ATP World Tour Finals will conclude the men’s tennis season as far as the ATP is concerned and the tournament gets underway inside the o2 Arena in London on Sunday.
As ever the leading eight fit men in the world rankings and eight top doubles teams descend on the English capital to battle it out for the year end title and a significant prize pool. Andy Murray won the title last year but he is not fit to defend it so we are guaranteed a different champion this year.
Recent Winners
2016 – Andy Murray
2015 – Novak Djokovic
2014 – Novak Djokovic
2013 – Novak Djokovic
2012 – Novak Djokovic
2011 – Roger Federer
2010 – Roger Federer
2009 – Nikolay Davydenko
2008 – Roger Federer
2007 – Roger Federer
The Format
In both draws the eight competitors are drawn into two groups of four. Each players the other three in their group once with the top two in each group at the end of the first stage progressing to semi-finals. The winner of one group plays the runner-up of the other. The two semi-final winners meet in the final next Sunday. All matches are the best of three sets although the third set in the doubles is a champions tie-break.
Sampras Group
The world number one Rafael Nadal is the headline act in this group. There are doubts over his fitness leading into the tournament but he doesn’t play his first singles match until last to give him every chance to participate. He will face Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin in this group.
Becker Group
The ever popular Roger Federer is the star attraction in the Becker Group. He begins the event as the favourite to win the title in an arena he has a decent record in. Alexander Zverev is seeded as his main threat in the group with former US Open champion Marin Cilic and recent Paris Masters winner Jack Sock the other players in this section of the draw.
Doubles
Eight very strong pairings head to the o2 for this event. The defending champions John Peers and Henri Kontinen have qualified again while the Bryan brothers will be eyeing up another Tour end title. World number one pairings Marcelo Melo and Lukasz Kubot will look to crown their first year together with the title while Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares are back for more.
The French pair of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert have made it through again with the other three pairs being Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer, Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers and the French Open champions Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus.
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Singles Betting
Roger Federer looks a stand out proposition in this tournament and whoever beats him in the latter stages may well go on to be the champion but even if Federer wins the event he has to beat someone in the final and I’ll try and find that person in the hope of landing some each way money and either something happening to Federer or my player gets inspired and beats him.
The player I like is Grigor Dimitrov. He has had an excellent campaign and prior to Paris he was the only man aside from Nadal or Federer to win a Masters 1000 title this season. He has an excellent all-court game which is vital at the o2 and he is in the Nadal group which is no bad thing. If Nadal pulls out or is limited that group would open up for Dimitrov to win and from there we would only need him to win a semi-final against potentially either Zverev, Cilic or Sock. At double figures the Bulgarian looks good value to me.
Doubles Betting
After successfully nailing the winners of this tournament last year I’m going to go in on it again with the aim of repeating the feat.
This looks a really competitive tournament but I’m going to side with the number one ranked team of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo. They have had a great first year together and with the net covering skills of the Brazilian and the shot making prowess of the Pole they look a pretty strong pairing.
You could probably make a case for four or five pairs in this event and still not get it right but I’ll put my faith in the duo who have been a standout pairing across 2017.
Tips
WON – Back G.Dimitrov to win ATP World Tour Finals (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 11.00 with Betbright (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
Back L.Kubot & M.Melo to win ATP Doubles World Tour Finals for a 2/10 stake at 6.00 with BetVictor
Back them here:
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