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All eyes will be on Mahut/Herbert and Murray/Soares
For the second consecutive year, fans will celebrate a new year-end No. 1 doubles team and doubles player on the ATP World Tour. And it will all come down to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which starts Sunday at The O2 in London.

Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, currently No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, control their fate in both races. The Frenchmen can clinch the team year-end No. 1 with their first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title.

The individual year-end No. 1 race is much simpler: Herbert/Mahut need to win only one round-robin match for the 34-year-old Mahut to secure year-end No. 1. Should Herbert/Mahut go 0-3 during round-robin play, Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares need to go undefeated in round-robin play and win the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title for Soares to pass Mahut.
Herbert/Mahut, in London for the second time, will try to finish the season like they started. They won the year's first three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo and captured the ATP World Tour 500 event at The Queen's Club in June. But they haven't celebrated a Sunday victory since July, when they won their first Wimbledon title.
Herbert/Mahut will be more familiar with The O2 this season. They went 1-2 during round-robin play last year. They've also played well indoors this season, reaching the final at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris last Sunday (l. to Kontinen/Peers).

Herbert/Mahut have been drawn in Group Fleming/McEnroe and boast a winning FedEx ATP Head2Head record this season against two of their three round-robin foes: Fourth seeds Marc Lopez/Feliciano Lopez (1-1); fifth seeds Henri Kontinen/John Peers (3-1); and seventh seeds Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram (1-0).
“We know all the teams quite well. The teams are all very good and all the matches will be very tight. We'll have to be up to par,” Herbert said last Sunday in Paris.
Herbert/Mahut, with 7,825 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points, will try to hold off second seeds Murray/Soares, who are 575 points behind the top seeds. With 1,500 points up for grabs in London, Murray/Soares could cap off an impressive debut season together by finishing World No. 1.
Murray/Soares will lead the Group Edberg/Jarryd, which includes two teams very familiar with the season finale and one team making its debut. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan will be going for their fifth Barclays ATP World Tour title in their 14th appearance. Murray/Soares lost their only 2016 meeting against the Bryans (Rome).

The Briton/Brazilian pairing have captured three titles this season, including two of the biggest hard-court crowns, the Australian Open and the US Open. Murray/Soares will also have some London experience to use at The O2. Murray played at the season finale last season with then partner John Peers, going 1-2 in round-robin play.
Herbert/Mahut and Murray/Soares also split their two 2016 meetings. The Frenchmen won the first match-up, in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final. But Murray/Soares earned revenge during the US Open semi-finals. Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo will be making their fourth appearance at the finale. Their best result came in 2014 when they reached the final (l. to Bryan/Bryan). The Croatian/Brazilian team split their two meetings with Murray/Soares this season. Debutants Treat Huey/Max Mirnyi will play Murray/Soares for the first time this year in London.
All of this unknown is a relative change compared to past years in the ATP World Tour doubles world. Last season marked just the first time since 2008 that the Bryans hadn't concluded a season as the year-end No. 1 doubles team. The Americans have celebrated that status 10 times overall – 2003, 2005-07, 09-14.
Marcelo Melo finished 2015 as the year-end No. 1 doubles player, and Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer ended the season as the 2015 year-end No. 1 doubles team after winning the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Briton and Brazilian celebrate career-best year in London
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares received the ATP World Tour No. 1 Doubles Team trophy presented by Emirates on Saturday from Chris Kermode, Tournament Chairman of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and ATP Executive Chairman and President.
The British-Brazilian team were presented the trophy following their semi-final match against Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram at The O2 in London, venue of the season finale.
”I think we can still improve a lot in our game,” said Murray. “I think we have the past few months. The more we play together, the better we'll get, I think.”
Soares said, “I think it's amazing. The fact that we lost today doesn't take anything away from us, everything that we achieved throughout the whole year… We had an amazing year, a very special year for both of us. We won two Grand Slams. We did a lot of right things."
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Murray & Soares Clinch Year-End No. 1 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking
Murray and Soares join Grant Connell and Patrick Galbraith (1993), and Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge (2001) as the only teams to claim the year-end No. 1 honour in their first season together.
Murray and Soares captured three titles in 2016 at the Australian Open (d. Nestor/Stepanek), the US Open (d. Carreño Busta/Garcia-Lopez) and the Apia Sydney International (d. Bopanna/Mergea). The pair was also runners up at two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Herbert/Mahut) and the Rogers Cup in Toronto (l. to Dodig/Melo).

Henri Kontinen is the new No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, ending the 38-week stint of France’s Nicolas Mahut at the summit of the professional game. He is the first Finn and 50th player overall since the establishment of the team rankings in March 1976 to become World No. 1.
Just as hard-graft helped Jarkko Nieminen become world-class for a place in Finland’s sporting history, alongside the likes of Janne Ahonen, Mika Häkkinen, Sami Hyypiä and Teemu Selänne, Kontinen’s determination to succeed has also helped his talent blossom. In four short years, the 26 year old has risen from competing in ITF Futures tournaments on the comeback trail from injury, uncertain of his future, to today leading the team sport.
“In doubles, you win and lose as a team so you set shared goals,” Kontinen told ATPWorldTour.com. “I never set out to be No. 1, you always try to improve and string together results to build up confidence. But it’s pretty cool to know I’ve got to No. 1.”
When it became official, the 26-year-old Kontinen was fast asleep in Tampere, a city in southern Finland, in preparation to joining his friend at an ice hockey match on Friday. So it was the fate of a friend to inform ‘Henkka’ of the news that Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock had beaten Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, the leaders of professional doubles over much of the past 15 years, at the Miami Open presented by Itau.
With the help of his Australian partner John Peers, Kontinen has risen from No. 40 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings 12 months ago. The pair has put together a 25-6 record since mid-October 2016 – picking up the Paris Masters, ATP Finals and Australian Open titles.
“It really is an amazing accomplishment for Henri to become World No. 1 and the first Finnish player to do so as well,” Peers told ATPWorldTour.com. “He continues to break records for Finnish tennis and the sky is the limit for him. It certainly is a great feeling to be able to do what we have done together so far. I am hoping this is just the start of what we can accomplish.”
But it could have been very different for the relaxed and easy-going Kontinen, who, aged 21 had two knee, two right wrist surgeries and shoulder problems on the horizon. It wasn’t until June 2013 that the likeable Finn felt ready to compete. Having moved with his family to the Czech Republic aged 15, competing at the highest level, for which he’d been touted, was a distant goal.
“It was hard to take and certainly the toughest moments of my career, being so young and realising that a career of playing tennis in the future might not happen,” Kontinen told ATPWorldTour.com. “Injuries are a part of the deal when you play sport. I was unlucky early on, but I worked hard on my fitness to get stronger, and now manage my knee and be careful.”
As Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer contested arguably the greatest match in tennis history: the 2008 Wimbledon final, 100 yards away on No. 1 Court, Grigor Dimitrov and Henri Kontinen were competing in the boys’ final. It proved to be a high point for the big fish of the junior world. Shortly after helping Finland to a 3-2 victory over Poland in a Davis Cup zonal tie in September 2011, Kontinen underwent surgery on a left knee injury that had gotten progressively worse.
Robert Lindstedt, who trained with Kontinen when he partnered Nieminen, told ATPWorldTour.com, "We all used the same physio, Jarmo Ahonen, and I used to go to Helsinki a lot. At one stage we were both so injured that we were not allowed to play tennis and we did fitness together. I told him in a text message the other day, who would have thought that all we were allowed to do was slowly jog around a track, years later he would be a Grand Slam champion and now World No. 1.”
“I love the sport, watch it and study it,” said Kontinen, who also grew up playing football and basketball. “When I turned my focus to doubles, upon returning from injuries on the Futures circuit with my former junior partner, Christopher Rungkat [winners of the 2008 Roland Garros boys’ doubles title], I had to learn and get used to where to position myself. In teaming up with John, he has helped me a lot with his greater doubles experience. So I've found that the best way is to learn as a team.”
In recent years, Kontinen has been able to develop and improve his game consisting of a huge serve, good feel at the net, a single-handed backhand and an attacking attitude. Relaxed and easy-going Kontinen combines finesse with serious firepower and an ability to focus and thrive on big points.
Today, it has helped him become the youngest player to reach No. 1 since the Bryans (aged 25) on 8 September 2003. Belarus’ Max Mirnyi was also 25 when he reached No. 1 for the first time on 9 June 2003.
TRIBUTES TO THE NEW WORLD NO. 1
Max Mirnyi: It’s great to see fresh, young blood in the game! Henri has shown that he is good all-around player and has been playing consistently for a couple of years already with winning some of our biggest tournaments. Congratulations, Henri, on accomplishing this special feat!!! Enjoy the leadership and continue to promote and grow the great game of doubles.
Nenad Zimonjic: I’d like to congratulate Henri, a relaxed and easy-going guy. He definitely deserves it as he’s been winning a lot. Rankings don’t lie and he’s now one of the youngest No. 1s in ATP history.
Jean-Julien Rojer: I would like to congratulate him for this amazing achievement. It is even more impressive for me because he's one of the younger doubles players on Tour and how quickly he's got up there. Everybody knew that he was super-talented and he's now put it together mentally as well. As good as he is on the court, he is off the court. He's a very nice, easy-going guy that everyone gets along with and very respectful. Congrats to him, and a tip of the cap!!
Horia Tecau: It's a well-deserved ranking for Henri. It's very impressive to reach No. 1 in such a short time being on Tour. Good for him! He's a complete player, owns all the weapons in the game and managed to dominate at the end of 2016 and the start of 2017 together with his partner, and the guy who deserves to get recognition for the No. 1 spot as well, John Peers.
Robert Lindstedt: He is one of the really nice guys on Tour and I am really happy for him. Not only because I have known him for so long, but also because I know the physical struggles he has had with injuries - and to overcome that is, to me, a true sign of a champion.
Treat Huey: Huge congratulations to Henri for reaching World No. 1. He's one of the younger doubles guys on the Tour right now and is an incredible shot maker. He's a good dude that enjoys himself on the court and Tour and he's going to be around the top of the game for many years to come.

Jamie Murray and Martina Hingis capped a dominant mixed doubles campaign in 2017, improving to 10-0 together with their second title in a row on Sunday at the US Open. The British-Swiss duo defeated Michael Venus and Hao-Ching Chan 6-1, 4-6, 10/8 in a tight Match Tie-break.
Murray and Hingis are the first team to go back-to-back at Wimbledon and the US Open since Hingis achieved the feat with Leander Paes in 2015. They are the only tandems to do so in 20 years.
Murray notched his third mixed doubles title in total, adding to his maiden triumph at Wimbledon in 2007 (w/Jankovic). He is the first British man to win the US Open mixed doubles title since Peter Curtis in 1968 (w/Eisel).
"We had a great run," Murray said. "We played a great tie-break and the crowd was really into it. There was a lot of noise. Some crazy rallies going on. For us, it's so much fun to go there and play in a huge stadium, with a lot of people coming out to watch.
"It's been a lot of fun for me. A great opportunity for me to compete with Martina. She's such a great player and a huge champion of the game. It's been a lot of fun. Every time we are on court, we get a lot of people coming out to watch us, a lot of people supporting us. It makes it fun to play. Like I said before, that's what we enjoy most about playing tennis, playing in front of a lot of people. That's where the enjoyment is, trying to put on a good show and play good tennis."
For Venus, the run to the final caps a career-year at the Grand Slam level, having claimed the doubles title with Ryan Harrison at Roland Garros.

Top seeds improve to 9-1 together in doubles finals
Better late than never. One year after coming up just short of lifting the trophy, Henri Kontinen and John Peers have their title at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
Top seeds Kontinen and Peers defeated second seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2 to emerge victorious in Shanghai, claiming their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title as a team. The Finnish-Aussie duo had fallen to John Isner and Jack Sock in last year's final, but needed just 69 minutes to dispatch Kubot and Melo on Sunday.
Kontinen and Peers have enjoyed great success on Chinese soil this month, having captured the title at the China Open in Beijing last week. Now riding a seven-match win streak, they move to within 360 points of Kubot and Melo for the top spot in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. Both teams have already punched their tickets to the Nitto ATP Finals.
"Winning matches one by one and then obviously in the end winning the title, that's great," said Kontinen. "To do it back to back, last week in Beijing and then here. Losing the final last year and now getting it, yeah, that's the most pleasing part for me."

Kontinen and Peers were overwhelming off the ground in Sunday's final. A quick break for 2-1 set the tone in the first set, as the Finn struck a forehand winner to edge ahead. Kubot and Melo did well to escape from a 0/40 deficit two games later, but were unable to dent their opponents' serves.
A Peers smash at the net earned the top seeds the decisive break for 3-2 in the second set and Kontinen would later strike down an ace to seal the victory.
"I felt the biggest difference is we've learnt how to sort of play better and more consistently in the bigger matches and the bigger tournaments," Peers said. "This year we've done that a lot better, and that's been the biggest challenge for us was to consistently perform well in the big events. And for us, to be able to do it this year, has been really great so far. That's the challenge for us still coming the rest of the year, to keep performing in the biggest events."
Kontinen and Peers improved to a staggering 9-1 as a team in tour-level finals. They are now 4-0 in 2017, adding to triumphs at the Australian Open and at the ATP World Tour 500 events in Washington and Beijing. It was their second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 victory as well, having previously prevailed in Paris last year.
Individually, Kontinen won his 17th doubles title and Peers captured his 15th. They split $352,060 in prize money and extend their FedEx ATP Head2Head lead to 3-1 over their Polish-Brazilian rivals.
Meanwhile, Kubot and Melo were appearing in their 11th final as a team (7-4). They share $352,060 in prize money and 600 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points.

ATP World Tour Season In Review: Doubles In 2017
Continuing our Season In Review series, ATPWorldTour.com looks at the headlines that shaped 2017 on the doubles circuit
Year-Long Tussle For Top Team
It came down to the final week of the season. The battle for year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings was intense from start to finish in 2017, as two teams created plenty of drama on the doubles court. Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo edged Henri Kontinen and John Peers for the top honour during the Nitto ATP Finals, ending a year-long tussle for No. 1. Both teams began their respective reigns in the Top 2 on April 3 and neither would depart from their perches for the rest of the season.
Kubot and Melo concluded 2017 with a dominant 49-18 mark together, including a grass-court sweep in 's-Hertogenbosch, Halle and Wimbledon, as well as ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in Miami, Madrid and Paris. They edged Kontinen and Peers 9-7 in a marathon fifth set in the Wimbledon semi-finals, before edging Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 13-11 in the title match.
But while the Polish-Brazilian duo emerged on top, their chief rivals had the last laugh at The O2 in London. Kontinen and Peers successfully defended their Nitto ATP Finals crown with a final victory over Kubot and Melo, extending their lead in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry to 4-1. The Finnish-Aussie tandem were a perfect five-for-five in tour-level finals this year, also triumphing at the Australian Open, Shanghai Rolex Masters and ATP World Tour 500 events in Washington and Beijing.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Kubot & Melo Clinch Year-End No. 1 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking
Parity Steals The Show In Race
Four different Grand Slam winners, five different ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champions and separate teams lifting the year-end No. 1 trophy and Nitto ATP Finals crown. Needless to say, it was a year of parity on the biggest stages on the ATP World Tour doubles circuit.
While Kubot/Melo and Kontinen/Peers quickly separated themselves from the pack, other teams earned signature wins throughout the year. Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut enjoyed an impressive run through the heart of the season, en route to punching their ticket at The O2 for a third straight year. The Frenchmen celebrated a 12-match win streak at the Masters 1000 level, reeling off consecutive titles in Rome, Montreal and Cincinnati. They have now won six of the nine Masters 1000 titles together.

Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram (Indian Wells) and Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas (Monte-Carlo) also prevailed at the elite level. Cuevas was a force in 2017, winning four doubles titles and singles crowns on both the ATP World Tour (Sao Paulo) and ATP Challenger Tour (Montevideo). On the doubles court, he was victorious at all three ATP World Tour levels with different partners, also prevailing in Rio de Janeiro with Pablo Carreno Busta and in Kitzbuhel with Guillermo Duran.
The parity on the doubles circuit was even more evident at the Grand Slam level, with Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus completing a dream run to the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals after lifting their maiden Grand Slam trophy at Roland Garros. The longtime friends ran through a gauntlet on the terre battue of Paris, winning all six matches in deciding sets. And they would take advantage of their first appearance at the season finale in London, reaching the semis as the eighth seeds behind a 3-0 round robin campaign.
Meanwhile, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau made their third appearance in four years at The O2, behind a title run at the US Open. It was their second Grand Slam crown together, having previously prevailed on the lawns of Wimbledon in 2015. They were a dominant force at Flushing Meadows, defeating four straight seeded opponents and dropping just two sets all fortnight. Posting a 4-0 mark in tour-level finals this year, they also won in Dubai, Geneva and Winston-Salem.
Trio Trades No. 1 Torch
Three players from three different teams traded the No. 1 torch in the individual Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings, with Marcelo Melo taking the year-end honour for the second time. The mantle exchanged hands on four occasions in 2017, with Nicolas Mahut handing it off to Henri Kontinen in early April, before Melo wrestled it away in July. Kontinen would once again surge to the top spot a month later, but the Brazilian snatched it for good at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Melo, also the year-end No. 1 in 2015, is the 10th player in the Open Era to conclude a season at the summit on multiple occasions. Kontinen, meanwhile, made history in becoming the first Finn to reach World No. 1 and the 50th player overall, since the establishment of the team rankings in March 1976.

Mike Bryan, Nestor Tied For All-Time Wins Lead
Despite failing to win a Grand Slam or ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title for the first time since 2004, the Bryan brothers continued to add milestones to their legendary resumes. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for a record 15th straight year - and 16th overall - behind titles in Atlanta and Eastbourne and a runner-up finish at the Australian Open.
But it was Mike alone who seized arguably the biggest accomplishment of the year. The 39-year-old became the all-time winningest player in doubles history on 5 September. A quarter-final win at the US Open momentarily moved him ahead of Daniel Nestor with 1052 victories.
Mike still stands at No. 1 on the all-time list, but he now has some company at the summit, with the American and the Canadian currently tied with 1056 wins apiece. Bob is in third place with 1042 victories.
Nestor announced that 2018 will be his final season on the ATP World Tour, as he looks to compete in a 30th Rogers Cup in August.
Open Era Doubles Match Wins List
Player
Doubles Match Wins
Mike Bryan
1,056
Daniel Nestor
1,056
Bob Bryan
1,042
Todd Woodbridge
782
Max Mirnyi
754
Mirnyi and Zimonjic Join Elite Company
Doubles legends Max Mirnyi and Nenad Zimonjic etched their names in the record books with milestone victories of their own. On 26 July in Hamburg, Zimonjic notched his 700th career win, becoming just the 10th player to do so. A longtime ambassador of doubles, the Serbian continues to grow the game as he builds his own legacy. In February, he won his first title since 2014, prevailing in Sofia.
“It’s nice to play in Hamburg again, for the first time since 2012, and to achieve the 700th match win in a country of such rich tennis tradition,” Zimonjic told ATPWorldTour.com. “It means a lot to join this ‘Club’, it’s a lot of wins and I want to thank all my partners over the years.”
Meanwhile, Mirnyi became a member of an even more exclusive club on 26 September in Shenzhen, when 'The Beast' celebrated match win No. 750. The 40-year-old became just the fifth player to win 750 matches, joining the Bryans, Nestor and Todd Woodbridge. One month later in Moscow, he would hit another milestone in claiming his 50th title
“I am thrilled that I have come to this stage of my career," said Mirnyi. "It is something that I couldn't have imagined at the beginning of the road."
Mirnyi
Other Highlights
- Qureshi Goes Five-For-Five: Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi won five titles with five different partners, teaming up with Marcin Matkowski on the hard courts of Auckland, Florin Mergea on the clay of Barcelona, Robert Lindstedt and Rajeev Ram on the grass of Antalya and Newport and finally with Jonathan Erlich at the Chengdu Open. The former World No. 8 also reached the final in Stockholm with Jean-Julien Rojer.
Qureshi's biggest impact has come off the court, however, having started the 'Stop War Start Tennis' initiative in Africa. He hopes that the introduction of tennis will lead to a better life for those in need. Learn More
- Zverev's Double Dip: Alexander Zverev became the only player to win singles and doubles crowns in the same week, when he teamed up with brother Mischa Zverev at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. It was the younger Zverev's first doubles title, joining Brisbane champions Thanasi Kokkinakis and Jordan Thompson, as well as Japanese duo Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama as other notable first-time winners. The unseeded Japanese team prevailed on home soil in Tokyo with stunning upsets of top seeds Rojer/Tecau and second seeds Murray/Soares.
- Match Tie-break Marathon: Aussies Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith won a 42-point Match Tie-break in their Newport opener - the longest of the year on the ATP World Tour. They defeated Taiwanese tandem Cheng-Peng Hsieh and Hsien-Yin Peng 4-6, 6-4, 22/20, needing 10 match points while saving five.

ATPWorldTour.com looks back on an exciting first quarter of 2018
The season is only three months old, but there has been plenty of excitement on the doubles court with one team dominating early and a pair of legends showing that they may have another No. 1 push in them.
Marach/Pavic Begin Year With Tremendous Winning Streak
Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic just missed out on a spot in last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, serving as alternates in the event before stepping in to win their only match against Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, denying the twins a spot in the semi-finals.
But Marach/Pavic showed early on this year that they have no intentions of serving as alternates at The O2 again — they want to qualify out right. The Austrian-Croatian duo began their 2018 campaign on a 17-match winning streak, winning their first three tournaments of the season (Doha, Auckland, Australian Open) before falling in the championship match at Rotterdam.
And while the 24-4 Marach/Pavic have not won an event since losing that final against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, semi-final and quarter-final appearances in Indian Wells and Miami, respectively, show that they are a force to be reckoned with on the ATP World Tour this year.
Could The Bryans Make Another No. 1 Run?
It is no secret that Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have set the standard for doubles success on the ATP World Tour throughout their careers, finishing atop the year-end ATP Doubles Rankings on 10 occasions. But last season, they finished with only two tour-level titles, their lowest mark since 2000, they year before they lifted their first trophy.
But the twins are back in form again, and appear ready to make another push for the top. They finished the opening quarter of the season with their record 115th title, claiming their fifth Miami Open presented by Itau trophy. It was their record 37th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 triumph.
The brothers had also advanced to the final at their previous two events (Acapulco, Indian Wells), and have now won 12 of 14 matches as the ATP World Tour shifts to the European red clay. The Bryans are second in the ATP Doubles Race To London, trailing only Marach/Pavic.
Early-Season Results Set Up Exciting Clay Swing
Believe it or not, just three of the teams that qualified for the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals are currently in position to do so again. Henri Kontinen and John Peers, who won the season finale in 2016 and 2017, will look to bounce back after faltering in five of their past six matches, including a first-round loss at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Irving, Texas, last month.
But they are not the only ones searching for form. Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, the top-ranked doubles players in the world, are currently ninth in the Race. Those two teams making a push to put their names back in the conversation will surely make for an exciting journey on the red clay.
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah (third), Ben McLachlan/Jan-Lennard Struff (fifth) and others will look to defend their positions.