London; Raven Klaasen is quietly confident ahead of arguably the biggest tennis week of his life. The South African doubles specialist together with American, Rajeev Ram qualified in 7th position for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to be played in London this week. It will be a debutant appearance in London for Klaasen and Ram.
The world’s top 8 singles players and doubles teams battle out in London at the iconic O2 Arena on the River Thames for year-end glory from 13-20 November..
“This is the real deal and pinnacle of our sport and the best of the best are here” said Klaasen. “Each of our round robin group matches in their own way are like playing a final, and Rajeev and I will have to dig deep and keep composed throughout. “
Klaasen and Ram have been drawn into a four team group which includes top seeds Pierre-Hugeus Herbert and Nicolas Mahut both of France who are looking to finish as year-end no 1 team. Herbert and Mahut won the Wimbledon title this year.
Joining them are Roland Garros champions, fourth seeded Spaniards, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez plus Henri Kontinen (Finland) and John Peers (Australia) who are the form team just having recently won in Paris and who are also making their London debut.
The South African/American duo open up their campaign on Monday against Herbert and Mahut a team they have not beaten but were close to beating in the finals of the Miami Masters earlier this year. “We have to be on point in our opening match but feel confident we can start well against Herbert and Mahut” said Klaasen. “We were close to beating them in Miami so have a good idea of what we need to do on Monday.”
In the second group, world number 2 pair Jamie Murray (Great Britain) and Bruno Soares (Brazil) are favourites ahead of the third seeded American twin brothers, Bob and Mike Bryan who are going for their fifth title in London. Joining them are Ivan Dodig (Croatia) / Marcelo Melo (Brazil) with the fourth team being debutant, Treat Huey of Philippines partnering veteran Max Myrni of Belarus who is making his 10th appearance in London.
Jaimie Murray, the younger brother of new world number one singles player Andy Murray with Soares will battle Herbert/Mahut for year-end No. 1.
Klaasen and Ram arrived in London a week ago and have been hard at work preparing for the ATP Finals.
“I feel good about our preparation and ready to go out and give our best” said Klaasen.
