When the ATP World Tour chiefs -- in London, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Monte Carlo and Sydney -- got together for their 2014 preseason conference call, this is exactly what they would have hoped for:
A six-man free-for-all in Paris at the BNP Paribas Masters (ESPN3, starting daily at 6 a.m. EST), with players scuffling for four spots in the Nov. 16-23 year-end championships in London.
That's a lot of moving parts, with a lot at stake.
The last time it was this chaotic? A dozen years ago when there were 12 guys playing for six qualifying slots. Ultimately, Lleyton Hewitt beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the five-set championship final; a slender, 21-year-old kid from Switzerland lost to Hewitt in the Shanghai semifinals.
Which brings us to the subtext of this mad scramble in Paris: The aforementioned kid is now a 33-year-old father of four. But, incredibly, Roger Federer has a legitimate chance to catch Novak Djokovic and snag the No. 1 ranking for the first time in five years.
Things were already squirrely, but when No. 3-ranked Rafael Nadal bailed from Paris and London to end an injury-plagued season with an appendectomy, it really opened up for the rest of the field.
With four days to play here's precisely what our six-pack of contenders for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals need to do as they contemplate the critical matches that could deliver them to the quarterfinals in Paris:
• Andy Murray: He's got the easiest path to his hometown tournament, thanks to a torrid stretch of play after the US Open. Murray played his 21st match in five weeks Wednesday, beating Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4. Murray's 19-2 in that stretch and faces Grigor Dimitrov (see below) in a third-round match that could, with a win, guarantee him a spot in London.
"The other guys behind me will need to play extremely well in Paris to knock me out," Murray said after winning the title Sunday in Valencia. "So I've done everything I could."
The Scot saved five match points in the Spanish final against Tommy Robredo in a match that ran 200 minutes -- the longest ATP best-of-three this year.
• Kei Nishikori: The 24-year-old is trying to make history. He'll be the first Asian-born player to qualify for the year-end tournament if he can reach the semifinals in Paris. Nishikori defeated Robredo 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3 in a second-round match Wednesday night.
• Tomas Berdych: The Czech star is trying to qualify for the fifth straight year and is in reasonable position to do it. He likes Paris, winning the title in 2005, and on Tuesday defeated French wild card Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-2. He'll meet Feliciano Lopez, a straight-sets winner over Sam Querrey, in a third-round match Thursday. He, too, needs a semifinal appearance to lock down a spot.
• David Ferrer: At the 32, the Spaniard has slipped in the rankings, but he can still imagine a scenario in which he qualifies for his sixth consecutive year. He won Paris in 2012 and was runner-up a year ago to Djokovic, but Ferrer was stretched against David Goffin on Wednesday. He won 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Next up: countryman Fernando Verdasco. Ferrer needs to reach the final to advance to London.
• Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov: These are the long shots. One of them could be the first player born in the '90s to qualify, but each must win this tournament to qualify for London and neither has an ATP Masters title to his credit. On Wednesday, Raonic beat Jack Sock 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (4) to set up a third-round match with Roberto Bautista Agut.
"It's very important in the sense of just getting my teeth into this tournament, giving myself another chance," Raonic said afterward. "I know I'm going to have to play better."
Dimitrov also took care of business, ousting Pablo Cuevas 6-0, 6-3. He has the unenviable, and possibly game-ending, task of playing Murray in the next round.
Meanwhile, Djokovic eased into the third round Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over tricky Philipp Kohlschreiber. Federer, though, struggled against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on Wednesday. The Swiss champion escaped, winning a match that went over two-and-a-half, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-4.
"The goal to finish as No. 1 of the world -- of course, it's a big objective," Djokovic said Monday. "Roger, he's coming very close in the rankings, and I'm sure he's going to be very motivated to fight for No. 1
"I never signed him out, ruled him out. I always thought he's one of the best players in the world. I don't think that age is an issue for him. He keeps on proving [to] everybody that he deserves to be there."