The draw for the Nitto ATP Finals was held yesterday in London.  Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are in the Bjorn Borg group. Rafael Nadal, who pulled out of the Paris Masters due to an abdominal injury intends to play in London, and is in Group Agassi with Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Group Andre Agassi
[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
[4] Daniil Medvedev (RUS)
[6] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE)
[7] Alexander Zverev (GER)

Group Bjorn Borg
[2] Novak Djokovic (SRB)
[3] Roger Federer (SUI)
[5] Dominic Thiem (AUT)
[8] Matteo Berrettini (ITA)

Roberto Bautista Agut and Gael Monfils are first and second alternates. Given Nadal’s health situation, it is likely that Agut will play at some point during the week.

The tournament has a total prize money of $9 million dollars. The ATP Finals moves to Turin, Italy in 2021. 

The courts are expected to be slow (not too slow, it’s actually considered medium fast by some). Roger Federer will have his work cut out if he loses to either Dominic Thiem or Matteo Berrettini. Thiem typically does very well on slow courts and may like the courts at the O2 Arena. Barring any major upsets, Djokovic and Federer should come out on top from Group Bjorn Borg

Group Andre Agassi is more balanced. I am not sure how fit Rafael Nadal is.  But He has never won the ATP Finals and how far he goes depends on how well he feels.  Medvedev has been on a hot run since the summer and is likely to make a deep run here. Sascha Zverev has had a disappointing year by most standards, but he played well enough to get into the Top 8 at the end of the year. But I don’t expect him to make it out of the round-robin group stage. I expect Medvedev and Tsitsipas to come out as winners of this group.

Djokovic starts on Sunday against Berrettini, and Federer plays Thiem.

Cici Bellis will return to tennis next week at the WTA 125K event in Houston.  The former world number 35 has been recovering from four wrist surgeries. She has not played since early 2018.

Bellis has accepted a wild card not in the main draw event but in the qualifying draw.  This shows that she is in the early stages of her full return to tennis.

While she was recuperating from injuries, Bellis started taking classes at Indiana East University, where the WTA will pay for 75% of her tuition.

Other players in Houston include Coco Vandeweghe, who is coming back after a foot injury and Danielle Collins, who recently revealed that she has been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.