As a preview of 2018, Baseline is taking a look at all the Top 10 finishers from the ATP and WTA.

See No. 8 here.

7

David Goffin shined this fall, with back-to-back tournament wins in Shenzhen and Tokyo—then came the year-end championships and the Davis Cup final.

Moment of the Year

After everyone had already penciled Roger Federer into the championship match of the ATP Finals, Goffin came back after losing the first set of the semifinal to stun Federer 6-3 and 6-4 in the next two sets.

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He also took out Rafael Nadal in round-robin play, but lost twice to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov. Goffin then won all six of his sets in the Davis Cup final against France, but the rest of his team couldn't get the job done, losing in a final for the second time in three years.

Hot Shot of the Year

Normally, after getting lobbed by Nadal, a player would be inclined to give up. But Goffin instead sprinted back to the baseline while doing a 360 to rip this backhand winner:

Outlook for 2018

While Goffin's ceiling probably isn't as high Dimitrov's or Dominic Thiem's, he's perfectly capable of continuing to rack up deep runs and beat the player's he's supposed to beat. Expect him to do damage into week two of all the Slams.