2017 Nitto ATP Finals draw ceremony is over and now tennis fans are awaiting the real action at the O2 Arena in London from 12 to19 November.
The draw, supposed to be held at 8:15 am (local time) on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with the German legend Boris Becker on Wednesday, was delayed as Becker was stuck in traffic.
However, after the delay, the draw for year-end top tournament finally took place and as announced already, men's singles groups will be named after two1990's legends Pete Sampras and Boris Becker. All the eight qualified players were divided into those groups.
The world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Austrian ace Dominic Thiem, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and Belgian David Goffin were seeded to Pete Sampras group.
On the other hand, Boris Becker group has remaining players. It includes the Swiss great Roger Federer, German Alexander Zverev, Croatian ace Marin Cilic and 2017 Paris Masters winner Jack Sock.
The top seed Nadal who withdrew from 2017 Paris Masters due to a knee injury is expected to be fit for the ATP Finals London, as his coach Carlos Moya said that "Rafa is fine, the knee is OK."
The draw ceremony also divided all the doubles pairs to Woodbridge/Woodforde and Eltingh/Haarhuis groups. These groups are also named after some veteran tennis pairs who won the season final tournament during the 1990s.
The first group of doubles tournament includes Poland's Lukasz Kubot with partner Marcelo Melo, the 31-year-old Jamie Murray and doubles partner Bruno Soares, two American Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan and the last pair is Croatian ace Ivan Dodig and his Spaniard partner Marcel Granollers.
On the other hand, Finland's Henri Kontinen and partner John Peers, Netherland ace Jean-Julien Rojer and his Romanian partner Horia Tecau, two French stars Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut and American player Ryan Harrison and his doubles partner Michael Venus are seeded to the second group of the doubles tournament.
Till now only first two days' schedule is out, which will be divided into afternoon and evening sessions. It also includes two doubles match and two singles match for the round-robin tournament.
12 November, Sunday
Afternoon Session:
Match One: Henri Kontinen/ John Peers vs Ryan Harrison/ Michael Venus
Match Two: Roger Federer vs Jack Sock
Evening Session:
Match One: Jean-Julien Rojer/ Horia Tecau vs Pierre-Hugues Herbert/ Nicolas Mahut
Match Two: Alexander Zverev vs Marin Cilic
13 November, Monday
Afternoon Session:
Match One: Jamie Murray/ Bruno Soares vs Bob Bryan/ Mike Bryan
Match Two: Dominic Thiem vs Grigor Dimitrov
Evening Session:
Match One: Lukasz Kubot/ Marcelo Melo vs Ivan Dodig/ Marcel Granollers
Match Two: Rafael Nadal vs David Goffin
