This image is a derivative of Daniil Medvedev by Carine06 (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The race to London is heating up.

The ATP's top eight players from 2019 will get the chance to lift the Nitto ATP Tour Finals trophy in a season-ending showdown. 

We look at all the contenders and their quest towards greatness.

Congratulations to Daniil Medvedev for winning the Shanghai Masters last week featuring in his fifth straight final in as many tournaments.

Also a massive shout out to Coco Gauff winning her first WTA title at only 15 years old.

Rafael Nadal 

ATP Race to London Rank: 1st

Points: 9225 (Qualified)

Next Tournament: Paris Masters 1000 

Rafa Nadal, the winner of 28 of his last 29 matches, will look forward to the Paris Masters staring on the 28^th of October. The wrist injury that has bothered him since the Laver Cup should be healed and ready for action.

KEY STATS:

When Rafa plays a top 10 player he has a stunning160-84 (65.6%) record which puts him fourth all time against players past and present.

Nadal is near perfection with a 46-1 record this year when winning the first set. During Masters 1000 events in 2019 he holds a stunning 19-2 record which is above both Roger Federer 17-4 and Novak Djokovic 18-6.

Novak Djokovic

ATP Race to London Rank:  2nd

Points: 7945 (+180) (Qualified)

Next Tournament: Paris Masters 

Heading into the Shanghai tournament The Joker had only lost 3 matches this year when winning the first set. Who would have thought in the quarter finals, up a set and a break against Stefanos Tsitsipas the Serb crumbled to an agonising defeat. Walking away with only 180 points, compared to a massive 1000 points for the champion.

Novak, like Nadal, has his sights set on the Paris Masters next where he has won the event four times. The last victory in Paris came in 2015.

KEY STATS:

Novak sits third all-time in tie-breaks won behind only the great Roger Federer and Arthur Ashe.

Novak has only lost nine matches this year. Six of these losses were on hard courts, giving him a 26-6 (81%) record. 

Stats Insider’s World Rankings has Djokovic as the world's third-best hardcourt player only behind Rafa Nadal and the red hot Daniil Meddvedev.

Novak leads the ATP Tour in break-points converted with 46.7%. Give this all-time great a chance and he is going to push you to breaking point.

Daniil Medvedev

ATP Race to London Rank: 3rd

Points: 5875 (+1000) (Qualified)

Next Tournament: VTB Kremlin Cup

What an amazing year for Daniil Medvedev. The Masters 1000 crown has catapulted him into third position above the mighty Roger Federer. Medvedev did not drop a set on his way to victory defeating Fabio Fognini, Stefanos Tsitsipas and dismantling Alexander Zverev in the final.

Medvedev will now play his hometown tournament in Moscow, Russia. 

The first seed for the tournament should see a fellow Russian, Andrey Rublev in the quarter finals who he holds a 2-0 record over with both matches coming this year. Rublev is very dangerous but its hard to see Medvedev not reach his seventh straight final where another fellow Russian, Karen Khachanov should be waiting. Khachanov won this matchup last year at the Kremlin Cup in a close semi final match. Medvedev still holds a 2-1 advantage over his fellow countryman. 

KEY STATS:

Medvedev is ranked second on the ATP over the past 52 weeks with tie-breaks won, which sits him behind only Novak Djokovic.

The Russian has the most Indoor Hardcourt wins over the past 52 weeks with a 16-4 record and two titles to his name. Stats Insider's World Rankingsalso has him ranked the second-best player in the world on Hardcourts.

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Roger Federer

ATP Race to London Rank: 4th

Points: 5690 (+180)

Next Tournament: Swiss Indoors Basel

Roger also went down to another Next Gen player in Alexander Zverev in the quarter finals. After miraculously saving five match points in the second set and forcing the deciding set, the Fed Express couldn’t keep the momentum rolling and pull out a stunning victory.

Federer will take the week off before playing in his hometown of Basel for his favourite ATP 500 event. The Swiss Maestro will be looking to win his tenth crown at Basel – yes you read that correctly – before heading to Paris the week after.

KEY STATS:

Roger is the tie-break G.O.A.T, leading all players past and present including, Arthur Ashe, Novak and Pete Sampras. Rogers currently sits at 65.1% where he has won 432 and lost 232.

On hardcourts in 2019, he is winning a massive 89.9% of service games and sits third in second serve points won at 57.6%.

Dominic Thiem

ATP Race to London Rank: 5th

Points: 4525 (+180) (qualified)

Next Tournament: Erste Bank Open,Vienna. 

Thiem was also on the losing side of the quarter finals. Another Next Gen up and comer, Matteo Berrettini took care of the Austrian 7-6 6-4 in a tight affair.

It seems to be the month where a lot of players are back home playing in their countries tournament. Thiem has a week off before playing in Vienna, Austria where he will be looking to be the first Austrian to win here since Jurgen Melzer who won back in 2009 and 2010.

KEY STATS:

Thiem has a solid 5-2 indoor record over the past 52 weeks.

Over the past 52 week on hardcourts, Thiem has won 100% of his deciding sets. If Thiem is up for the grind, he is more than likely to get the job done. 

Stefanos Tsitsipas

ATP Race to London Rank: 6th

Points: 3730 (+360) (Qualified)

Next Tournament: Basel Indoors

I still didn’t get my highly anticipated matchup between Tsitsipas and Gael Monfils but we got one better with a stunning victory over Novak Djokovic in the quarter finals coming from a set down. The win has secured the Greeks Race to London campaign becoming the sixth player to now qualify. A huge semi final against Medvedev in Shanghai lived upto expectations with a narrow 7-6 7-5 defeat.

Tsitsipas looks ahead to the Swiss Basel Indoors where he looks to hunt down his next target, Roger Federer.

KEY STATS:

Stefanos has a stunning 12-4 indoors record over the past 52 weeks. Look for some more strong results for the Greek during the Indoor run.

Tsitsipas is 5-6 against top 10 opponents this year and has won a solid 67% (28-14) of matches on hardcourt. Tsitsipas is a much safer bet on the clay courts where he is ranked sixth on the Stats Insider Tennis World Rankingsand has a 75% (15-5) win/loss record.

Alexander Zverev

ATP Race to London Rank: 7th

Points: 2855 (+600)

Next Tournament: Shanghai Masters 1000  

A stunning display of tennis against Roger Federer in the quarters and Matteo Berrettini has seen Sasha move up to number 7 on the leaderboard. The dream run came to a disappointing finish with a 6-4 6-1 defeat against the inform Medvedev in the Shanghai final.

Zverev now has a week off before he too plays the Swiss Indoors. A star studded line up shouldn’t worry the German as we move Indoors where he holds a 7-2 over the past 52 weeks.

KEY STATS:

When Zverev wins the first set this year, he holds a strong 37-7 winning record. The seven losses puts him with more than any of these top 12 players on the leaderboard.

Zverev is only 1-5 this year against top 10 opponents. This will need to improve if he looks to breakout and win a grand slam or another season ending showdown.

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Matteo Berrettini

ATP Race to London Rank: 8th

Points: 2545 (+360)

Next Tournament: 

Berrettini had another massive week earning a huge 360 points for making a semi final in Shanghai. He fought off some feisty opponents in Dominic Thiem and Roberto Bautista Agut, before falling to Alexander Zverev in straight sets. This moves him upto eight position, putting him in a brilliant spot for the last month of tournaments. 

Berrettini will take a rest this week and gear up for the ATP 500 in Vienna.

KEY STATS:

Stats Insider's World Rankings has Berrettini ranked #42 on hard courts, which aligns with his 15-13 record on the surface this season.

Put Berrettini on Grass or Clay courts this season he is a different animal with a 24-6 combined.

Berrittinni is currently ranked fourth in the world at break points saved over the past 52 weeks at 70.3%

Coming into the indoor tournaments Berrittini has a 7-4 record over the past 52 weeks.

Roberto Bautista Agut

ATP Race to London Rank: 9th

Points: 2485 (+90)

Next Tournament: Swiss Basel Indoors

Bautista Agut ran into the hot Matteo Berrittini in the Shanghai Maters third round. Berrettini now hold a 3-1 record over the Spaniard in a close 7-6 6-4 encounter. This loss has moved Bautista Agut down two places to number nine in the Race to London.

A week off for Bautista Agut will come in handy as he will need to pour all his energy into the Basel Indoors, where he looks to take back his spot in the eight.

KEY STATS:

The Spaniard - who relies heavily on his baseline game - needs to get into rallies to win matches. 

He is currently ranked eighth on the tour for second serve return points won at 53.9%. 

Bautista Agut also has a handy 23- 10 record on hardcourts this year, and Stats Insider has ranked him accordingly at number thirteen on the surface. In the Indoor tournaments he has a 4-3 advantage.

David Goffin

ATP Race to London Rank: 10th

Points: 2325 (+90)

Next Tournament: Antwerp European Open.

Goffins consistent results are keeping him in striking distance of the top eight.  If Goffin had of taken his chances at Shanghai against Federer where he had set points in the first set, the leaderboard could have looked very different this week.

Back in the homeland Belgium for Goffin this week. The tournaments second seed will have a bye first up before a potential quarter final match against Guido Pella, where he holds a strong 4-1 advantage. Goffin should take care of business before a showdown against another Argentinian, Diego Schwartzman or the comeback king Andy Murray. Goffin also holds a strong 4-1 record over Diego, and will be wanting Murray to get bounced early as the Brit holds a devastating 6-0 head to head record! In these six matches, Goffin has not even won a set, let alone forced a tiebreaker.  

The home crowd will be behind Goffin and I am predicting he makes his first final at the event.

KEY STATS:

Goffin holds a shocking 1-8 record against top ten players in 2019. Over the past 52 weeks Goffin goes into the Indoor swing with a 5-5 record.

Stats Insider's World Rankings has Goffin ranked 13th overall, but only the 16th ranked player on hardcourts. Goffin has a 18-14 record on the hardcourts this year.

Fabio Fognini

ATP Race to London Rank: 11th

Points: 2235 (+180)

Next Tournament: Intrum Stockholm Open

Fognini has grinded his way into ATP finals contention with another solid result in Shanghai. After a fiery encounter with Andy Murray and a big win over Khachanov, the Italians run was cut short by the eventual champion Daniil Medvedev. 

Fognini is the number one seed in Stockholm where a big quarter final against Reilley Opelka should be waiting. Fognini will be looking for revenge after Opelka won their only meeting at the US Open this year.

If Fognini can get past Opelka, a semi final against Fernando Verdasco or Denis Shapovalov looms likely. Both opponents hold an advantage over Fognini which is why I cant see the number one seed making the final.

KEY STATS: 

Stats Insider's World Rankings has Fognini currently ranked as the 20th best player in the world on hard court which is slowly creeping up to his clay court ranking of 11.

Coming into the indoor matches Fognini has a 3-3 record over the past 52 weeks.

Kei Nishikori

ATP Race to London Rank: 12th

Points: 2180

Next Tournament: Vienna Erste Bank Open

Nishikori’s shot at a top eight finish has taken a tumble after sustaining an arm/elbow injury which has bothered him since the French Open. The time off will help him recover before playing Vienna, where he lost the final to Kevin Anderson in 2018.

KEY STATS:

Nishikori holds a stunning 14-3 record in indoor events over the past 52 weeks.

When getting a look at a second serve Nishikori is winning 54.1% of points, placing him fifth on the ATP tour.

STILL A SNEAKY CHANCE:

GAEL MONFILS

ATP Race To London Rank: 13th

Points: 2170

DIEGO SCHWARTZMAN

ATP Race To London Rank:14th  

Points: 1860

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