ATP Finals Groups: Federer With Djokovic; Nadal To Play

Nadal will open with a dangerous Zverev. He was lucky to not get Federer on his group but Berrettini would be better for him 1st match.

Djoko x Berrettin and Fed x Thiem Sunday.

This add some intrigue for Year End#1, meaning that unless something really surprsing happens, Nadal will either play Djoko or Fed in semis, both will be favorite against him in indoor Hard.

For Djoko this is good news as Nadal not reaching finals he can play title match for #1. The ideal for him is winning his group and Nadal second so he plays him in semis and virtually the #1 ranking will be only on his racquet, not having to depend on Nadal losing to Federer or Thiem in the other semis.

November 5th, 2019 at 12:22 pm

Nadal has recovered?

November 5th, 2019 at 12:54 pm

@Django He is still set to play, if he’ll skip it, we may now better until Saturday or Sunday I believe, as he is only set to play Monday.

November 5th, 2019 at 1:30 pm

https://www.sport24.co.za/Tennis/ATPTour/nadal-confirms-london-atp-finals-place-20191105

Nadal confirmed!

November 5th, 2019 at 2:53 pm

If Nadal loses his first match, he may not risk his injury and withdraw from the tournament. In that case Nole just needs to make it to the final. First match is very significant for nadal

November 5th, 2019 at 3:09 pm

Nole and Roger in the same group, with Dom and Mateo.
Surprised Rafa received Sascha, Daniil and Tsitsi.
Nole might meet Rafa in semis already.

November 5th, 2019 at 3:11 pm

One thing that I think is unfair, and they did it last year too, and maybe they do it every year for the WTF’s is that the number 1 ranked player and group has to play on day 2. This gives the advantage to the other group. Djokovic was number 1 seed last year and had to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Nadal will need to do the same this year. The number 1 seed should earn this advantage. Nadal’s group is tough and it would not be surprising if the 2 matches on Friday go the distance and tire out the group winners, if not Saturday than Sunday.

November 5th, 2019 at 3:24 pm

I wouldn’t write off Thiem against Federer. He is a different player this year with Massu as his coach. He won both matches against Federer this year. It will be interesting to see the Federer vs Djokovic match as this was the exact same situation where Federer beat Djokovic, which was the last time he beat him 4 years ago.

November 5th, 2019 at 3:38 pm

@Ahsan: agreed. for Nadal, everything will come down to his first match. If he loses, he’ll likely bail from the tournament as he did in 2017 after his loss to Goffin. As much as he’d like to win this tournament, it’s never a place he’s had success.

Federer beat Thiem handily at the O2 last year, but I agree he’ll have to be sharp this year. 2 losses to Thiem this year, both after winning the first set, but I think he’ll be able to put those out of his mind and just play his indoor game. Both guys are coming off wins at their home tournaments, but Thiem looked gassed against Dimitrov. Maybe he should have skipped Paris?

November 6th, 2019 at 5:05 am

Off topic, sorry didnt know where to post this, but just wanted to offer prayers to Serena and Venus father Richard, who is in critical condition after suffering to strokes ….

November 7th, 2019 at 8:07 am

Djokovic is the overwhelming favorite. We will see if Medvedev can stop him.

November 7th, 2019 at 1:52 pm

Allison – No, that is important, but sad news for tennis. Prayers to Richard Williams. Glad you posted it. I didn’t know.
Dave, I agree with you very much that the person that comes in as #1 should get the better scheduling as a perk of being #1.
Looking forward to Novak and Fed’s 1st meeting since Wimbledon.

November 9th, 2019 at 12:12 am

^ Alison has only one ” L” , im like Wogboy in that i like names to be spelt correctly especially when its my own thankyou ^….

November 9th, 2019 at 3:00 am

Any news connected with tennis is pertinent to a main thread and without a doubt Richard’s death will be a huge loss to Serena, Venus and the rest of his family and friends.

November 9th, 2019 at 5:43 am

@Alison: can you share a link re: Richard Williams? I couldn’t find anything relevant about it that happened recently.

November 9th, 2019 at 9:52 am

Chrisford1,

I think they should do the same thing at majors too. The French Open final this year would have been closer had Djokovic’s half not had to play 4 days in a row. Had they had the earlier match on Tuesday. It would have been Nadal’s side playing 4 days in a row. Wimbledon is fair because everyone gets matched up the same in the second week. It’s the only major that does this. The other 3 let one half play the QF’s on Tuesday and they get the extra day off before the SF’s. You know the number 1 seed would prefer that extra day off during the second week.

November 9th, 2019 at 10:47 am

ChrisFord, Djoko’s always had very bad luck at the French so it’s nothing new. Having to play Murray over 2 days and then play Stan with no rest ruined it for 2015. He would have beaten Stan if he were rested. That’s why he won the 1st set and then clearly ran out of gas. People talk about Stan being Djoko’s Kryptonite but the truth is he won the French against Djoko because Djoko was exhausted while Stan had 2 day’s rest and won the USO in 2016 because Djoko was playing injured. Stan was the lucky one both times and, he’s lucky he’s got any MAJORS titles at all because the same thing happened when he beat Rafa at the AO as Rafa could barely lift his arm to serve in that match.

November 10th, 2019 at 3:33 pm