The 2016 ATP World Tour is at its twilight as the China Open and Japan Open going on which will be followed by a couple more tournaments before the ATP World Tour Finals at London. Only the top eight-ranked players based on this year’s performances will be participating in the tournament.
So far, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have all booked their place at the Finals in London. Another five spots are left and there are quite a number of players who are still in contention for a place in the year-ending tournament.
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Let’s take a look at five players who can qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
#5 Dominic Thiem
The young Austrian has been one of the most promising players on tour this year and has had quite a number of notable performances so far. Thiem began his year with a semi-final outing at the Brisbane International which was followed by a personal best Australian Open performance where he reaches the third round.
After the Australian Open, Thiem won his fourth ATP title and his first of the year by winning the Argentina Open where he beat reigning champion Rafael Nadal before defeating Nicolas Almagro in the final. Thiem won his second ATP title of the year by winning the Mexican Open which was also his maiden ATP 500 title.
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After a couple of mixed performances that followed the Mexican Open, Thiem achieved one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating Roger Federer at the Italian Open before losing to Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals. This was followed by his third title of the year at the Nice Open where he successfully defended his title.
Thiem then produced his best ever Grand Slam performance till date by reaching the semi-finals of the French Open where he was beaten by eventual winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets. This performance helped him enter the Top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.
The Austrian then won his first grass-court title at the Mercedes Open, making him only the ninth active player to win three titles on as many surfaces in the same year. After a disappointing run of performances at the Wimbledon, Austrian Open and the Rogers Cup, Thiem reached the fourth round of the US Open but was forced to retire against Juan Martin Del Potro because of a knee injury.
Following the US Open, Thiem was beaten by Alexander Zverev in the opening round of the China Open. Based on his performances this year, the aggressive baseliner is ranked eighth and has a very positive chance of making his maiden ATP World Tour Finals.
#4 Rafael Nadal
After a string of inconsistent performances in the last two years, Rafa has redeemed himself through some brilliant performances this year. Nadal began his year by winning the non-ATP affiliated Mubadala title which was followed by a runner-up performance at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the final.
After a disappointing maiden first round exit at the Australian Open, Nadal won his 28th Masters title in April after defeating Gael Monfils in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters which was followed by his 17th ATP 500 title at the Barcelona Open which was also his 49th clay-court title that put him level with Argentine Guillermo Vilas for the most number of clay-court titles in the Open Era.
Nadal reached the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open which was followed by a quarter-final exit at the Italian Open at the hands of Novak Djokovic.
The Spaniard had a disappointing French Open where he had to withdraw from his third round match against Marcel Granollers owing to a wrist injury which eventually led him to pull out of the Wimbledon Championships. However, he came back strong at the Rio Olympics where he reached the semi-finals of the Singles tournament before losing to eventual silver medalist Juan Martin Del Potro. He also lost to Kei Nishikori in the bronze medal playoff.
Nadal’s gold medal in the Doubles tournament alongside Marc Lopez made him only the second man to have won gold medals in both the Singles and Doubles tournaments at the Olympics. Nadal had a good start to the US Open but was beaten by a resilient Lucas Pouille in the fourth round.
Nadal is ranked seventh based on this year’s performances and his form post-Roland Garros has been decent. He is gradually raising his game and if things keep on going his way, then Nadal might even be one of the favorites heading into the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
#3 Gael Monfils
The Frenchman has been in pretty good form this year. Having begun the year ranked 23rd, Monfils is currently 8th in the ATP rankings. Following the exit of the two highest ranked players in his Australian Open draw section (Rafael Nadal and Kevin Anderson), Monfils cashed on that opportunity to reach his first Australian Open quarter-final where he was beaten by Milos Raonic.
Monfils’ good form continued as he reached the final of the Rotterdam Open, only to lose to Slovak Martin Klizan. This was followed by quarter-final appearances in two Masters 1000 tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami. Monfils then reached the final of the Monte Carlo Masters where he was beaten by Rafael Nadal.
After catching a viral infection at the Mutua Madrid Open, Monfils pulled out of Roland Garros. He had a poor outing at the Wimbledon where he lost in the opening round.
Monfils then reached the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup where he was beaten by eventual winner Novak Djokovic and reached the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics where he was beaten by eventual bronze medalist Kei Nishikori. This was followed by his first Masters 500 title at the Citi Open.
Monfils reached his second Grand Slam semi-final at the US Open where he hadn’t dropped a single set before his semi-final defeat to eventual runner-up Novak Djokovic. His US Open performances took him up to 8th in the ATP rankings and given Federer’s inability to participate in any further tournaments this year, Monfils’ ranking will be expected to go higher.
Based on his performances in 2016, Monfils in ranked 6th and will be hoping to reach his first ever World Tour Finals in London.
#2 Kei Nishikori
The Japanese has been in sensational form this year so far. He began his year by reaching the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International where he was surprisingly beaten by local boy Bernard Tomic in the final eight.
He followed this with a second successive quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open where he was beaten by eventual champion Novak Djokovic. Nishikori then won his 11th ATP title and fourth straight Memphis Open title by defeating American Taylor Fritz in the final which made him only the second man after Jimmy Connors to have won the title four times in a row.
After a quarter-final exit at Indian Wells, Nishikori his second Masters 1000 final at Miami where he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in straight sets. This was followed by another final at the Barcelona Open where Nishikori was beaten by Rafael Nadal.
His good form continued at the Mutua Madrid Open where he reached the semi-finals, being beaten by Djokovic and was beaten by Djokovic again in the semi-finals of the Italian Open. Nishikori reached the fourth round of the Roland Garros where he lost to an in-form Richard Gasquet.
His next Grand Slam also ended in a fourth round exit as he had to retire against Marin Cilic at Wimbledon. Nishikori then reached the final of the Rogers Cup before losing to Novak Djokovic. At the Rio Olympics, Nishikori became Japan’s first Olympic tennis medalist in 96 years by winning the bronze medal at the Singles tournament by beating Rafael Nadal in the playoff.
This was followed by an impressive performance at the US Open where he beat Wimbledon and Olympic champion Andy Murray in an exciting quarter-final to reach the semi-finals where he was beaten by eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. Nishikori is ranked fifth based on his performances in this year’s ATP World Tour and given his present form, the chances of his absence at the World Tour Finals in London are minimal.
#1 Milos Raonic
The Canadian had a few injury issues last year which saw him fall out of the Top 10 but has made a brilliant comeback this year through a string of splendid performances. Raonic began his year brilliantly by beating Roger Federer to win the Brisbane International which was followed by a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open where he upset 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round.
In the semi-finals against Andy Murray, Raonic sustained an adductor injury during the match which proved to be the turning point of the match as Murray won in five sets. On returning back from injury, Raonic reached the final at Indian Wells where he was beaten by Novak Djokovic.
This was followed by three successive quarter-final appearances at Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid which helped him re-enter the Top 10. He ended his clay-court season by exiting the French Open in the fourth round.
Raonic began his grass-court season by reaching the final of the Queen’s Club Championships. This was followed by a runner-up performance at Wimbledon where Raonic beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals before losing to Andy Murray in straight sets in the final.
Raonic then reached the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup before reaching the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. He had a disappointing outing at the US Open where he was surprisingly beaten in the second round by qualifier Ryan Harrison.
The Canadian is currently ranked fourth based on his performances in this year’s ATP World Tour and by the looks of it, he could well be the next player to qualify for the World Tour Finals in London.
