ATP Finals 2019 Day 1 Preview: Djokovic, Federer To Kick-Off Year-End Extravaganza

At each Major tournament this season, the tennis world has kept a close eye on the draw to see which two of “The Big Three” end up on the same side.  This week, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer were drawn together into the Bjorn Borg Group, alongside Dominic Thiem and Matteo Berrettini. From 2003-2015, Djokovic and Federer combined to win this event 11 out of those 13 years.  However, the past three years have seen three first-time champions. This year, Djokovic not only vies to tie Federer with six titles at this event, but he’s also just 640 points behind Rafael Nadal in the race for the year-end No.1 ranking.  With up to 1,500 points to be earned over the next eight days, there’s a lot to play for in London.

Novak Djokovic (2) vs. Matteo Berrettini (8)

The first singles match of the 2019 ATP Finals will also be the first career meeting between Djokovic and Berrettini.  This is Novak’s 12th time qualifying for this event, while it’s Matteo’s debut.  As per our own Adam Addicott, Berrettini is the third Italian man to qualify for the ATP Finals, but neither of the two previous Italians to qualify have won a match (Panatta and Barazzutti).  A year ago, the 23-year-old Italian was ranked outside the top 50. His ascension to the top eight in the world happened swiftly, as his power game earned him 42 tour-level match wins this season.  And it was only eight months ago that Matteo played and won a challenger event in Phoenix, so joining the game’s elite is extremely new for him. I’m curious to see how the ATP Finals debutant accounts himself on Sunday afternoon against the five-time champion.  Four months ago in this same city, Berrettini only claimed five games and barely lasted over an hour against Roger Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon. Today he runs into another red-hot, all-time great, as Djokovic is coming off his title run in Paris where he didn’t drop a set.  Berrettini will need a big serving day to compete with the all-around skills of the 16-time Major champion.

Roger Federer (3) vs. Dominic Thiem (5)

This is Federer’s 17th appearance at the ATP Finals, and only once has he previously failed to reach the semifinals.  He’s a six-time champion, and owns an astounding 57-15 record at an event where he faces nothing but top 10 opposition.  This is Thiem’s fourth consecutive year qualifying for this tournament, but he’s yet to advance out of the round robin stage, with a 3-6 record overall.  And with Djokovic and Federer both in his group, changing that pattern will be highly challenging. But Thiem should possess more confidence this year on an indoor hard court, as he just won an indoor hard court title a few weeks ago in his home country.  He also surprisingly has a winning record against Federer, with a 4-2 edge in their head-to-head. Dominic has claimed victories over Roger on three different surfaces, and is 2-0 against Federer this year. Both of those matches were thrillers: a three-set win in the championship match of Indian Wells (Thiem’s biggest title to date), and another three-set win in Madrid where Dominic saved two match points.  However, Roger prevailed in their match at this event a year ago, dropping only five games. Despite Thiem’s recent success against Federer, Roger still remains the favorite on an indoor hard court.

Previous meetings