Tennis: Roger Federer is the clear favorite to win the ATP Finals in London

The ATP finals begin in London this Sunday, and the field is flooded with debutantes this time around.

Jack Sock the last minute entry in the ATP Finals event

Jack Sock was the last one to qualify for the ATP Finals event, by edging out Pablo Carrino Busta. The others who could have also made it, ahead of Jack Sock, by showing better performances at the Paris Masters were Sam Querrey, Kevin Anderson, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Juan Martin Del Potro. They, however, fell short on the last mile, and Jack Sock finished ahead.

Many first time ATP finalists this year

This Sunday will mark the ATP finals debut of Jack Sock, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, and Alexander Zverev. Roger Federer is the only player, in the mix, who has won the event in the past. Except for Rafael Nadal and Federer, none of the others have been to the semi-finals before. The other usual suspects such as Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, and Kei Nishikori will be missing from the line-up, sidelined by injuries.

This event is Roger Federer’s to claim

If Roger Federer continues to play the way that he has in October, then he will surely bring home his seventh ATP finals crown this year. Rafael Nadal has never gone all the way on this fast indoor surface, and he is already complaining of a bad knee again.  Outside of Federer and Nadal, the other likely contenders for this crown would be Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, and Alexander Zverev. However, Zverev’s performance has been sub-standard lately, and he has lost four of his last ten matches including the last one to Robin Haase. Grigor too has lost four of his last ten, but three of those losses have come against quality opponents like Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro.

Marin Cilic, however, has performed slightly better lately, and except for his most recent loss to Julien Benneteau at the Paris Masters, his other two losses, in his last ten matches, have come against Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters and Basel tournaments. Cilic has been building a steady momentum lately and may be ready for a run at this event.

As things stand at the moment, and barring an unexpected run by Marin Cilic or one of the others, this ATP Finals event should be Roger Federer’s to claim.