Preview of The ATP World Tour Finals

During next week, the top eight men's tennis players will come face to face with each other at The London 02 for the right to win the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The players that will be competing in this years tournament is Novak Djorkovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jan Tipsarevic and finally the world No 8 Jo Wilfred Tsonga.

There is a noticeable absentee in this years competition in Rafael Nadal who has unfortunately had to pull out of the ATP World Tour due Finals to a recurrence of a injury to his left knee that has resulted in him having not played since the summer.

There are two groups of four which culminates in each tennis player playing the other three players in their group once. The top two tennis players from the group stage then go through to the semi finals and then the final

The reigning champion Roger Federer has had a mixed year since winning the ATP World Tour Final last November. He qualified for the 2012 edition on 9 July, after lifting a record-equalling seventh Wimbledon title. He will almost certainly be the man to beat as he has already won the competition six times. He still has the hunger to be one of the top players in men's tennis for years to come. Watch out for him as he has the mentality and track record to get his Number One status back.

Novak Djorkovic the current No 1 and 2008 champion and second favourite has qualified for a six successive year. He is another tennis player that you have to watch out for,five years ago he was lock third best tennis player in men's tennis but a remarkable two years has resulted him rising to Number One after winning Wimbledon, Australian Open, Shanghai Masters and various other key Grand Slams. He goes into this tournament full of confidence having beaten Murray in the Masters in Shanghai in October. If he gets the better of Murray during the tournament then he could well be the man to watch.

The third favourite is Great Britain's Andy Murray. He has really come of age over the last five months. He has had rollercoaster of a summer which resulted in him losing to Roger Federer in a close fought Wimbledon Final in July and then beating him emphatically in the Olympic Mens Final to become the first British man since 1908 to win a gold medal.

He also won a silver doubles medal with Laura Robson after losing to Mirinyi -Azarenka . More importantly he won his first Grand Slam by beating Novak Djorkovic in five sets in the US Open Final. This ultimately ended Britain's 76 year wait for a male champion. This will surely be an exciting tournament for Murray he is driven to better his record in this tournament and try his hardest to end the year on a high.

David Ferrer reached the 2007 final (l. to Federer) at Shanghai on his debut at the season-ending championships. The Spaniard has qualified for the circuit finale for the third straight year and fourth time overall.

Tomas Berdych the sixth best men's tennis player has a lot to prove after a year which hasn't gone totally to plan. He has been caught in various grand slams this year and made an untimely first exit at Wimbledon. He will be hoping that he performs well enough to make the semi final which will equal his best performance in the competition since 2011.when he lost to Nadal in the semis.

The Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro has qualified for the season finale on three occasions and for the first time since 2009. He won a bronze medal at the olympics by defeating Novak Djorkovic. At Basel, he beat five-time former titlist Federer in the final of his home town tournament to lift his fourth title of the year.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reached the title match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2011 where he lost to Federer. The Frenchman has qualified for the season finale for the third time since his debut in 2008. He has a 4-4 record at the tournament. It will be interesting to see how her performs because on his day he can be very hard to beat.

Janko Tipsarevic served as an alternate at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2011, replacing Andy Murray for two round robin matches.The Serbian has qualified outright for the season finale for the first time. As a 2011 alternate, he has a 1-1 record at the tournament, which includes a victory over World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Probably not going to get out of the group stage at it's his second tournament but who knows.

We await some mouthwatering and very emotionally charged contests between the top eight and it will be incredibly hard to denote who stands the best chance of glory. But most tennis critics and bookies will have the top three favourites of glory as Novak Djorkovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. The three favourites for glory can't take their opponents lightly as there could be some shocks.