LONDON – The eight-player singles field for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is set. Following results on Friday at the BNP Paribas Masters, Dominic Thiem clinches the final spot at the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
The 23-year-old Thiem will make his debut at The O2 and is the first Austrian singles player to qualify for the event since former World No. 1 Thomas Muster in 1997.
Eight different countries will be represented as Thiem joins four-time defending champion and 2008 titlist Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Andy Murray of Great Britain, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland, Kei Nishikori of Japan, Milos Raonic of Canada, fellow debutant Gael Monfils of France and Marin Cilic of Croatia.
“I’m so happy to have made it to London, also thanks to Andy and Milos who helped me out,” said Thiem. “It’s been a dream since my childhood to qualify for the ATP Finals. In the past two years it became a goal and to achieve it at such a young age it is amazing, 20 years after the only other Austrian player. It’s going to be a great experience to compete against the best players in the world. I look forward to spending a week with them in London.”
Thiem enjoyed an incredible first six months of the season, winning four ATP World Tour titles on three different surfaces: on clay at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (d. Almagro) and the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur (d. Zverev); on hard court at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel (d. Tomic); and on grass at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart (d. Kohlschreiber).
He broke into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings after reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic) and also finished runner-up at the BMW Open by FWU AG in Munich (l. to Kohlschreiber) and the Moselle Open in Metz (l. to Pouille) – where he reached his first indoor final.
The eight-team doubles field was also finalised on Thursday, with Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi set to make their team debut at The O2 after clinching the eighth spot. They will join Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez, Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram and Henri Kontinen/John Peers.
ATP Executive Chairman & President, Chris Kermode, said, “We look forward to welcoming the best eight qualified singles players and doubles teams of the year back to The O2 for another spectacular season-ending tournament. These players have all had outstanding seasons and fully deserve their place at our season finale. And with the year-end No.1 ranking still on the line in both singles and doubles, the stakes are as high as ever ahead of this year’s event.”
2016 DRAW CEREMONY:
The draw for the 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be made on Monday, 7 November, at 3pm GMT. The draw will be hosted by TV presenter, Rob Curling, and will be streamed live through ATPWorldTour.com. Fans will be able to watch online and hear from the players joining via Skype.
2016 GROUP NAMES:
The Finals Club, an initiative launched by the ATP in 2015 as a way of celebrating the past champions and heritage of the season-ending tournament since its inception in 1970, will this year honour players from the 1980s. As such, the group names for singles and doubles will honour players who enjoyed remarkable success at the season finale during that decade:
In singles:
– Group A will be named in honour of John McEnroe, the 1978, 1983-84 winner
– Group B will be named in honour of Ivan Lendl, who won five titles from nine straight finals (1980-1988)
In doubles:
– Group A will be named in honour of Fleming/McEnroe, who won seven straight titles (1978-84)
– Group B will be named in honour of Edberg/Jarryd, who won the 1985-86 titles
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018.
