Kontinen/Peers Upstage World No. 1 Murray In London

By John Peers

Our 2016 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has certainly gotten off to a good start. We’ve already beaten new World No. 1 Andy Murray in the all-important “Gong Challenge”.

Standing on centre court, Murray tossed the ball up six times but couldn’t hit the 14-inch gong, which sat about 20 metres away in the stands. (For the record, he was using someone else’s racquet).

My doubles partner, Henri Kontinen, had also tried to peg the gong six times but he, too, couldn’t connect. But I grabbed my Prince racquet, tossed the ball up and hit the gong on my first attempt. I’ll admit, it was luck, but I won’t be testing that theory. I’ve never done it since and won’t be doing it again.

We’re hoping that luck extends to our on-court action this week as we make our team debut at the season-ending championships in London. We’ve had a good run of late, and it’s encouraging to see all of our work from throughout the season paying off now.

Last month, we reached our first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Earlier this month, we won our first Masters 1000 title by beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who are the top seeds in London.

For me this week, it’d be great to improve upon my 2015 finale record, when I was playing with then-partner Jamie Murray. We went 1-2 in the round-robin stage and failed to reach the semi-finals.

But no matter what happens, it’s always fun to be back at The O2. Last year was such a great experience. They put on such a great show for not only the players but also the spectators. As a player you always want to try and strive to make the year-end tournament, which means you’ve had a good year. So to be here is great.

By Henri Kontinen

At 26, I’m the second youngest player in the doubles draw (Herbert, 25) and I’m thrilled to be making my debut at the finale. All the players hyped it throughout the year and said what a great event it is, and to actually be here is a cool experience.

I’m also hoping my luck in England continues. In July, I was fortunate enough to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Brit Heather Watson. I won’t be heading to the All-England Club this week, though. John and I are too focused on doing our best at The O2.

We’re going to take it one match at a time. That’s what we’ve been doing, especially at the back end of this year, and that’s worked out really well.

We also plan to make future return visits to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. When, towards the end of last season, John and I first discussed working together, we both had the long game in mind. We thought it was an exciting chance for us to be able to play together for more than a couple of years and hopefully form a long-standing partnership.

Peers and Kontinen spoke with Jonathon Braden