The ATP World Tour Finals Groups are set for the doubles. This year, the groups are named after two famous pairs of players. Group A was renamed after Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith, players who made their mark on the tennis world in the late 60s and into the 70s. Group B is named after Peter Fleming and John McEnroe, a doubles team who dominated in the late 70s into the mid-80s.
Group Ashe/Smith contains the Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Jamie Murray/John Peers, Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini, and Rohan Bopanna/Florin Mergea. Group Fleming/McEnroe contains Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, Nicolas Mahut/Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and Marcin Matkowski/Nenad Zimonjic.
Group Ashe/Smith
This group contains the number one team in the Bryan Brothers. However, the Bryans have failed to win a Grand Slam title this year for the first time since 2004. The home favorite pair of Murray and Peers are also in the group. The duo enjoyed a fruitful last season together, making two Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon and the US Open). Murray will be partnering with former world number three in doubles Bruno Soares next year with Peers teaming up with countryman Sam Groth.
Australian Open champions Bolelli and Fognini are the third team in the group with Bopanna and Mergea rounding it out. The team of Bopanna and Mergea qualified on the last day of the Paris Masters thanks to the loss of Jack Sock/Vasek Pospisil in the final.
Group Fleming/McEnroe
This group features three Grand Slam champions this year and a new world number one. Rojer and Tecau won the title at Wimbledon, defeating the home favorites of Murray and Peers. Peers and Murray were also defeated at the US Open by the duo of Mahut and Herbert. Melo became the new doubles number one just a few weeks ago, taking over the Bryan Brothers. He also won the French Open title with Dodig over the Bryans. Matkowski and Zimonjic finished runners-up in two Masters 1000 events this year and made two Grand Slam quarterfinals.