Djokovic has already clinched the year-end No.1 ranking for a record-tying sixth time.
While Novak won this event four consecutive times from 2012-2015, the last four years have seen four first-time champions crowned. In his opening match today, Djokovic will face ATP Finals debutante Diego Schwartzman, who last month reached a career-high ranking of No.8 in the world. And the evening session will host a rematch of the Paris Masters final from eight days ago, between the champion of that event, Daniil Medvedev, and runner-up Sascha Zverev.
Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Diego Schwartzman (8)
Djokovic has dominated their head-to-head 5-0, winning 13 of 16 sets played. On hard courts, Schwartzman has never taken a set from Novak, including at this year’s Australian Open. Their last meeting was in the Rome Masters final, which came just two days after Diego earned his first victory over another all-time great, Rafael Nadal. But defeating Djokovic this year hasn’t been easy. Novak has only suffered three losses: his default at the US Open, his defeat to Nadal at Roland Garros, and a lopsided loss to Lorenzo Sonego where he obviously wasn’t giving his best effort. And despite not winning this event since 2015, Novak has reached the final in two his of last three appearances, and owns a 36-14 career record here. All this makes Djokovic a heavy favorite to win today.
Daniil Medvedev (4) vs. Sascha Zverev (5)
Two Sundays ago in Bercy, Medvedev came back from a set down to defeat Zverev, only his second victory over the German in seven tries. That ended Sascha’s 12-match winning streak, after claiming back-to-back titles in Cologne the month before. Both men served extremely well throughout that Masters 1,000 tournament, which bodes well for their chances this week in London. But the difference in that Paris final was Medvedev’s returning skills, as he broke Zverev four times and surrendered his own serve only once. A year ago in his ATP Finals debut, Daniil went a disappointing 0-3. However, he was understandably exhausted after a four-month stretch where he reached six consecutive tournament finals. Zverev’s ATP Finals results are quite the opposite: he was the champion here in 2018, and a semifinalist a year ago. But despite Sascha’s 5-2 record against Daniil, his loss to Medvedev in Bercy makes the Russian the slight favorite on this day.
Other Notable Matches on Day 2:
US Open champions Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares (1) vs. Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin (7), who won the St. Petersburg event last month.
Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos (4) vs. John Peers and Michael Venus (6). Both teams impressively won three ATP titles in this shortened season.
Full order of play is here.
