The winner of Thursday's match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals between Austria's Dominic Thiem and Canada's Milos Raonic will qualify for Saturday's semi-finals as the runner-up in Group Ivan Lendl. Thiem is the youngest man to win a singles match at The O2 since 2009. Any young Austrian tennis player will find himself toiling in the long alpine shadow of Thomas Muster, a former World No. 1. And yet it's perfectly possible that Thiem, a debutant at the season finale, could today out-perform Muster by qualifying for the semi-finals. For all his other achievements, ‘The Iron Man of Tennis’ never did that. "A star is born - big hug," Jose Mourinho wrote on the back of his...
Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka will tonight play Croatia's Marin Cilic in Group John McEnroe at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Aside from a bold taste in shorts, what unites Wawrinka and Cilic? Wawrinka's run to the 2015 Roland Garros title will long be remembered for the pink tartan shorts he wore all fortnight, which he draped over the desk at his post-final media conference. And Cilic generated much comment for the colourful pair he had on for his opening appearance at this week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which brought a defeat against Andy Murray. But, to silence your internal fashion critic for a moment, consider how these two have interrupted the Big Four's domination of men's tennis in recent years. For all the...
Globally, these are uncertain times. If this month's tournament in Paris was about regime change - with Andy Murray usurping Djokovic as No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings - then prepare for the possibility of a counter-revolution in London. Little over a week has passed since Djokovic's hold on No. 1 ended after 122 consecutive weeks, with Murray becoming the first Briton to ascend to the top of the standings. But, with so little between them, Djokovic could gather enough points at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to regain that status and be the year-end No. 1. You have to spool all the way back to 2001, when this tournament was held in Sydney, for the last time...
Doubles alternates Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah give their thoughts on Tuesday evening's doubles match between Henri Kontinen and John Peers and Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez.