After a year that has been marred by the COVID-19 pandemic the top performing players on the ATP Tour head to London to fight for the prestigious ATP Finals title.
The season-ending round-robin showdown features the eight highest scoring players on the ATP Tour in relation to how many points they have earned within a certain period. At stake is the potential to earn up to $1,564,000 and 1500 ranking points should a player triumph without losing a match. The prize money may be down compared to 12 months ago due to the pandemic, but the desire to win is no less.
On Thursday players were assigned to their groups, which has been named in honour of the 50th anniversary of the tournament. In Group Tokyo 1970 top seed Novak Djokovic is joined by Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman. A particularly humourous draw for Argentina’s Schwartzman who previously named his ideal group during an interview with La Nacion without mentioning any of those players. Meanwhile, in Group London 2020 Rafael Nadal has been drawn with Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev.
Ahead of the first day of action on Sunday, here is a guide to everything you need to know about this year’s title contenders.
The head-to-head
| Djokovic | Medvedev | Zverev | Schwartzman | Nadal | Thiem | Tsitsipas | Rublev | |
| Djokovic | — | 4-2 | 3-2 | 5-0 | 29-27 | 7-4 | 4-2 | 0-0 |
| Medvedev | 2-4 | — | 2-5 | 4-0 | 0-3 | 1-3 | 5-1 | 3-0 |
| Zverev | 2-3 | 5-2 | — | 2-2 | 2-5 | 2-8 | 1-5 | 4-0 |
| Schwartzman | 0-5 | 0-4 | 2-2 | — | 1-10 | 3-6 | 1-1 | 2-2 |
| Nadal | 27-29 | 3-0 | 5-2 | 10-1 | — | 9-5 | 5-1 | 1-0 |
| Thiem | 4-7 | 3-1 | 8-2 | 6-3 | 5-9 | — | 4-3 | 2-2 |
| Tsitsipas | 2-4 | 1-5 | 5-1 | 1-1 | 1-5 | 3-4 | — | 2-2 |
| Rublev | 0-0 | 0-3 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 2-2 | — |
Number of ATP matches won
Group Tokyo 1970
| Name | 2020 | career | Total % ATP Wins |
| Djokovic | 39-3 | 932-190 | 83.06% |
| Medvedev | 23-10 | 154-86 | 64.16% |
| Zverev | 27-9 | 250-123 | 67.02% |
| Schwartzman | 25-12 | 168-140 | 54.54% |
Group London 2020
| Name | 2020 | career | Total % ATP Wins |
| Nadal | 25-5 | 1002-202 | 83.22% |
| Thiem | 22-7 | 297-155 | 65.70% |
| Tsitsipas | 28-12 | 132-74 | 64.07% |
| Rublev | 40-8 | 131-87 | 60.09% |
Most titles won
2020
1) Rublev – FIVE (Vienna, St. Petersburg, Hamburg, Adelaide, Doha)
2) Djokovic – FOUR (Rome, Cincinnati, Dubai, Australian Open)
=3) Nadal – TWO (Roland Garros, Acapulco)
=3) Zverev – TWO (Cologne 1, Cologne 2)
=4) Thiem – ONE (US Open)
=4) Tsitsipas – ONE (Marseille)
=4) Medvedev – ONE (Paris)
5) Schwartzman – NONE
Career
1) Nadal – 86
2) Djokovic – 81
3) Thiem – 17
4) Zverev – 13
5) Medvedev – 8
6) Rublev – 7
7) Tsitsipas – 5
8) Schwartzman – 3
Best Grand Slam performance
- Nadal – shares the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won with Roger Federer at 20. 13 of those wins were on the clay at the French Open.
- Djokovic – 17-time champion and has won the Australian Open more times than any other male player in history.
- Thiem – won his first title at the US Open this year and has reached the final at three other majors.
- Medvedev – best run was to the final of the 2019 US Open where he took Nadal to five sets before losing.
- Tsitsipas – semi-finalist at the 2019 Australian Open and 2020 French Open.
- Zverev – runner-up to Thiem at this year’s US Open where he lead the final by two sets to love. Also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.
- Rublev – Reached the quarter-finals of two majors within the same season for the first time this year. Also reached the last eight of the 2017 US Open.
- Schwartzman – At the 2020 French Open he reached the semi-finals in what was his 25th Grand Slam main draw appearance.
2020 results
| AUS OPEN | FRA OPEN | WIMBLEDON | US OPEN | |
| Djokovic | W | RU | CANCELLED | R4* |
| Medvedev | R4 | R1 | CANCELLED | SF |
| Zverev | SF | R4 | CANCELLED | RU |
| Schwartzman | R4 | SF | CANCELLED | R1 |
| Nadal | QF | W | CANCELLED | DID NOT PLAY |
| Thiem | RU | QF | CANCELLED | W |
| Tsitsipas | R3 | SF | CANCELLED | R3 |
| Rublev | R4 | QF | CANCELLED | QF |
Prize money won
2020
1) Djokovic – $6,052,233
2) Thiem – $5,169,756
3) Nadal – $3,422,202
4) Zverev – $2,973,966
5) Medvedev – $2,058,891
6) Rublev – $1,917,865
7) Tsitsipas – $1,800,450
8) Schwartzman – $1,432,369
Career
1) Djokovic – $145,197,177
2) Nadal – $123,023,764
3) Thiem – $27,302,125
4) Zverev – $23,002,531
5) Medvedev – $12,566,584
6) Tsitsipas – $12,226,057
7) Schwartzman – $8,965,129
8) Rublev – $6,360,124
ATP Finals record
- Djokovic = win-loss of 36-14
World No.1 Djokovic is seeking to become only the second player in history to win the tournament for a sixth time after Federer. - Nadal = win-loss of 18-14
The king of clay is chasing after his first ever title at the year-end showdown. The last Spanish man to win the trophy was Àlex Corretja in 1998. - Thiem = win-loss record of 6-8
The Austrian is seeking to go one better than last year and win the title. However, in three out of his four previous appearances he has failed to go beyond the round-robin stage. - Zverev = win-loss of 7-5
Won the biggest title of his career at the event back in 2018. He was also a semi-finalist last year. - Medvedev = win-loss record of 0-3
After a disappointing debut last year, Medvedev will be seeking his first win of any sort at the event. The last Russian player to win the ATP Finals was Nikolay Davydenko in 2009. - Tsitsipas = win-loss of 4-1
Won the tournament on his debut last year. Tsitsipas is seeking to be the first player outside of the Big Three to defend a title at the ATP Finals since Lleyton Hewitt in 2002. - Rublev = win-loss of 0-0
Will be making his debut at the age of 23. He is the first Russian player to have won five ATP titles within the same season since 2009. - Schwartzman = win-loss of 0-0
The 28-year-old clinched the final spot for this year’s tournament. He is the eighth Argentinian to play at the ATP Finals and first since Juan Martin del Potro back in 2013.
