On Sunday, November 9th, the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals, or the men’s professional tour) World Tour Finals began. The World Tour Finals, or WTF, is a year-ending tournament that only the top 8 in the men’s rankings can play in.
The WTF consists of three rounds: 1 round robin round, and 2 elimination rounds. In the round-robin section of the tournament, the players are split into two groups of 4.
Group A consists of Novak Djokovic, Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka, and Tomas Berdych. Group B consists of Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Andy Murray, and Milos Raonic.
After the round-robin section is finished, the two players with the most match wins from each group move on to the next two elimination rounds, and the winner is awarded 1500 points.
One storyline to follow is the race for the number one ranking between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. As of right now,Djokovic has 10, 010 points and Federer has 8700 points. However, if Djokovic only wins two or less of his matches in the round-robin stage, and Federer wins the tournament, he would be world number one. In addition, Federer has the opportunity to gain another 250 points after the WTF when he plays at the Davis Cup Finals. If Federer were to become world number one, he would be the oldest to do so without winning a Grand Slam title since John McEnroe in 1982. He would also tie Pete Sampras’ record (6 times) for the most finishes at the top of the rankings. Federer has already taken his first step towards this goal by winning his first match against Milos Raonic, crushing him 6-1 7-6 (0). If Djokovic were to become year-end number one, this would be his third finish in four years at the number one spot. Djokovic started his campaign with vigor, crushing Cilic, the US Open Champion, 6-1 6-1. Either way, if one of these men were to win the tournament it would be a defining chapter in the history of tennis.
by Sid Menon’17
