The 2018 ATP Finals (also known as the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals for Nitto sponsorship) was a men's tennis year-end tournament that took place at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, from 11 to 18 November 2018. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2018 ATP World Tour.
Finals
Singles
Alexander Zverev defeated Novak Djokovic, 6–4, 6–3 It was Zverev's 4th title of the year and 10th of his career. It was his first win at the event.
Doubles
Mike Bryan / Jack Sock defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert / Nicolas Mahut, 5–7, 6–1, [13–11]
Tournament
The 2018 ATP Finals took place from 11 to 18 November at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom. It was the 49th edition of the tournament (44th in doubles). The tournament was run by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and was part of the 2018 ATP World Tour. The event took on indoor hard courts. It served as the season-ending championships for players on the ATP Tour. The eight players who qualified for the event were split into two groups of four. During this stage, players competed in a round-robin format (meaning players played against all the other players in their group). The two players with the best results in each group progressed to the semifinals, where the winners of a group faced the runners-up of the other group. This stage, however, was a knock-out stage. The doubles competition used the same format.
Points and prize money StageSinglesDoubles1PointsChampionRR + $1,280,000RR + $200,000RR + 900Runner-upRR + $620,000RR + $103,000RR + 400$203,000$38,000200Participation fee$203,000$100,000Alternates$110,000$38,000 Ref:https://www.nittoatpfinals.com/en/event/points-and-prize-money POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY RR is points or prize money won in the round robin stage. 1 Prize money for doubles is per team. An undefeated champion would earn the maximum 1,500 points, and $2,712,000 in singles or $517,000 in doubles.
Qualification
Singles Eight players compete at the tournament, with two named alternates. Players receive places in the following order of precedence: First, the top 7 players in the ATP Race to London on the Monday after the final tournament of the ATP World Tour, that is, after the 2018 Paris Masters. Second, up to two 2018 Grand Slam tournament winners ranked anywhere 8th-20th, in ranking order Third, the eighth ranked player in the ATP rankings In the event of this totaling more than 8 players, those lower down in the selection order become the alternates. If further alternates are needed, these players are selected by the ATP.
Provisional rankings are published weekly as the ATP Race to London, coinciding with the 52-week rolling ATP rankings on the date of selection. Points are accumulated in Grand Slam, ATP World Tour, ATP Challenger Tour and ITF Futures tournaments from the 52 weeks prior to the selection date, with points from the previous years Tour Finals excluded. Players accrue points across 18 tournaments, usually made up of:
The 4 Grand Slam tournaments The 8 mandatory ATP Masters tournaments The best results from any 6 other tournaments that carry ranking points
All players must include the ranking points for mandatory Masters tournaments for which they are on the original acceptance list and for all Grand Slams for which they would be eligible, even if they do not compete (in which case they receive zero points). Furthermore, players who finished 2016 in the world's top 30 are commitment players who must (if not injured) include points for the 8 mandatory Masters tournament regardless of whether they enter, and who must compete in at least 4 ATP 500 tournaments (though the Monte Carlo Masters may count to this total), of which one must take place after the US Open. Zero point scores may also be taken from withdrawals by non-injured players from ATP 500 tournaments according to certain other conditions outlined by the ATP. Beyond these rules, however, a player may substitute his next best tournament result for missed Masters and Grand Slam tournaments.
Players may have their ATP World Tour Masters 1000 commitment reduced by one tournament, by reaching each of the following milestones: 600 tour level matches (as of January 1, 2018), including matches from Challengers and Futures played before year 2011; 12 years of service; 31 years of age (as of January 1, 2018). If a player satisfies all three of these conditions, their mandatory ATP World Tour Masters 1000 commitment is dropped entirely. Players must be in good standing as defined by the ATP as to avail of the reduced commitment.
Doubles
Eight teams compete at the tournament, with one named alternates. The eight competing teams receive places according to the same order of precedence as in Singles. The named alternate will be offered first to any unaccepted teams in the selection order, then to the highest ranked unaccepted team, and then to a team selected by the ATP. Points are accumulated in the same competitions as for the Singles tournament. However, for Doubles teams there are no commitment tournaments, so teams are ranked according to their 18 highest points scoring results from any tournaments.
Qualified players
Singles #PlayersPointsTourn.Date Qualified1 Novak Djokovic8,04514inj. Rafael Nadal7,480911 August2 Roger Federer6,020108 Septemberinj. Juan Martín del Potro5,300193 October3 Alexander Zverev5,0851812 October 4 Kevin Anderson4,3102028 October 5 Marin Čilić4,050182 November 6 Dominic Thiem3,895232 November7 Kei Nishikori3,390213 November8 John Isner3,155225 November
On August 11, Rafael Nadal became the first qualifier to the event.
Rafael Nadal formally began his season at the Australian Open, Nadal faced Marin Čilić in the quarterfinal, but retired in the fifth set due to a hip injury. Nadal withdrew from the Mexican Open, Indian Wells Masters, and Miami Open due to an injury. At the Monte Carlo Masters, Nadal successfully defended his title, won a record-breaking 31st Masters title and his 11th title in Monte Carlo, beating Kei Nishikori in the final. Nadal went on to win his 11th title in Barcelona Open, defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets in the final, becoming the first player in the open era to win 400 matches on both clay and hard. Fresh after achieving the 'Undecima' at Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Nadal failed to defend his title at the Mutua Madrid Open, when he lost in straight sets to Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals, ending his 21-match and record 50-set winning streaks on clay. At the Italian Open, Nadal captured his 8th title in the event, defeating Alexander Zverev in three sets, thus overtaking John McEnroe in the fourth place on the list of most titles won in the Open Era. Then at the French Open, Nadal won his 17th Grand Slam title, beating Dominic Thiem in the final in three sets.
Going into Wimbledon Championships, Nadal reached the semifinals for the first time since 2011, where he faced long-time rival Novak Djokovic, in a match that lasted 5 hours and 17 minutes, spread over two days, becoming the second-longest Wimbledon semifinal in history. Djokovic defeated Nadal in five sets with the fifth set being 10–8. At the Rogers Cup, Nadal defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final to win a record-extending 33rd Masters 1000 title. Nadal was the top seed during his title defense at the US Open. However, he retired in his semi-final matchup against Juan Martín del Potro due to knee pain. He then skipped the Asian Swing due to the same injury and the Rolex Paris Masters due to an abdominal injury. On November 5, he confirmed his withdrawal from the ATP Finals due to an ankle injury.
On September 8, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer qualified for the event.
Novak Djokovic started off with a fourth round loss at the Australian Open, losing to Chung Hyeon from South Korea in three close sets. He then underwent surgery on his elbow, a week later. However, he surprisingly played at the Masters events of the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open and lost in his opening round matches to Taro Daniel and Benoît Paire, respectively. He then competed at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters and was able to reach the third round losing to Dominic Thiem. However, he suffered another early exit, this time in Barcelona Open to Martin Kližan in the second round. Djokovic struggle continued at the Mutua Madrid Open in a second round loss to Kyle Edmund in three sets. At the Italian Open, Djokovic was able to reach his first semifinal of the year, losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. His resurgent form continued when he reached the quarterfinals of the French Open, but was upset by Marco Cecchinato in four sets.
He had a strong start to the grass court season at the Queen's Club Championship, reaching the final without dropping a set, but lost to top seed Marin Čilić despite having a championship point. Djokovic, then, entered the Wimbledon Championships and, after defeating Nadal 10–8 in fifth set in the semifinal, he was able to claim his first title in over a year by defeating Kevin Anderson in straight sets. After a triumphant grass season, Djokovic started his US Open Series with a third round showing at the Rogers Cup, losing against eventual runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas. Afterwards, he returned to play the Western & Southern Open for the first time in three years. Here he faced Roger Federer in the final and defeated him to win his first Cincinnati Masters title convincingly in straight sets. With this victory, Djokovic became the first and only player in tennis history to complete the career Golden Masters—a feat achieved by winning all nine ATP Masters 1000 events at least once in one's career. At the US Open, he was able to reach the final facing #3 seed Juan Martín del Potro. He defeated del Potro in straight sets to win his third US Open title and second Grand Slam title of the year. Seeded second at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, he claimed his fourth Shanghai title when he defeated Borna Ćorić in the final and did not drop a set all tournament. Finally at the Rolex Paris Masters he defeated João Sousa, Damir Džumhur, Marin Čilić, and Roger Federer en route to the final, where he lost in straight sets to Karen Khachanov.
Roger Federer started his season winning the Hopman Cup partnering with Belinda Bencic. At the Australian Open, Federer reached the final without dropping a set, and successfully defended his title beating Marin Čilić in a five-set final. This was Federer's sixth title at the Australian Open, equaling the record held by Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic, as well as becoming the first man to win twenty Grand Slam titles. Federer continued his good start when he won his third Rotterdam Open title to return to No. 1 in the ATP rankings, defeating Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the final. He then entered the Indian Wells Masters, where he reached the final and despite holding three championship points, Federer was defeated by Juan Martín del Potro in a close three-set final. At the Miami Open, Federer lost in his opening match to Thanasi Kokkinakis, resulting to him losing the no. 1 ranking. He then skipped the European clay court season for the second consecutive season.