New world number one, Andy Murray has been given a stern test at the ATP World Tour Finals as he has been handed fellow grand slam champions Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic as well as Kei Nishikori in the round robin stages in London.
Andy Murray, who has won an incredible eight titles this season including a grand slam, has been placed in the John McEnroe group and will face Marin Cilic on Monday evening. Murray has struggled to adapt to conditions at the O2 Arena, with the Scot not reaching the semifinals there since 2012. Can his recent form win him a maiden title here? Or will the conditions play a big part in his chances to end the year world number one? Meanwhile Cilic has been on fine form after winning the Basel title a couple of weeks ago, he beat Novak Djokovic en route to reaching the semifinals of the Paris maters. There is no doubt Cilic is capable of an upset and has the game to upset a player of Murray’s calibre.
The other match in the group sees Stan Wawrinka play Kei Nishikori. Wawrinka has struggled indoors in the last couple of weeks, with defeats to Mischa Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff in Basel and Paris respectively. Can he regain his grand slam winning form in London? We may have a good indicator, when he plays Kei Nishikori, The Japanese star reached the final in Basel and the third round in Paris before losing to Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. Both players will need to play their best in London as this is a tightly competitive group.
In the Ivan Lendl group, Novak Djokovic has been handed an easier draw as he will face Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem. Novak Djokovic will face Dominic Thiem in his first match, and will have to be mentally fresh as Thiem has improved a lot throughout the season. Can Novak retain his world number one status? Can Thiem stay physically fresh to end the year strong? We will find out on Sunday afternoon when the two players meet.
The other match will see Milos Raonic play Gael Monfils. The two players have had great matches with each other and should be a good contest if Raonic and Monfils can stay physically fresh and fit. Conditions could play slow which will favour the entertaining Monfils, as he has played his best tennis on slow playing surfaces this season.
Doubles Draws
The doubles draw for the ATP World Tour Finals has placed Murray/Soares with a difficult draw as they will be up against 16 time grand slam champions the Bryan Brothers as well as Dodig/Melo and Huey/Mirnyi. While Herbert/Mahut will play Lopez/Lopez, Kontinen/Peers, Klaasen/Ram. Kontinen/Peers will go into London with the biggest momentum after their win in Paris last week.
Here is a round up of both Singles and Doubles draws, the World Tour Finals will start at the O2 arena, this Sunday:
- John McEnroe: Murray, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Cilic
- Ivan Lendl: Djokovic, Raonic, Monfils, Thiem
- Fleming/McEnroe: Herbert/Mahut, Lopez/Lopez, Kontinen/Peers, Klaasen/Ram
- Edberg/Jarryd: Murray/Soares, Bryan/Bryan, Dodig/Melo, Huey/Mirnyi
It will be an entertaining week of thrilling tennis to bring the ATP World Tour to its climax.
