After the controversy surrounding the draw for the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan – what on earth were organisers thinking – the countdown to next week’s Nitto ATP Finals in London – the Milan tournament’s big brother – got off to an inauspicious start when Boris Becker, who was due to make the draw live on radio, got stuck in traffic and delayed the whole thing. Qualifying Group B is named in honour of Becker with Group A carrying the name of Pete Sampras.
Group A – Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin
Group B – Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Jack Sock
The Nitto ATP Finals has a round-robin format with the eight top-ranked players divided into two groups of four. A similar format applies to the doubles tournament but whereas all singles matches are the best of three tie-break sets, including the final, all doubles matches are two sets followed by a tie-break if the scores in sets are level.
This is the climax of the ATP Tour but it is missing a few star names this year, despite Federer and Nadal being the top seeds. Last year’s winner, Andy Murray, is injured and so is six-times winner Novak Djokovic, though neither of the former world number ones would have qualified in any case as they have slipped to 12th and 13th respectively in the world rankings due to recent inactivity.
Murray was at the press launch for the event but admits that he’ll be struggling to be ready for next year’s Australian Open in January. Also absent in current world number seven Stan Wawrinka, another former winner of the ATP Tour Finals, so that means a first-ever appearance at the O2 Arena for Alexander Zverev of Germany, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin of Belgium and Jack Sock of the United States. However, the tournament and the betting is likely to be all about the renewal of rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The ATP Tour Finals, formerly the Masters, has been staged at the O2 since 2009. Federer has won in six times, twice since it was moved to London. The evergreen Swiss is 4/6 with several bookmakers including bwin to make it victory number seven this year and pick up the first prize of more than $1.7 million. That’s despite the fact that Nadal will end the year as world number one.
The Spaniard is the top seed but available at 9/2 with BetVictor having never won this event. Alexander Zverev is 8/1 with bwin and has won the Italian Open and Washington Open this year. The German is only 20 and was qualified to play in the NextGen ATP Tour Finals this week but, unsurprisingly, opted to go to London instead. The same firm has Grigor Dimitrov at a best 12/1 with Marin Cilic next best at 14/1.
Roger Federer may be odds-on for the Nitto ATP Tour Finals but has the pedigree, class and desire to move through the tournament undefeated and is hard to oppose.
Nitto ATP Tour Finals Current Best Odds
Roger Federer 4/6, Rafael Nadal 9/2, Alexander Zverev 8/1, Grigor Dimitrov 12/1, Marin Cilic 14/1, Jack Sock 22/1, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin 25/1
