There is a stellar line- up at this week’s Paris Masters – the final Masters event of 2015 – but the outcome will have no bearing on the line-up for the Barclays ATP Tour Finals at The O2 Arena in London, unless one of the eight players who have already qualified are unable to take part.
ATP Tour Finals History and Format
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is the year-end climax to the men’s professional tennis season, featuring only the world’s best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams.
Players compete for Emirates ATP Rankings points throughout the season in a bid to earn one of the eight coveted berths and a chance to win a share of the $6million prize money on offer. Played using a round-robin format on a single hardcourt at The O2, each play three group matches as they compete for a berth in the semi-finals.
The tournament has been staged, in one guise or another, since the 1970s. It began life as the Master Grand Prix before becoming the ATP Tour World Championship and the Tennis Masters Cup. It became the ATP Tour Finals in 2009, the first year it was staged in London which has hosted the event every year since. Roger Federer has won it more times than anyone else (six) but Novak Djokovic has won it four times, including the last three, and the world number one is a hot favourite again.
BetVictor have the Serb at a best 4/6 and are still offering to refund stakes of up to £50 on tennis accumulators including five selections or more if only one of your selections loses.
Djokovic’s only defeat in a Grand Slam this year came in the final of the French Open, against Stan Wawrinka. He beat current world number two Federer in the finals at both Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows and blew away world number three Andy Murray in the final of the Australian Open at the start of the year. He has accumulated almost twice as many points as anyone else on the ATP Tour in 2015 and few will want to oppose him in London if all goes well in Paris this week.
Federer has lost in two of the last three finals of the ATP Tour Finals to Djokovic, though had to withdraw last season due to exhaustion. Rafael Nadal lost in the final in 2013 and is 16/1 with BetVictor to go one better this year, though the Spaniard was beaten in the final of the Swiss Indoors by Federer just last week.
Before Paris, Murray had lost nine of his last 10 matches against Djokovic, four of his last five against Federer and seven of his last eight against Nadal so the Scot makes limited appeal at a best 14/1 in London, where he has generally fared badly in the past. He may also want to hold something back for Great Britain’s Davis Cup Final against Belgium in a few weeks’ time – some are even suggesting Murray skips the O2 in order to save himself entirely for the Davis Cup but that decision would be hard to quantify considering the prize money at stake.
Barclays ATP Tour Finals Betting
(4/6) Novak Djokovic, (3/1) Roger Federer, (9/1) Andy Murray, (12/1) Stan Wawrinka, (14/1) Kei Nishikori, (16/1) Rafael Nadal, (25/1) Tomas Berdych, (50/1) David Ferrer
