The final tournament, singles one at least, is going to take place in London this week as eight of the top nine players in the world compete in the ATP World Tour Finals. Rafael Nadal is the only absentee from that elite list as he begins focusing on the 2015 season which he will be hoping will be much more injury free than 2014 has proven to be.
Injuries and loss of form does surround a couple of players like Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, while the likes of Kei Nishikori, Andy Murray and Milos Raonic have had to win a lot of matches over the last six weeks to ensure their places in the draw.
That will make it tough for those players to win a tournament of this magnitude and I do think it is tough to look beyond Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to win the title this week.
Novak Djokovic has won the last two editions of the World Tour Finals in London and those who were worried that he might lose his focus a little now that he is a new father were sorely mistaken as the World Number 1 won the title in Paris last week. That also means he is very likely to finish the year as World Number 1 too and Djokovic could be inspired to put in one more big effort in 2014 and take home another major title.
The threat is Roger Federer but I also think the Swiss player has the tougher Group to negotiate and there is a chance that he won't top the section which means a potential Semi Final with Novak Djokovic. The Tour Finals have been kind to Federer in the past, but Djokovic is playing at a very high level on the indoor hard courts with a long unbeaten run to protect and he looks the likely winner who I will back to take the title home for the third year in a row.
Andy Murray - 3.5 games v Kei Nishikori: Andy Murray had to win a lot of matches, even from the brink of defeat on a couple of occasions, to qualify for the World Tour Finals, but those wins have to have given him plenty of confidence when playing in front of his home fans.
Beating some big names in that time is important for Murray who hasn't been able to do that consistently since his back surgery that cut short his 2013 season, so those wins will give him a real chance to go deep here in London.
I don't like under-estimating Kei Nishikori who has been having a wonderful two months to end his season and he has the battling quality to make hay against the Murray second serve which remains a big weakness for the British player. However, Nishikori's own serve could be something of a weakness on a court where the conditions have usually played slow for an indoor hard court.
Murray has worked very hard to make sure he can play in this tournament and I don't think he will have a let down in this first match and I like Murray to win this 63, 75.
Roger Federer - 3.5 games v Milos Raonic: It was clearly a big aim of Milos Raonic to reach the Tour Finals in London and he exerted a lot of emotional effort to do that in Paris where he ended up making the Final including having his first ever career win over Roger Federer.
I do wonder how much he has left to spend on this tournament, even with the week between the Paris Final and this one beginning, and I also do think the conditions may not suit Raonic as much as the indoor courts in Paris usually play.
The slower conditions should give Roger Federer more of a chance to make use of the limited opportunities he is likely to see, although Raonic doesn't have to deal with the mental burden of never beating Federer going into this first Round Robin match.
I expect the slice return to be more effective for Federer this week and he has gotten the better of the Raonic serve in earlier matches this season including at Wimbledon. A new court for Raonic could see him have a few teething troubles and allow Federer to come away with a 63, 76 win.
MY PICKS: Novak Djokovic to Win the Tournament @ 1.83 Sky Bet (3 Units)
Andy Murray - 3.5 Games @ 2.10 Paddy Power (2 Units)
Roger Federer - 3.5 Games @ 2.10 Ladbrokes (2 Units)
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