Player previews for ATP World Tour Finals

Tomas Berdych takes a selfie 2 days before the finalsThe much awaited ATP World Tour Finals is set to begin tomorrow, November 9 at the O2 arena in London. The top 8 players have been decided and fans it looks like its going to go down to the wire in the final showdown.There are 3 players making their debut at the Tour Finals this time – Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Marin Cilic.Here is a preview of all the 8 players.

#8 Marin Cilic

Marin Cilic’s win at the U.S Open was completely unexpected, but the Croat has been knocking on the doors for a long time now. He has had a lot of good results in the past against some big players,but he has not been able to keep consistency in his results.

Before the U.S Open finals, Cilic had an average season, reaching the semi-finals of 4 tournaments, most of which were in his hometown – Croatia. But his performance at Flushing Meadows was exceptional as he beat Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori to lift the title. He had a chance to reach his first ever Wimbledon semi-final as well, but after leading two sets to one against Djokovic in the quarter-finals, he lost the fourth and the fifth set 6-2.

He is returning after a long break and will be looking to carry his U.S Open form into the tour finals and will be looking to cause another upset over the 7 players ranked above him.

#7 Milos Raonic

Milos Raonic, the 23 year old from Canada is the youngest player in the Tour Finals. His rise over the years has been phenomenal and he looks in good form entering the finals after reaching the finals of the Paris Masters.

Just like Berdych, Raonic qualified right at the last minute, and to do that, he overcame Roger Federer in the Paris Masters who was looking to regain no. 1 spot in the world rankings. Raonic hailed it as his best result ever as that was his first victory against a top 3 player in his career.

He has the best serve among the 8 players and probably the strongest forehand and will be looking to use this to his advantage as he has been doing over the years.

Raonic will be looking to enter 2015 being confident and strong, and to do so, he will be looking to notch up few big wins in his first ever ATP World Tour Finals.

#6 Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych will be looking to upset others

Tomas Berdych has had a season just like any other on court in 2014, having a good string of results but not being able to convert them into a title winning performance.

He qualified for the tournament right at the end of the season. The Czech had to wait all the way until the first half of the week at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris to make sure he qualified for the finals flying to London to compete against the best for a fifth straight year.

He has a poor record against all contenders in the finals. The only player he has been able to beat this year is Marin Cilic. But Cilic still has a 2-1 record over Berdych. These are numbers Berdych is not proud of, and he will definitely be looking to change it.

Will Berdych finally be able to get his hands on a major trophy and upset the others? Let's wait and find out.

#5 Andy Murray

After his exit from the U.S Open fourth round against Novak Djokovic, which summed up his year on court, things looked very bleak for Britain’s No. 1. Everybody began to write him off and it did not look like he was going to qualify for the Tour Finals after qualifying for it 6 years in a row.

But 2 months after the U.S Open, he probably looks the strongest contender entering the Tour Finals which is set to begin on Sunday. He won 3 titles in 5 weeks after the U.S Open and came up from being ranked 12th in the world to 6th in the world right now.

He has showed immense fighting spirit to qualify for the finals and is looking to upset the players above him on the rankings and lift the title on 21st November at the O2 Arena in London. He will have a slight edge over the others when it comes to crowd support!

#4 Kei Nishikori

Kei Nishikori has broken a lot of records this year, being the first Asian to ever reach a Grand Slam final and also the first Japanese man to break into the top ten of the ATP World rankings and now is the first Asian man to qualify for the World Tour Finals on the singles circuit.

He has struggled with quite a few injury problems which made him pull out of a few tournaments, but he has always come back stronger and proved himself at the big stage time and again. He has had some consistent results throughout the year in the tournaments he has played in.

His best result, he recalls, was his famous win over Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the U.S Open in September. He did not put up much of a fight against Marin Cilic in the finals as nerves got the better of him. He will look to cause a few upsets in his first appearance at the World Tour finals.

#3 Stan Wawrinka

Stanislas Wawrinka will be looking to redeem himself

Stan Wawrinka, unlike his compatriots Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, had a brilliant start to the season but is now coming into the tour finals with a 1-4 win loss to his account. This year has been so eventful that some people have even forgotten about his brilliant victory in Melbourne when he won the Australian Open by beating Nadal in the finals and Djokovic in the semi-finals.

His good run of form continued as he notched up two more titles including the Monte Carlo Masters by defeating Roger Federer in the finals. He will have to live up to his form completely if he wants to have a good run in London.

#2 Roger Federer

Federer has had an amazing season in 2014

After a dismal season in 2013, everybody wrote him off and some people even expected him to retire this year. But, boy, did he prove everyone wrong. 2014 has been nothing but an extraordinary comeback for the Swiss Maestro.

He might not have won a Grand Slam this year, but it still might end up being one of the best years of his career on court. He has been the most consistent player on the tour this year who won 68 matches, the most on tour and in 16 tournaments only twice failed to reach the quarterfinals.

His year, like Djokovic, did not start off well as he suffered a straight sets loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open semifinals, and lost in the fourth round at Roland Garros.

He came painfully close to winning the Wimbledon final against Djokovic, but was unable to do so. His high points this year was reaching the Davis Cup Finals, and also winning 5 major titles – Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships, Halle Open, Cincinnati Masters, Shanghai Masters and the Swiss Indoors.

Will his excellent form carry onto the Tour Finals, as he looks to win his 7th year ending title?

#1 Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic has had a brilliant season and is going into the finals after winning the final 1000 masters of the season. He is now in pole position to finish the year as the World no. 1. He is probably the favourite to win the Tour Finals. Being the defending champion, there will be a lot of pressure on him.

His season did not begin too well, as he lost in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and losing in the finals of the French Open with a poor performance against Rafael Nadal.

He redeemed himself when he won the Wimbledon in scintillating 5 set match against the king of grass Roger Federer. Along with his Wimbledon victory, he has also notched up five major titles – Indian Wells Masters, Miami Masters, Rome Masters, China Open and the Paris Masters.

Can he take his form from the Paris Masters into the World Tour Finals and keep his number 1 ranking? It is going to be a tense finish for the Serb. Let's wait and find out.

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Edited by Staff Editor