Five to watch in Paris

With Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray battling it out for the right to end the season as world No 1, there are a whole host of names ready to make the step up and challenge for the Paris Masters 1000 title.

Two tennis greats, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer may be missing for the rest of 2016, but there are a bunch of hungry, talented players – in the Top 20 – who could pose a genuine threat to the big two.

Here, we pick out five contenders heading to the French capital with realistic hopes of making progress to the latter stages of the tournament…

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tsonga is enjoying something of an end of season renaissance after reaching his first final of the season at the Erst Bank Open in Vienna where the 15th-ranked Frenchman lost out to Andy Murray.

The 31-year-old suffered a dip in the rankings due to a number of injuries including a muscle strain and an adductor muscle injury which forced him out of the French Open.

The former Australian Open finalist hasn’t won an ATP Tour title since his victory on home soil in Metz last year, although he did reach the Wimbledon and US Open quarter-finals.

But the powerful athlete is back with a bang following his marvellous run in the Austrian capital and the passionate Parisian crowd will be right behind their man. He will be expected to deliver after his heroics in Vienna.

Dominic Thiem

The ninth-ranked Austrian is enjoying a breakthrough year on the circuit and has become a regular name to look out for in the latter stages of tournaments …

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