The ATP World Tour Finals—the season-ending championship of men's tennis—begins on Sunday, November 9 in London. Over the next four days, we'll take a closer look at the seasons put forth so far by the eight singles competitors.
Raonic's rise up the rankings has been incremental over the past couple of years, and until last week, he had never beaten one of tennis’ three great obstacles, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic. He only won one title this season and reached just two other finals. But 2014 was unquestionably a giant leap forward for Raonic. What the statistics and numbers don’t show is how much more assertive and confident the Canadian, who will play the season-ending championships for the first time, has become. He still wins matches with his serve and forehand—as he should—but he does so more consistently, more convincingly, and against better competition. At 23, Raonic is the youngest man in this year’s World Tour Finals. While he didn’t experience a major breakthrough like some of his fellow elite-eighters did this year, for the first time, you can sense that it’s possible.
Raonic saved his best for last, reaching the Paris Masters final with wins over Federer and Tomas Berdych.