Never has the race to the World Tour Finals been in less doubt for a longer stretch of time, and the eight-man field is now set with one more regular-season tournament (the BNP Paribas Masters) still to play.
The last player with an outside shot was Richard Gasquet, who had to win titles in both Basel and Paris in order to have a chance. His semifinal loss to Rafael Nadal last week ended what little suspense remained.
With Nadal’s win over the Frenchmen, Kei Nishikori and David Ferrer officially secured the last two spots in London.
“I am very excited to go back to London,” Nishikori assured. “Being part of the best eight players in the world is a big honor and something I work very hard for every day. This tournament is one of the flagship tournaments of the year for us and I look forward to coming back.”
“It’s an honor to be back in London and be amongst the best players in the world once again,” said Ferrer, who will be making his seventh appearance at the prestigious year-end championship after playing one match in 2014 as an alternate. “It’s been a great season for me and I really look forward to the tournament.”
Nishikori and Ferrer will be joined by Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, and Tomas Berdych. Murray announced on Monday that he is going to play, having previously threatened to skip the World Tour Finals in order to practice on clay for the Davis Cup final.
Murray will lead Great Britain into Belgium to compete for the title the week following London.
The World Tour Finals field features six of the same participants–not including Ferrer–from last year. Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic failed to qualify in 2015, replaced by Spaniards Ferrer and Nadal.
Monfils clowned away a set and 4:0 lead and lost to paire lololol
Ricky you need to point out that Nadal qualified last year but was unable to play due to having an operation but he made a promotional appearance.nonetheless.
Yep, Marin Cilic didn’t qualify in 2014. He replaced Rafa, who qualified and withdrew before the WTF began.
Yes he did
No he qualified. He won a slam.
pretty sure he was 8th anyway
Ricky ( at 10:46 pm),
You shouldn’t be too sure. 🙂
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_ATP_World_Tour_Finals
Correction to my post on November 2, 2015 at 10:17 pm:
Raonic didn’t qualify in 2014, he was an alternate. Raonic replaced Rafa, who qualified and withdrew before the WTF began.
I thought the 8th berth was given to the most recent USO title holder so surely he qualified on his own merit not because Rafa withdrew.
it was Raonic who didnt qualify
Ricky ( at 10:38 pm),
Rafa qualified in 2014 – that’s all that matters to me (when speaking about the last paragraph in your article).
🙂
So Murray has capitulated and will be knocking himself to pieces in London while Goffin has two weeks to brush up his clay court skills 🙁
It smacks of the ATP leaning on him to change his mind. It’s not like the O2 crowd appreciate him. On the contrary there were rowdy hooligans shamelessly heckling him in 2012 in spite of him having won the USO and the Olympic Gold for GB.
he got good support last year
The WTF is a mandatory tournament for everyone who qualifies that’s why Rafa had to turn up for the sponsors last year to avoid penalties. All players go from different surfaces to DC, I don’t know why Andy is making such a big deal of it. Rafa went straight from the USO in 2011 to DC on clay in Spain and Spain won the Cup.
The British tennis commies have discussed Andy’s plight ad infinitum, one even suggesting that the ITF should change the rules stipulating that the DC final should be played on the same surface as the preceding mandatory tournament. What rubbish.
nadline10 ( at 7:26 am),
Yep, last year Rafa went to London “to carry out his duty with ATP”:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CS47HdPWUAAptIM.png:medium
Muzz may not knock himself to pieces. Like Djoko in 2010, he may just go through the motions. Or follow Fed who withdrew from the WTF final match but was ok for DC !!!
he will go out early at the O2
I think Ricky you must replace the last sentence in your above article. It gives the misleading impression that Rafa did not qualify last year whereas he was #3. When did Rafa have to wait for the likes of Cilic or Raonic to fail to qualify in order to qualify for WTF?
everyone who will read this article is a tennis fan, who knows what happened. no need to explain.
I’m not so sure about that. Even people who watch tennis all the time don’t keep track of the finer details. Anything written down should not be ambiguous,
Absolutely agree with Ricky. This site is visited by tennis fans 99%.
who makes up the 1 percent?
If Ricky can get it wrong it can’t be taken for granted that all tennis fans would know it’s wrong.
what i said was not wrong.
everyone who reads this article knows Nadal finished in the top 8 last year. I dont need to insult peoples intelligence and write as if my audience consists of 7-year-old rugby fans.
I am surprised that Murray is playing. I can’t believe that he is going to kill himself at the WTF when Davis Cup is his goal.
he won’t. Fed didn’t in 2015 despite playing 4 matches.
^Yes that’s true about Fed. So Murray will most likely do the same so that he can be ready for DC. He can show up, but will have his mind on what comes next.
There is more than one way to skin a cat…………………………… 😉
How do Ricky’s predictions at the start of the year stack up against the real ones?
will post it in article form next week when the seedings are set
Ricky: “The World Tour Finals field features six of the same participants–not including Ferrer–from last year. Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic failed to qualify in 2015, replaced by Spaniards Ferrer and Nadal.”
So Nadal is replacing Raonic who replaced Nadal last year because Raonic failed to qualify? When has Nadal NOT qualified for the WTF?
1988
?
My draw prediction assuming Murray is #2 after Paris which is highly likely: I did it by drawing names from bits of paper.
Group A………………………………….Group B
Djokovic…………………………………..Murray
Federer…………………………………..Wawrinka
Berdych…………………………………..Nadal
Ferrer……………………………………..Nishikori