The 2018 ATP World Tour season gets underway with a trio of tournaments, as today's stars descend on Brisbane, Doha and Pune. Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov is the top seed and defending champion at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, while Dominic Thiem leads the field at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open and Marin Cilic leads the pack at the Tata Open Maharashtra. View Draws: Brisbane | Doha | Pune 10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BRISBANE (1) 2018 Begins in Brisbane: The 2018 ATP World Tour kicks off with the 10th Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, where main draw play begins on New Year’s Eve. World No. 3 and Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, two-time Brisbane winner and...
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN PARIS 1. The Home Stretch: All eyes this week are on the Rolex Paris Masters, where two spots in singles at the Nitto ATP Finals, one spot in doubles, and the year-end No. 1 ranking are all on the line. 2. One for One: Rafael Nadal will clinch year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings with one win in Paris or London. The Spaniard is seeking his fourth finish as World No. 1 and a record 31st ATP Masters 1000 title. While Nadal is a 10-time Roland Garros champion, he has never won Paris’s other tour-level event. His only run to the Rolex Paris Masters final came in his debut 10 years ago. 3....
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN BASEL 1. 500 Finales: The last of 13 ATP World Tour 500 events for the season take place this week in Basel and Vienna, where pivotal points are the prize in the Emirates ATP Races to London and Milan. The Nitto ATP Finals qualification cut-off is November 6 and the Next Gen ATP Finals cut-off is October 30. 2. Race for No. 1: Seven-time Swiss Indoors Basel champion Roger Federer enters his hometown tournament 1,960 points behind World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who is missing the event with a knee injury. Federer, who could still earn as many as 3,000 points by year’s end, remains in contention to finish as World No. 1 for the...
10 THINGS TO WATCH IN MOSCOW 1. 250 Finales: The last of 40 ATP World Tour 250 events take place this week in Moscow, Antwerp and Stockholm. Seven Russians are in the VTB Kremlin Cup field, including Next Gen ATP Finals contenders Andrey Rublev and Daniil Medvedev. A Russian man hasn’t won Moscow since 2009. 2. Birthday Boy: Rublev, who turns 20 on Friday, is playing in his hometown for the fifth straight year (0-2 main draw, 0-2 qualifying). He teamed with Dmitry Tursunov for the 2015 Moscow doubles title. The No. 5 seed was outside the Top 100 as recently as 25 June. After winning his first singles title at Umag and reaching his first Grand Slam quarter-final at...
1. Roger and Rafa in China: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are the top two seeds in the tournament for the first time. Nadal leads Federer by 2,160 points in the Emirates ATP Race To London (going into Beijing F), with 4,000 points still available for both players at Shanghai, Basel, Paris and the Nitto ATP Finals. 2. Rafa at No. 1: Nadal has played at every edition of the Shanghai Rolex Masters except 2012. He is 12-7 at the tournament, posting his best finish as runner-up at the inaugural event in 2009 (l. to Davydenko). The Spaniard is ranked No. 1 for the 149th week of his career and making his third Shanghai appearance as the top player in...