Another ATP season is about to come to a close, and Novak Djokovic is primed for yet another Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title as well.
Djokovic will be defending his title at this event for the third-straight year now, and early indications point yet yer another dominant performance in London. However, he has the misfortune of having to face the immortal Roger Federer early on in the group stage of the tournament, which could very well derail his bid for that fourth title.
But how exactly does the rest of the field look heading into this weekend’s festivities at O2 Arena? Let’s run down the eight competitors in this year’s tournament and highlight the favorites, sleepers, and one dark horse candidate below.
Afterwards, get the player-by-player breakdown for this tournament with our writer’s predictions piece to gear you up even better for the last ATP tournament of the season.
[sc:TennisArticles ]
2015 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Complete Preview
The Final Eight Contenders
Novak Djokovic
Rank: 1
2015 Record: 78-5
2015 Titles: 10
Country: Serbia
Andy Murray
Rank: 2
2015 Record: 68-12
2015 Titles: 4
Country: Great Britain
Roger Federer
Rank: 3
2015 Record: 59-10
2015 Titles: 6
Country: Russia
Stan Wawrinka
Rank: 4
2015 Record: 53-16
2015 Titles: 4
Country: Switzerland
Rafael Nadal
Rank: 5
2015 Record: 58-19
2015 Titles: 3
Country: Spain
Tomas Berdych
Rank: 6
2015 Record: 57-19
2015 Titles: 2
Country: Czech Republic
David Ferrer
Rank: 7
2015 Record: 55-13
2015 Titles: 5
Country: Spain
Kei Nishikori
Rank: 8
2015 Record: 53-14
2015 Titles: 3
Country: Japan
Round Robin Groupings
Group Stan Smith
Group Ilie Nastase
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
Roger Federer
Stan Wawrinka
Tomas Berdych
Rafael Nadal
Kei Nishikori
David Ferrer
Favorites
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer
[sc:Other240banner ]Novak Djokovic’s path to his fourth-consecutive Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title could not have been drawn any better heading into the tournament.
The World No. 1 is on a 22-match winning streak, including a his Grand Slam victory at the US Open, as well as a couple of Masters titles garnered from Shanghai and Paris.
Furthermore, the Djoker’s 10 titles for the season is the same number of titles won by the next two top-ranked players combined (Murray with four and Federer with six). He even took the lion’s share of the grandest prizes – three of the four coveted Grand Slam titles and half of the eight Masters titles – to solidify him as the ATP’s undeniable alpha male of 2015.
However, Djokovic cannot let his monumental run heading into London be stifled by 34-year-old Future Hall-of-Famer Roger Federer, who is part of Djokovic’s group in the round robin stage of this year’s tournament. The 34-year-old Federer has been Djokovic’s most formidable rival throughout this season, with two of his six title victories coming off finals matches against the Serb.
And if there’s one player who shines the brightest in the Tour Finals, that would be none other than the sensational Swiss. Federer is the all-time winningest player in this tournament with six victories, and is tied with legendary Ivan Lendl for the most finals appearances at the event with nine.
The question for you now is: will you side with the player with the most success this year, or the one with greater success throughout his career?
Both Djokovic and Federer have been the cream of the ATP crop for so long, that you can basically flip a coin as to decide who will win their first encounter next week, and even possibly at the final round once again. Both men are deadlocked at 21 wins apiece lifetime head-to-head, but Djokovic has the slight 4-2 edge in six finals contests against Federer this season.
Sleepers
Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka
Andy Murray may be the second-best tennis player this season, but he gets relegated to merely sleeper status by our standards considering that he only has four titles under his belt this 2015.
But still, the Brit has nine more wins than Federer , and will definitely be itching to finally reach the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time in his decade-long professional career. Murray’s best finish at this event is the semifinal round (three times, with his latest SF appearance dating back to 2012).
The same could be said about Stan Wawrinka, who also won four titles this year, and has yet to reach the final round of the tournament. Although the 30-year-old Swiss has been to the semifinal round of the Tour Finals, he’s been at that stage for the past two events now.
To boot, what’s likely Wawrinka’s career-defining win came just earlier this year when he defeated Djokovic himself in Roland Garros for his second-career Grand Slam title. With that said, Djok better pray hard that Stan’s not the man he sees at the final showdown in London.
Long Shot
Kei Nishikori
Japan’s very own Kei Nishikori got off to a scorching start this 2015, even earning his career’s highest ATP Ranking (No. 4) in March. However, subpar play and health concerns knocked him all the way down to the No. 8 slot to barely qualify for this year’s tournament at the O2 Arena.
Then again, Nishikori has the same number of titles this season with No. 5 Rafael Nadal and one more than No. 6 Tomas Berdych, and had fewer losses for the year than Nadal, Berdych and Wawrinka.
To boot, the 25-year-old’s first-ever trip to the Tour Finals last year was a good one to say the least. He made it to the semifinal round of the event to become the first Asian-born player to accomplish such feat, let alone simply qualify for the coveted tournament itself.
Writer’s Prediction
Federer denies Djokovic his fourth-straight ATP World Tour Finals title, and instead wins his unprecedented seventh Tour Finals title for himself.
Rank: 1
