Novak Djokovic has much to look forward to in 2017. The World No. 2 relinquished his No. 1 position in the Emirates ATP Rankings after a strong 2016 finish by Andy Murray and will be keen to exact revenge on his longtime rival to open the New Year. The top two seeds at this week's Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Djokovic and Murray last met for the ATP Finals championship - and year-end No. 1 honour - in November. They could face off once again on Saturday in the Doha final. "Of course I would like to congratulate Andy for reaching No. 1 and crowning his season again, because he has played some tremendous tennis, especially in the last three, four months,"...
Top 10 Stars in Action: The opening week of the 2017 ATP World Tour season features three tournaments with nine of the Top 10 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings leading the way. This is the third year in a row at least four of the Top 5 and seven of the Top 10 are playing in the opening week of the season: Brisbane: (3) Raonic, (4) Wawrinka, (5) Nishikori, (8) Thiem, (9) Nadal; Doha: (1) Murray, (2) Djokovic, (10) Berdych; Chennai: (6) Cilic. #NextGen Watch: There are four #NextGen players in action (not including qualifiers): Chennai: Borna Coric, Daniil Medvedev; Brisbane: (WC) Elias Ymer; Doha: Karen Khachanov. January Title Leaders: In the past seven years, a Top 10 player has...
Andy Murray is kicking off the new year with a new approach to his schedule. The World No. 1 returns to the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha for the first time since 2014. Murray will open his 2017 season with a first-round match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy. Having previously won in Doha 2008 and 2009, he’s experienced the benefits firsthand of how this event can help set him up for a successful season. “One of the advantages is that it splits up the journey to Australia a little bit. You can fly direct pretty much to Melbourne from here. It’s very convenient, especially for the players from Europe, to sort of go halfway,” said Murray. “It’s worked well for a...