By Chris Oddo | Monday November 7, 2016
The ATP World Tour Finals group pairings were drawn on Monday in London, with Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic leading their respective groups. Murray will be the top seed in the John McEnroe Group, which also included Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic.
With Djokovic trailing new World No.1 Murray by just 405 heading into the year-end championships, and 1500 points on the line, the race for year-end No.1 is most certainly destined to heat up. Djokovic was handed a very favorable draw to work with and he could find himself reaching the semis with an unblemished record. Murray's group presents more of a challenge, as the Scotsman has lost a total of 12 matches to his group, including seven to the always dangerous Stan Wawrinka.
Here are the respective head-to-head records of each against the other:
Murray 27-12 vs. Group (9-7 vs. Wawrinka, 11-4 vs. Cilic, 7-2 vs. Nishikori)
Wawrinka 21-13 vs. Group (7-9 vs. Murray, 10-2 vs. Cilic, 4-2 vs. Nishikori)
Cilic 11-28 vs. Group (5-7 vs. Nishikori, 4-11 vs. Murray, 2-10 vs. Wawrinka)
Nishikori 11-16 vs. Group (2-7 vs. Murray, 2-4 vs. Wawrinka, 7-5 vs. Cilic)
Djokovic will lead the Ivan Lendl Group, which includes Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem. Djokovic has quite a favorable draw here, as he has never lost to any of the players in his group and he will benefit from experience against two ATP Finals debutants and the relatively inexperienced Raonic. Here are how the head-to-heads shape up for this group:
Djokovic 23-0 vs. Group (13-0 vs. Monfils, 7-0 vs. Raonic, 3-0 vs. Thiem)
Monfils 3-16 vs. Group (0-13 vs. Djokovic, 3-2 vs. Raonic, 0-1 vs. Thiem)
Raonic 3-10 vs. Group (0-7 vs. Djokovic, 2-3 vs. Monfils, 1-0 vs. Thiem)
Theim 1-5 vs. Group (0-1 vs. Raonic, 0-3 vs. Djokovic, 1-0 vs. Monfils)
Main draw play begins on Sunday in London, with the Ivan Lendl (Djokovic’s) Group kicking things off. Djokovic will meet Dominic Thiem in the first singles match on Sunday at 2 PM London time, following the Bryan Bros vs. Dodig and Melo doubles match. Monfils and Raonic will meet in the second singles match on Sunday, after Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares take on Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi in doubles. Both Group lineups can be found below: