 Welcome back to Tennis Talk, my name's Kaon Williams and the ATB finals groups have been announced and they've been picked And we've got some very interesting matchups on the way in the round robin stage Some very big matchups between players that have never played before and some players that are in some great form as well Let's go to the groups now and see who is in the green and the red group for Turin. Dada with Djokovic's group Who is he gonna play? He's playing City Pass, Rubelev and Rood. So a nice little group there for Djokovic Never played against Rubelev as we'll see in a second and also has a good record against the other two guys So no back Djokovic fans be excited because his group is very very winnable and then the other group The group of death is the red group. It's Daniel Medvedev, Sasha Zverev, Baratini in her catch and I'll tell you what anybody could get out of that, her catch, Baratini Any of those guys could actually get through to the semi-final stage. So let's start with the world number one He is the top of his group. He has won this title a bunch of times last time He won this was actually six years ago. So back in 2015 was the last time he actually won this event But here are the records against the players in his group 6-2 against City Pass So very confident there that he should win that match. He's never played against Rubelev Which would be an interesting match up but Rubelev right now is not in very good form and against Rood Who is his first round opponent or his first match of the tournament. He has a 1-0 record against So he'll be liking his chances against everybody in his group. If he does make it to the semi-finals He'll be playing one of these guys Mevedev who has a 6-4 record against and just beat him in the Paris final Against Varev, he's 7-3 with their last match being played at the US Open, a five-set epic Baratini never lost to him 4-0 and he's 3-0 against her catch with their last meeting happening at the Paris indoors So Djokovic if he does get through his group He'll probably want to avoid Mevedev who he could finish second in the group Mevedev and play Djokovic If Djokovic does finish first, but there are a few opponents that he would definitely rather play if he does get to the semi-final stage Second person in Djokovic's group is Siddi Pass who is coming in with a bit of an injury So injury cloud for Siddi Pass best result here was winning this tournament back in 2019 And he has a bad record against Djokovic We just saw that 2-6 has a winning record against Rubelev Which might be the tiebreaker to see who actually finishes behind Djokovic in this group four wins three losses He's won one against Rude, but most of that was a clay court event So he hasn't lost to Rude on a hard court and then against the other group Mevedev He has a 2-6 record against against Vera, but he's actually got a good record 6-3 So if they play in the semi-finals, he'd be liking his chance against Sasha, 2-0 against Baratini and 6-2 against her catch So if Siddi Pass is to get through this group He'll be liking his chances in the semi-finals as long as he avoids Mevedev because the other guys He has a pretty decent record against Having a look at Rubelev now and last year was his debut in this tournament Only got to the round robin stage didn't get through that tournament But you know maybe this year he has some decent records against some players in his group Never played Djokovic as we mentioned has a 50-50 record against Siddi Pass three wins four losses And he has never lost to Rude in the four times that they've played So he can probably beat Rude, don't know what happens with Djokovic But the Siddi Pass match as I said that might be the tiebreaker if he can win that match He might be able to get to the semi-finals, but recent form Rubelev He's been in lots of trouble So let's see if he can regain some form as quickly in this tournament If he does get to the semi-finals He has to play somebody that he has a losing record against because he has a terrible record against everybody in the other group 1-4 against Mevedev, 0-5 against Veraev, 2-3 against Baratini and 0-2 against her catch So if he is to make it to the semi-finals He will probably want to play Baratini, but unfortunately for Rubelev his record does not really favour him against the other group Which he's going to have to inevitably play if he does make the semis And the final player in the green group is Kasper Rude Who's making his debut at this tournament And his record isn't great against these guys, especially on the hardcourts Because he's more of a claycourd guy And that's how he got all his wins and all his titles this year Getting into this tournament through the claycourts seasons And you can see there, 0-1 against Djokovic, 1-1 against SiddiPas and 0-4 against Rubelev So hey look, Rude might be able to win a match, maybe against SiddiPas I doubt he's going to beat Djokovic and Rubelev seems to have the wood over him But maybe against SiddiPas, maybe he can get his first win there And who knows, SiddiPas is a little bit injured coming into this tournament Might give Rude a chance Against the other group, if Rude was to get to the semis His record doesn't much improve, 0-2 against both Mevedev and Veraev 2-2 against Baratini, which is interesting And he's never played hercatch So Rude, you know, unfortunately I think he might be the guy who's just making up the numbers in this tournament As there always seems to be one guy in the ATB finals who just sort of makes up the numbers But he might be able to sneak a win against someone like SiddiPas if Steph is not 100% Let's go to the other group now, this is the red group And the red group spells blood And when I say blood, I mean death Because this is the group of death We have Mevedev, the number 2 in the world He won this tournament last year, he's the defending champion And he has a terrible group He has a lot of players that he's going to have to beat That have got pretty good records against him Veraev, 5-5 is their head-to-head They actually played in Paris a couple of weeks ago So Mevedev will like his chances against Veraev, I guess Because of that win a couple of weeks ago 2-0 against Baratini, so he doesn't mind that But hercatch, that is the danger man for Mevedev They played a couple of matches this year And it's been very tight 5-set match at Wimbledon And a 3-set match leading into the US Open So hercatch is the danger man And Veraev is 100% feeling better Because, let's be honest, Veraev wasn't 100% Against Mevedev 2 weeks ago That could be interesting too So Mevedev, he's got to play his best If he's going to get out of this group alive If he plays the other group in the semi-finals 4-6 against Djokovic 6-2 against City Pass 4-1 against Rublev And 2-0 against Rud So if he avoids Djokovic in the semis Mevedev will be liking his chances of making the final Especially if he plays someone like A City Pass Or Rublev Which is probably the players that we'd expect him to play If he does in fact make that semi Let's get to the second player in the group of death It is Sasha Zverev He won this tournament back in 2018 And we just talked about the Mevedev matchup 5 wins, 5 losses And Zverev will want to turn around that Paris loss A couple of weeks ago He's got a 3-1 record against Baratini Which is pretty good And hercatch only played the one time But he got the wins So Zverev He'll be liking his chances against the other guys Mevedev not so much But against Baratini And against hercatch Definitely be liking his chances If he does make the semi-finals this year He will hopefully avoid Djokovic Because he has a 3-7 record against Nole 3-6 against City Pass Rublev he's got a 5-0 record against So that's a good win if he can get it And 2-0 against Rud So Zverev does have a good draw If he can get through maybe Baratini and hercatch Maybe make the semi-finals And avoid Djokovic He could maybe go on and steal this title Let's talk about Baratini He got to the round-robin stage here 2 years ago And unfortunately didn't play great I think he might have won one match But he didn't do great overall in that tournament Hoping to do a lot better And he's in a better group this time Unfortunately though His record doesn't really speak volumes 0-2 against both Mevedev and Zverev 1-1 against hercatch But look Hasn't played them that much He can still get the wins over those guys Hercatch will be the tough one But he could maybe sneak a win against Mevedev or Zverev Yeah, don't count Baratini out Also, if he does make the semi-finals His record against the other guys in the other group are not great 0-4 against Djokovic 0-2 against Sinti Pass 3-1 against Rublev And 2-2 against Rud So if he does want to play in the semi-finals He probably won't want to play against Rublev If he can help it But look Baratini, I feel like this time around He's going to be a lot more competitive than he was In the first edition of his debut Back in 2019 And the final player in this group of death The red group is Hubey Hercatch And he might be the most dangerous player In the entire competition Because it's his debut So it's his first time playing in these events Nothing to lose He's in great form as well Don't forget to mention that he did make the semi-finals Of Paris Lost to Djokovic Almost beaten Ole last week Against his group though He has a pretty decent record 1-1 against Mevedev He has a losing record against Zverev But they've only played the once And 1-1 against Baratini So Hercatch He could definitely win 2 of those 3 matches And make it to the semi-finals So definitely the dark horse in the event For me And we've had random champions win this at the In the last 4-5 years So who knows? Maybe Hercatch Is the random champion for 2021 If he does win though And get to the semi-finals He's going to have to play one of these guys Djokovic He has a 0-3 record against But it seems like The last couple of matches they've played He has started to get some Especially the match a couple of weeks ago Is starting to get into those Djokovic matches 2-6 against Sinti Pass That's a pretty poor record So he'll want to avoid Steff 2-1 against Rublev And 0-0 against Rudd So look Hercatch for me Dark horse Watch out for him He could win the whole thing He could lose in the first round And not lose all these matches But also I just think he's going to be a very Difficult customer For the players that are in his group And from the semi-finals onwards He's going to be tough If he does make it out of the group No one wants to play Hercatch At this event So there you have it The ATV finals for 2021 And let me know down in the comments below Who do you think is going to win this event? We've got Djokovic He's probably going to be the favourite With Medvedev close behind But I keep pumping up Who be Hercatch Because for good reason He is dangerous He is very dangerous He could beat anybody in his group And we saw last week He can almost beat anybody in the world He nearly beat Djokovic The tiebreaker in the third set We might get another match like that If they cross paths Let me know down in the comments below Who do you think is going to win? I'm going to go with Djokovic to win Just because it's the easy pick But I don't I'm not picking it with any confidence I wouldn't be surprised if Medvedev goes back to back Because Veraov could lift At the last part of the season Hercatch could come out of nowhere Rublev could catch fire for all I know So let me know down in the comments below Who do you think is going to win? So the ATV finals The groups are set And we're ready to go in a couple of days