With Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals in London, Roger Federer becomes an even more overwhelming favorite to win his seventh title at the year-end championships.
Federer holds an impressive 52-12 record at the event and has won the title more than any other player in the history of the tournament that began in 1970 (Ivan Lendl won the title five times). Federer has only lost four matches all year long in winning seven titles for the season. It is not only Federer’s current top level form and confidence that makes him the tennis betting odds favorite in London, but the fact that all of his contemporary rivals are not in the event.
It is an incredible situation that all of Federer’s chief rivals and major antagonists are all now all on the sidelines injured while the 36-year-old Swiss maestro continues to play some of the best tennis of his career. Nadal, Federer’s biggest rival and the most difficult player Federer faces, withdrew from the event Monday after his 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 loss to David Goffin in his opening round-robin match.
Defending champion Andy Murray and four-time champion Novak Djokovic are also absent as they recover from injuries and prepare for the start of the 2018 season. Stan Wawrinka, Federer’s Swiss Davis Cup and Olympic team and another of his major threats, is also on the sidelines recovering from injury.
Of the seven other competitors in the event, only Marin Cilic has won a major title – or played in a major final. Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin, Jack Sock and Pablo Carreno Busta, the alternate replacement for Nadal, are playing in the year-end championships for the first time. Cilic and Dominic Thiem are the only players in the field with previous event experience.
Of the other contenders for the title, most eyes will be on Zverev and Cilic. Zverev, the No. 3 player in the world behind Nadal and Federer, appears poised to be a future world No. 1. He impressively won Masters Series titles in Rome and Canada this year, defeating Djokovic and Federer, respectively, in the finals. With his booming serve and strong fast-court game, Cilic loves the indoor conditions almost as much as Federer. The fact that Cilic has played on the major stages of tennis before, winning the U.S. Open in 2014 and playing in the Wimbledon final earlier this year, falling to Federer. Dimitrov showed glimpses of greatness by winning the Masters Series title in Cincinnati in August and perhaps could rise to the occasion and grab the biggest title of his career.
Odds are that the winner will be either Federer or Cilic as the winner of the year-end championships has been a Grand Slam tournament champion since 1991 with the exception of outliers Nikolay Davydenko in 2009, David Nalbandian in 2005 and Alex Corretja in 1998.
