World No.1 Rafael Nadal Faces a tricky test after being drawn in the same group as Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov for the upcoming Nitto ATP Tour Finals in London.
The draw for the season-ending event took place on Wednesday morning after a delay due to the host being stuck in traffic. Broadcasted live on BBC Radio 2, the ceremony was conducted by Boris Becker. One of the groups of the round-robin tournament is named after Becker, who won the championship three times. The other is named after Pete Sampras, the only man to finish six different seasons as No.1 in the world.
“I was in the car for pretty much two hours. We had a car accident in front of us,” Becker explained about his delay.
Top seed Nadal will headline the Pete Sampras Group. He will take on Thiem, Dimitrov and David Goffin in the round robin-stages. Against all three players he has a combined win-loss record of 17-3. Thiem is the only person in the group that has defeated Nadal on multiple occasions, including earlier this year at the Rome Masters.
| H2H records | Rafael Nadal | Grigor Dimitrov | Dominic Thiem | David Goffin |
| Rafael Nadal |
— |
10-1 |
5-2 |
2-0 |
| Grigor Dimitrov |
1-10 |
— |
1-2 |
3-1 |
| Dominic Thiem |
2-5 |
2-1 |
— |
3-6 |
| David Goffin |
0-2 |
1-3 |
6-3 |
— |
Former champion Federer is set for a repeat of this year’s Wimbledon final when he takes on Marin Cilic in the Boris Becker Group. So far in his career, the 36-year-old has played 64 matches at the Tour Finals, winning 52 of those. Alexander Zverev, who has defeated Federer two year’s in a row, and Jack Sock also features in the group.
| H2H records | Roger Federer | Marin Cilic | Alexander Zverev | Jack Sock |
| Roger Federer |
— |
7-1 |
2-2 |
3-0 |
| Marin Cilic |
1-7 |
— |
1-3 |
0-2 |
| Alexander Zverev |
2-2 |
3-1 |
— |
1-1 |
| Jack Sock |
0-3 |
2-0 |
1-1 |
— |
On the same day of the draw, the BBC confirmed that they will continue broadcasting the ATP Finals until at least 2020. Meaning the season-ending event will be broadcast on free-to-air TV in the UK until then. The BBC has the rights to broadcast all eight singles matches across their digital platforms as well as non-exclusive radio rights.
“The BBC has provided a terrific platform for our season finale since we moved the tournament to London in 2009, giving millions of fans in the UK the opportunity to watch the very best in men’s professional tennis. We’re delighted to extend our partnership a further two years through to 2020.” Said CEO Kris Kermode.
This year’s round-robin tournament will get underway on Sunday at the O2 Arena. Nadal, who withdrew from last week’s Paris Masters due to a knee injury, is bidding to win the event for the first time. Meanwhile, Federer is aiming to clinch the title for a record seventh time. In this year’s field, Federer is the only player that has previously won the title.
