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The release of the Rolex Paris Masters draw has added further intrigue to the battle for the final two singles berths at the Nitto ATP Finals, the eight-man season finale to be held 12-19 November at The O2 arena in London.
The final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the year – and last tournament of the regular season – has thrown up two potential third-round matches that could go a long way to determining who makes it to London – and who does not.

In the top half of the draw, the man who currently has a hold on the last qualifying spot, Pablo Carreno Busta, could have a third-round meeting with American Sam Querrey, who at No. 11, is just 80 points behind the Spaniard in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
In the bottom half of the draw, David Goffin, who is seventh in the Race, could meet fast-finishing Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was a distant 22nd in the Race before winning his fourth title of the year in Antwerp last week. Tsonga, who is 19-2 indoors this year, today upset World No. 5 Alexander Zverev to reach the Vienna semi-finals.
Juan Martin del Potro has the opportunity to complete one of the most unlikely qualifications in tournament history. The Argentine was a distant 47th in the Race before the US Open, but would overtake Carreno Busta for the final qualifying position as early as Sunday should he advance to the Swiss Indoors Basel final and win the title for a third time. Next week in Paris, del Potro plays the winner of Gael Monfils and Paolo Lorenzi in his opener, with a third-round clash with Zverev a possibility.
South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, 135 points behind Carreno Busta, opens against #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev or veteran Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. The winner of that match could face fifth seed Dominic Thiem in the third round.
Top seed Rafael Nadal returns to the tour after missing this week in Basel with knee soreness. He will play the winner of Mischa Zverev and Hyeon Chung in the second round. Second seed Roger Federer, who also has a first-round bye, will open against Feliciano Lopez or Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Nadal has a healthy lead over Federer in the battle for the year-end World No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking, but the Swiss is not without a chance of claiming year-end honours for a sixth time should he win Paris and the season finale.
The Nitto ATP Finals also features the best eight doubles teams of the year. Just one doubles spot to London remains up for grabs in Paris.

In a class of their own once again, but who will come out on top? The Rolex Paris Masters is one of the late-season tournaments that will decide whether Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer ends the year atop the ATP Rankings.

The 36-year-old Swiss and the 31-year-old Spaniard have eclipsed everyone in 2017, each collecting two Grand Slam titles (Federer, the Australian Open and Wimbledon; and Nadal, the French and US Opens). With the season now heading into the final straight, the two are set to fight it out for the honour of ending the year as world No1. Just as they did in their heyday, and perhaps for one last glorious occasion, they have dominated the season from start to finish, one in which Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have succumbed to injury and the promising next generation have failed to make much of an impact in the Grand Slam events.

The two giants of the millennium so far are standing taller than anyone as the season reaches its denouement, despite the passage of time and physical wear and tear. Yet only one of them can end the year with the prestigious title of world No1. In terms of titles won in 2017, there is nothing to separate the two. Aside from their two Grand Slam crowns apiece, both have claimed two Masters 1000 titles (Indian Wells and Miami in Federer’s case, and Monte Carlo and Madrid in Nadal’s), and an ATP 500 title (Halle and Barcelona respectively).

NADAL OUT FRONT...

The difference between the two this season is that Nadal his more runners-up finishes and minor placings to his name than the Swiss, who chose to skip the clay-court season altogether and missed the Cincinnati Open – one of his favourite Masters 1000 events – due to a back injury. So far this season the man from Mallorca has finished a runner-up at the Australian Open, Miami and Acapulco, while also reaching the quarter-finals in Rome and Cincinnati and the last 16 at Wimbledon. Thanks to that consistency, Rafa heads into the final stages of the season with 9,375 ATP Ranking points to Federer’s 7,505, a lead of 1,870.

While a significant lead, it is not unassailable, given the fact that Federer has traditionally enjoyed more end-of-season success than Nadal. While the Swiss has 22 indoor titles to his name, six of them Masters crowns, the Spaniard has just one: the Madrid Open, way back in 2005. That said, in winning the US Open and breaking clear at the top of the ATP Rankings, Rafa ended a three-and-a-half-year wait for a hard-court title and put himself in a strong position to be the end-of-year No1 for the fourth time in his career, after 2008, 2010 and 2013.

... FEDERER WITH THE EDGE INDOORS

The Swiss can still beat him to it, however. Between the Shanghai Masters and the Rolex Paris Masters, he will be competing for 4,000 ranking points at four tournaments, giving him a chance to overhaul his eternal rival. The Paris event will surely come too soon for Federer to add his name to the list of players who have become world No1 at the AccorHotels Arena in Bercy (Pete Sampras in 1995, Marat Safin in 2000, Andy Roddick in 2003, Djokovic in 2012 – at his expense – and Murray in 2016), but victory there is crucial to his hopes of being crowned the oldest ever world No1 – at the age of 36 – by the end of November or beyond.

“If the world No1 slot’s not going to come now, then it’ll just have to come later, in a few weeks or a few months even,” he said. As Federer knows only too well, however, he has some big points to defend in January 2018, which means that his best chance of reclaiming the throne will come at this season’s remaining tournaments, among them the Rolex Paris Masters, where a determined Nadal will be waiting on the other side of the net.

World No1 Rafael Nadal backed up his US Open win with another title success in Beijing, and will arrive at the Rolex Paris Masters with confidence high, having developed a game that excels on fast surfaces.

Rafael Nadal enjoys such a close relationship with the city of Paris that there is barely anything else that needs to be said about it. In winning ten French Open titles, the man from Mallorca has forged the strongest of bonds with a Grand Slam tournament that, more than any other, could be described as “his” and with a city that has given him more joy than any in his career. And yet, the 31-year-old winner of 16 Grand Slam titles, four Davis Cups, two Olympic gold medals and a joint record 30 Masters 1000 titles (shared with Novak Djokovic) has never tasted glory at the AccorHotels Arena. The RPM is one of the few Masters 1000 events to have evaded his grasp.

Ten years on from his one and only final in Bercy, however, the world No1 looks better placed than ever to end that hoodoo. Tournament director Guy Forget believes the event should already be on his list of honours: “Rafa could have won it a long time ago. He’s come close a couple of times already.” The difference this season is that, from his run to the final of the Australian Open to his win at Flushing Meadows and subsequent triumph in Beijing, the Spaniard has improved his game with the very obvious goal of being more competitive on hard courts. Relatively speaking and given his immensely high standards, it is a surface that has always been something of an Achilles heel for him.

World No1 Rafael Nadal backed up his US Open win with another title success in Beijing, and will arrive at the Rolex Paris Masters with confidence high, having developed a game that excels on fast surfaces.

Rafael Nadal enjoys such a close relationship with the city of Paris that there is barely anything else that needs to be said about it. In winning ten French Open titles, the man from Mallorca has forged the strongest of bonds with a Grand Slam tournament that, more than any other, could be described as “his” and with a city that has given him more joy than any in his career. And yet, the 31-year-old winner of 16 Grand Slam titles, four Davis Cups, two Olympic gold medals and a joint record 30 Masters 1000 titles (shared with Novak Djokovic) has never tasted glory at the AccorHotels Arena. The RPM is one of the few Masters 1000 events to have evaded his grasp.

Ten years on from his one and only final in Bercy, however, the world No1 looks better placed than ever to end that hoodoo. Tournament director Guy Forget believes the event should already be on his list of honours: “Rafa could have won it a long time ago. He’s come close a couple of times already.” The difference this season is that, from his run to the final of the Australian Open to his win at Flushing Meadows and subsequent triumph in Beijing, the Spaniard has improved his game with the very obvious goal of being more competitive on hard courts. Relatively speaking and given his immensely high standards, it is a surface that has always been something of an Achilles heel for him.

“You could say that indoor is his weak point,” said Forget, “though he went a long time without winning on hard courts before the US Open.” Since January 2014 in Doha to be exact. And since New York, of course, the Spaniard has tasted even more success on the surface, beating Nick Kyrgios 6-2, 6-1 in the China Open final to land a 75th career title and take his winning run on the surface to 12 matches. “With Rafa, it’s more about physical shape and the intensity he can play with than anything else,” added Forget. That physical shape is undoubtedly there as the season reaches its end, though there is more to his remarkable resurgence than that.

In his 2017 guise, Nadal has continued to improve and seems to have developed an even more devastating array of shots than before, starting with his serve. In making slight modifications to his technique and racquet, he is serving faster and more effectively both on his first and second serve and is causing more damage than on surfaces other than clay. The Mallorcan has also worked tirelessly on the switch from defence to attack, to the extent that his game is now resolutely more attack-minded, a fact highlighted by net play that is more solid and skilful than ever; all of which explains why he will be full of confidence when he steps on to the GreenSet at the AccorHotels Arena.

If anything, the speed of the surface, which is not unlike the one used for the ATP Tour Finals in London, ought to play into the world No1’s hands. “It might sound strange but I think the slowness of the surface was a worry for him indoors,” said Forget. “He didn’t get as much topspin, which made it easier to attack him and made him vulnerable and a little bit passive. But the court will be a little bit faster this year and if he can reproduce the tennis he played in New York and Beijing, he’s going to cause a lot of damage with his attacking game.” While the spectators at the Rolex Paris Masters will be delighted to hear that, his opponents will no doubt be a little less enthused.

The draw for the Paris Rolex Masters took place on Friday, with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev, the top four in the ATP Rankings, all lining up. We preview the first-round duels.

The draw for the Rolex Paris Masters took place on Friday evening at the offices of Canal Plus, with tournament director Guy Forget in attendance along with Rémy Azémar, who will be umpiring at the event, and French player Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Taking pride of place at the top of the draw was the No1-seeded Rafael Nadal, while his “best enemy” and perfect rival Roger Federer took up position at the other end of the draw as the No2 seed. The big two are sure to pull in the crowds when the action gets under way, though there is more to this year’s Rolex Paris Masters than just them.

“It’s great what’s happened with them this year,” said Herbert. “They are both iconic players and examples for us. Even when you’re playing them, which is not easy, it’s just great to see them still out there looking so strong. When you see their results it’s fantastic.” The Alsace player is particularly well placed to give his view on the awesome twosome, not least because he could be coming up against the Swiss master in the second round. If he is to get that far, Herbert will first of all need to see off Feliciano Lopez, a player who likes to attack as much as he does and who defeated him in the first round last year. “I beat him in Rotterdam this year, which was perhaps thanks to the experience I had last year and the good game I played,” said Herbert. “He’s anything but an easy opponent.”

Richard Gasquet and Benoît Paire will face off in an all-French affair in the top half of the draw. “They’re two players who play a different type of tennis, and they know each other inside out as well,” said Forget. “Playing against a friend is never easy.” The winner will face Grigor Dimitrov in round two. Meanwhile, Gaël Monfils will kick off his campaign against Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi, with Juan Martin del Potro and Alexander Zverev potentially lying in wait for him later in the week. Elsewhere in the first round, Lucas Pouille will take on Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund, Nicolas Mahut will face a qualifier, while Adrian Mannarino will play 2012 champion David Ferrer. Should Mannarino prevail, he will take on another David – Belgium’s Goffin – in what would be an interesting appetiser for the Davis Cup final. The “salad bowl” showdown is in everyone’s minds and should bring a little extra spice to proceedings in Paris, both for the players and the fans.

“It’ll be a bonus if the final creates a bit of a buzz among the fans,” explained Herbert. “The Davis Cup is obviously on our minds. The Rolex Paris Masters is the last tournament that the captain can draw on when he comes to pick the team, and we all want to prove that we deserve a place in it by playing well here in Paris.” There is no reason why any of them cannot perform as well as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga did in becoming the last Frenchman to win at the AccorHotels Arena in 2008.

The man from Le Mans, who capped a successful return from a knee injury by winning in Antwerp last weekend, has been given a first-round bye and could face Julien Benneteau in the second round. His fellow Frenchman will need to see off a qualifier to tee up that all-Gallic affair. The other French player to go straight into the main draw is Gilles Simon, who also faces a qualifier in the first round, with Spain’s Roberto Bautista-Agut awaiting the winner. Speaking at the draw, Forget took the opportunity to deny speculation that Dominic Thiem would be pulling out of the tournament. “It’s nothing more than a rumour,” confirmed the tournament director. “The people at the ATP have spoken to his coach, Günther Bresnik, who told them that they were on their way to Paris.”