SWISS INDOORS BASEL: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, October 24, 2016 St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland | October 24-30, 2016 Draw: S-32, D-16 | Prize Money: €1,701,320 | Surface: Indoor Hard ATP World Tour Info Tournament Info ATP PR & Marketing www.ATPWorldTour.com www.swissindoorsbasel.ch Fabienne Benoit: [email protected] Twitter: @ATPWorldTour Twitter: @_Swiss_Indoors Edward La Cava: [email protected] Facebook: @ATPWorldTour Facebook: @SwissIndoorsBasel Press Room: + 41 61 3196977 SWISS INDOORS BASEL TALKING POINTS • TOURNAMENT PREVIEW: Eight of the Top 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings head to St. Jakobshalle for the Swiss Indoors Basel, now in its eighth year as an ATP 500 tournament. The field is led by top Swiss and World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka. The other seeds are: No. 2 Milos Raonic, No. 3 Kei Nishikori, No. 4 Marin Cilic, No. 5 David Goffin, No. 6 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 7 Richard Gasquet and No. 8 Jack Sock. The only former champion in the draw is 2012-13 winner Juan Martin del Potro, who arrives after ending a 33-month title drought in Stockholm last week. Basel native and seven-time champion Roger Federer will not be in the draw for the first time since 2005 due to a knee injury. Federer, the 2015 champion (d. Nadal), has a 61-9 career record in Basel and had reached the past 10 finals (12 overall: 2000-01, 2006-15). EMIRATES ATP RACE TO LONDON UPDATE: There are three spots available for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (Nov. 13-20), and 14 of the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Race to London are in action – seven in Basel, seven at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. Tomas Berdych currently holds the eighth and final Emirates ATP Race to London qualifying spot. The Czech, who plays in Vienna this week, leads Basel seeds David Goffin by 220 points and Marin Cilic by 290 points. STAN THE MAN: Stan Wawrinka comes in as the top seed in Basel for the first time in his 13th appearance (9- 12 record). The 31-year-old Swiss native is 4-1 in finals this season, winning his third Grand Slam crown at the US Open. He comes in with a 43-14 match record on the season, and has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London for the third straight year. Wawrinka’s best results in Basel came in 2006 and ’11 when he advanced to the semi-finals. He is looking to break a four-match 1R losing streak in Basel. He opens in the 1R against wild card and countryman Marco Chiudinelli, the oldest player in the draw, who reached the semi-finals in 2009. DEL POTRO’S RETURN: Wild card Juan Martin del Potro is playing in Basel for the first time since winning the title in 2013. He also captured the title the previous year (d. Federer both times). He has a 10-match winning streak in Basel, and 16-3 career record. The 28-year-old Argentine appeared in Sunday’s final in Stockholm (d. Sock), earning his first ATP World Tour title since January 2014 in Sydney. This season he has compiled a 28-14 match record and he is projected to break the Top 50 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday for the first time since Oct. 20, 2014 (at No. 29). He ranked as low as No. 1,045 on Feb. 8. This summer he reached the quarter- finals at the US Open (l. to eventual champ Wawrinka) and earned a silver medal at the Rio Olympics (d. No. 1 Djokovic in 1R, No. 5 Nadal in SF, l. to Murray). He also helped his country to the Davis Cup final by beating No. 2 Murray in five sets in the semi-finals. GOFFIN EYES LONDON: David Goffin is not only looking to become the first Belgian to reach the Top 10 in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings (since Aug. 23, 1973) but also become the first Belgian to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. He is No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, 220 points behind Tomas Berdych, who holds the eighth and final position. The 25-year-old from Liege has not won an ATP World Tour title this season, but has reached the final at the 500 level event in Tokyo (l. to Kyrgios) and advanced to the semi-finals at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. He is coming off a semi-final on home soil in Antwerp (l. to Schwartzman) and has won a personal-best 47 matches this season. Swiss Indoors Basel Day 1 – Monday, October 24, 2016 Page 2 of 8 www.ATPWorldTour.com CILIC LOOKS TO RALLY: Marin Cilic is 290 points behind Berdych, who holds the final spot in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Cilic is a two-time quarter-finalist (2009, 2015) in Basel. Two years ago Cilic qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and he went 0-3 in round robin play. TOP 10 DOUBLES TEAMS: Five of the Top 10 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings (as of October 17) are in the draw, led by top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, who are the No. 9 team in the Emirates ATP Race to London. The other Top 10 ranked teams in Basel are: No. 6 Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, No. 7 Henri Kontinen and John Peers, No. 8 Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi, and No. 10 Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who won Sunday’s Moscow final (d. Knowle/Melzer). • DAY 1 PREVIEW: Four singles and two doubles matches comprise the men’s schedule on Monday at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The singles action begins on Court 2, where Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov takes on Federico Delbonis of Argentina. Following the opening ceremony, 2011 finalist and No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori, one of three players in the field to have already booked his spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, faces Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic before Marin Cilic, chasing a place among the eight qualifiers for London, faces a tricky 10th encounter with Mikhail Youzhny, who has won five of the past nine against the Croatian. This is their first meeting since 2013. Back on Court 2, Delbonis returns to partner fellow Argentine Guido Pella against top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, also in the hunt for London. Then Illya Marchenko takes on qualifier Donald Young for the chance to face either top seed Stan Wawrinka or wild card Marco Chiudinelli in the second round. Swiss Indoors Basel Day 1 – Monday, October 24, 2016 Page 3 of 8 www.ATPWorldTour.com EMIRATES ATP RACE TO LONDON (Updated Entering Monday’s Matches) Position Player Points Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 1 Novak Djokovic* 10,600 27-10: 5 titles in 9 appearances (2008, 2012-15) 2 Andy Murray* 9,685 11-11: 3 SFs in 7 appearances (2008, 2010, 2012) 3 Stan Wawrinka* 5,060 6-6: 2013-15 Semi-finalist 4 Milos Raonic* 4,690 0-2: 2014 Round Robin 5 Kei Nishikori* 4,360 3-4: 2014 Semi-finalist, 2015 Round Robin 6 Gael Monfils 3,625 Never Qualified 7 Rafael Nadal 3,300 16-12: 2 finals in 7 appearances (2010, 2013) 8 Dominic Thiem 3,205 Never Qualified _ 9 Tomas Berdych 2,880 6-13: 2011 Semi-finalist; 2010, 2012-15 Round Robin 10 David Goffin 2,660 Never Qualified 11 Marin Cilic 2,590 0-3: 2014 Round Robin 12 Nick Kyrgios 2,460 Never Qualified 13 Roberto Bautista Agut 2,340 Never Qualified 14 Roger Federer 2,130 52-12: 6 titles in 14 apps. (2003-04, 2006-07, 2010-11) 15 Lucas Pouille 2,106 Never Qualified 16 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,070 4-7: 2011 Runner-up; 2008, 2012 Round Robin Key Bold: Player competing at Swiss Indoors Basel Italics: Won’t compete again until 2017 * Qualified for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (3 spots remain) EMIRATES ATP DOUBLES RACE TO LONDON (Updated Entering Monday’s Matches) Position Team Points Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 1 Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut* 7,225 1-2: 2015 Round Robin 2 Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares* 7,070 Never Qualified as a Team 3 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan* 6,070 35-20: 4 titles in 13 apps. (2003-04, 2009, 2014) 4 Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez* 4,170 Never Qualified as a Team 5 Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo* 4,130 8-5: 2014 Finalists; 2013, 2015 Semi-finalists 6 Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram 3,600 Never Qualified as a Team 7 Henri Kontinen/John Peers 3,310 Never Qualified as a Team 8 Treat Huey/Max Mirnyi 3,065 Never Qualified as a Team _ 9 Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau 2,680 5-3: 2015 Champions, 2014 Round Robin 10 Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah 2,570 Never Qualified as a Team 11 Oliver Marach/Fabrice Martin 2,195 Never Qualified as a Team 12 Pablo Cuevas/Marcel Granollers 2,190 Never Qualified as a Team 13 Julien Benneteau/Edouard Roger-Vasselin 2,190 2-2: 2014 Semi-finalists 14 Mate Pavic/Michael Venus 2,140 Never Qualified as a Team 15 Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea 2,100 3-2: 2015 Finalists 16 Vasek Pospisil/Jack Sock 2,010 Never Qualified as a Team Key Bold: Team competing at Swiss Indoors Basel * Qualified for Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (3 spots remain) Swiss Indoors Basel Day 1 – Monday, October 24, 2016 Page 4 of 8 www.ATPWorldTour.com EMIRATES ATP RANKING POINTS AND PRIZE MONEY Swiss Indoors Basel W F SF QF R16 R32 Singles Ranking Points 500 300 180 90 45 0 Singles Prize Money (€) 387,100 181,800 90,270 45,135 22,870 12,035 Doubles Ranking Points 500 300 180 90 0 --- Doubles Prize Money (€) 114,100 53,900 26,020 13,530 7,080 WHO TO WATCH THIS WEEK SINGLES SEED PLAYER W-L BEST FINISH 1 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 9-12 2006, 2011 Semi-finalist 2 Milos Raonic (CAN) 2-1 2014 Quarter-finalist 3 Kei Nishikori (JPN) 5-2 2011 Finalist 4 Marin Cilic (CRO) 5-3 2009, 2015 Quarter-finalist 5 David Goffin (BEL) 6-2 2014 Finalist 6 Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 7-4 2012-14 Quarter-finalist 7 Richard Gasquet (FRA) 10-5 2012, 2015 Semi-finalist 8 Jack Sock (USA) 3-1 2015 Semi-finalist QUALIFIERS (4) OLDEST PLAYER YOUNGEST PLAYER Ricardas Berankis (LTU) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) Taylor Fritz (USA) Robin Haase (NED) 35 years, 1 month 18 years, 11 months* Donald Young (USA) (Birthday October 28) Mischa Zverev (GER) WILD CARDS