Tennis Draw Revealed For Nitto ATP World Tour Finals • Rafa Nadal Still In Field, Roger Federer In Tough Group

Rafael Nadal of Spain in action during his round of 16 match against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas at the Rolex Paris Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 02 November 2017. EPA-EFE/IAN LANGSDON

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

The draw ceremony for the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals draw ceremony was held on Wednesday morning in London. Rafael Nadal, who remains in the field but is questionable with a right-knee issue, tops the tournament as the No. 1 seed and finds himself in Group A alongside Dominic Thiem, Grigor Dimitrov, and David Goffin. Roger Federer headlines Group B, followed behind by Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, and Jack Sock.

 

Group Pete Sampras

[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)

[4] Dominic Thiem (AUT)

[6] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)

[7] David Goffin (BEL)

 

Group Boris Becker

[2] Roger Federer (SUI)

[3] Alexander Zverev (GER)

[5] Marin Cilic (CRO)

[8] Jack Sock (USA)

 

Nadal has already clinched the ATP’s year-end No. 1 ranking, a feat he accomplished by winning his first match at last week’s Masters 1000 event in Paris. However, the 16-time Grand Slam champion eventually withdrew prior to the quarterfinals. In 2016, the year-end No. 1 ranking all came down to the final match of the entire season between the the top two players in the world–something that had never previously happened in ATP history. Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic for both the World Tour Finals championship and world No. 1.

 

Paris, meanwhile, determined the final two singles places at the O2 Arena in London. David Goffin bagged the seventh seed, while Jack Sock made a miracle run to lift the title–thus taking the eighth and final spot from Pablo Carreno Busta.

 

In doubles, Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo are in a battle with Henri Kontinen and John Peers to finish as the No. 1 team in the world in 2017.

 

Group Woodbridge/Woodforde

[1] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Marcelo Melo (BRA)

[4] Jamie Murray (GBR) / Bruno Soares (BRA)

[5] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA)

[7] Ivan Dodig (CRO) / Marcel Granollers (ESP)

 

Group Eltingh/Haarhuis

[2] Henri Kontinen (FIN) / John Peers (AUS)

[3] Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) / Horia Tecau (ROU)

[6] Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) / Nicolas Mahut (FRA)

[8] Ryan Harrison (USA) / Michael Venus (NZL)

 

Federer and the rest of Group B will kick off the proceedings on Sunday, with Federer facing Sock in the afternoon singles match. The Bryan brothers, Kubot and Melo, and the rest of their group are also on Sunday.

 

The first two days of action will be capped off by Nadal vs. Goffin on Monday night.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.