ATP World Tour Finals preview and odds

Published on: 14/11/2015

ATP World Tour Finals preview and odds

November 15-22, 2015 - O2 Arena, London

ATP Mens Tennis

Once again, the best mens tennis players in the world will gather in London to battle it out for the $2m bounty and the title of ATP World Tour champion at the O2 Arena.

Past winners honoured by changes to group names

The organisers of the event (ATP) have taken the decision to change the name of the two groups to honour the first two winners of the event in 1970 and 1971. As a result, the players have been split between the Ilie Nastase Group and the Stan Smith Group.

So, here is how the new look groups will line up for this years event:

Stan Smith Group: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori and Tomas Berdych

Ilie Nastase Group: Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer

In the first group, World Number One Novak Djokovic will have his work cut out if he is to retain his title. Roger Federer is the obvious threat but the Serbian was pushed all the way by Berdych on his way to the ATP 1000 title in Paris last week. Djokovic will also remember how Nishikori caused him problems for a while in last years semi-final.

Federer will also be wary of Berdych - who he faces in the first match - having lost to the Czech Republic player six times over the years. Five of those defeats came in their last 11 meetings, four of which were on hard courts.

However, even with the potential for an upset in this group, Novak Djokovic can still be expected to prevail. Federer could be the one that loses out, but only if the other two players can find their top form. Nishikori pulled out of Paris with a back problem, so he may not be in top physical shape during the opening encounters. Meanwhile, Tomas Berdych has not claimed a big name scalp since his win over Nadal back in January.

In the Ilie Nastase Group, Andy Murray must be pleased with how the draw has panned out. Although there are no easy games at the World Tour Finals, a group containing an aging David Ferrer and a far-from-best Rafa Nadal, should provide a platform for Murray and Stan Wawrinka to progress.

It is no secret that Nadal prefers to play the game on clay and that fact combined with his apparent inability to claw his way back to top form, should play into the hand of his rivals.

David Ferrer is capable of pulling massive games out of the bag, but like Nadal, he is not a great fan of the indoor hard court and his record at this arena is not great.

Predictions

Djokovic is still the top dog and favourite to win but can anyone challenge him? Andy Murray has played well all year but when he faces Djokovic his best tennis seems to elude him. In addition, the Scot has yet to display the ability to tap into the physical and mental well required to shine in this event.

If anyone is going to challenge the Serbian, it will be one of the Swiss contenders. Federer made it to the final last year but was unable to play due to injury, but he had to overcome his fellow countryman in the semi-final to get there. Stan Wawrinka looked like winning that match on more than one occasion but eventually fell in a final set tiebreak.

PaddyPower are offering 7/2 for there to be a Swiss winner and this looks like the best bet if you want to wager against Djokovic. Stan Wawrinka is very well priced at 11/4 with Sportingbet to win the Nastase group.

Published on: 14/11/2015

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (14/11/2015 14:32:45) but are subject to change.