The world's eight best singles players and doubles teams, along with 2016 ATP World Tour Awards winners, gather at London's historic Cutty Sark for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Official Launch presented by Moët and Chandon.
Novak Djokovic will bid to win an unprecedented fifth successive title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals next week, and a record-equalling sixth crown overall. Over the past four years, the Serbian has often produced his best performances on the blue court at The O2 in London, including a 15-match winning streak. His only loss came in a 2015 round-robin defeat to Federer, whom he went onto beat in last year’s final. In his four recent visits to the Greenwich peninsula, he has put together a 18-1 record and lost only eight sets. By comparison, fellow five-time season finale titlist Ivan Lendl, who reached nine straight finals between 1980-1988, put together a 15-match winning streak at the event between...
To be the best, you have to beat the best. To win the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, that means beating a stream of Top 10 players. Four players in the eight-man field – Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic – have six or more Top 10 wins this season. As a five-time tournament champion, it's no surprise that World No. 2 Djokovic has consistently been the top performer against the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Win-Loss Index. This year alone he has posted a ruthless 18-3 record (.857), including a 14-match win streak to open the year. The Serbian's career index of .680 is also the best among the elite eight in London. "I have...
There are all sorts of perks to being tennis’s centre of gravity, the resident of the rankings penthouse, the figure on the top line of every draw sheet. For one thing, winning never loses its savour. Success is its own reward, especially in competitive sport. Besides that, the top player – and only the top player – experiences that aura of walking into a locker room each time knowing he is the man to beat. Yes, there are also the material trappings of being the World No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, with the endorsements and the celebrity opportunity and the income. And yet, as the cliché goes, one can be the loneliest number. It can be solitary and...
If Andy Murray reaches World No. 1, he will have earned it, said the man Murray would replace at the top of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The way Murray has raised his game in the past 12 months, Novak Djokovic said, is “quite extraordinary”. “Undoubtably much respect for what he has done,” said Djokovic, who first played Murray when they were both 11 years old. “All I can say is that he's deservedly in the position he's in at the moment.” Djokovic, who has been No. 1 for 122 consecutive weeks, lost to Marin Cilic 6-4, 7-6(2) on Friday during their BNP Paribas Masters quarter-final. Had Djokovic reached the final in Paris for the fourth consecutive year, he would have stayed...