With the latest edition of the prestigious season-ending tournament set to get underway on Sunday, ATP chief executive Kermode confirmed a deal had been agreed for London to play host to the world’s top eight players for three more years.
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“We’re very pleased to announce that we’re going to be staying in London through to 2018”, he said.
As it is, he will play world No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, No. 5 Nadal and No. 8 David Ferrer in the “Ilie Nastase Group” while Djokovic, Federer, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori will contest the “Stan Smith Group”.
Djokovic will bid to become the first player to win four consecutive titles at the year-end event, while Federer will bid for his record seventh title.
“It is not only the home of all the great sporting competitions you could think of – from the Olympics to the Rugby World Cup, NFL, European Swimming Championships, diving – it is also, as I never tire of telling you, the place where virtually every single sport of any importance or interest was either invented or codified”.
“I’ve had by far the most successful season of my life and I’ll try my side to keep it going”.
Andy Murray has insisted he will give his best in the ATP World Tour Finals in London – where he has rarely done that well – but admitted the Davis Cup a week later remains his priority.
Since losing to Federer in the Cincinnati final in August, Djokovic has embarked on a 22-match winning run that has brought him the US Open, the China Open and Masters 1000 titles in Shanghai and Paris. Murray failed to survive the round-robin stage previous year when he was demolished by Federer. They last met in the final of the US Open, where Djokovic claimed a hard-fought victory. I’ve been training on clay for the last four days.
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“It’s been a long season, so this is a crown for the achievements of all these players. My body feels good, I feel fresh and hope I can play a few good tennis”.
