ATP World Tour Finals is one of the most awaited tennis tournaments of the year after all four Grand Slams. It is a year ending tournament which is played between 8 of the best tennis players and 8 of the best tennis pairs in men’s tennis and hence the eagerness to watch and quality of tennis is always high. Let us know more about this fantastic tennis tournament.
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All You Want to Know About ATP World Tour Finals
Basic Details about ATP World Tour Finals
Tournament Name: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
Founded in: 1970
Current Location: London (for the period of 2009 – 2015)
Venue: The O2 Arena, London
Category: World Tour Finals
Surface: Hard Court / Indoor
Draw: 8 singles / 8 Doubles
Total Prize Money: US$ 6, 000,000
Current Champion (Singles): Novak Djokovic
Current Champions (Doubles): David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco
Official Website: barclaysatpworldtourfinals.com
History of ATP World Tour Finals
Although this tournament was founded in the year 1970 and it was originally known as the Masters Grand Prix, it was only known as a year ending showpiece tournament with no ranking given for the winners of the tournament. The International Lawn Tennis Federation used to govern the tournament. In 1990 when the Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP took over the management of the men’s tennis, they replaced the Masters Grand Prix with ATP Tour World Championship and over here the rankings were awarded as well, hence it became popular not amongst the fans but also among the players as well.
But then ITF who governs the grand slams started a rival competition as Grand Slam Cup which was contested by 16 players compared to 8 for ATP Tour World Championship. In 1999 both ATP and ITF came to a compromise and decided to have a single year ending tournament. In 2009 the tournament name was changed to ATP World Tour Series and it was decided that it will be played at London’s O2 Arena till 2013. Later it was extended to two more years.
Format of the ATP World Tour Finals
Normally this tournament has the top 8 ATP ranked players but the No. 8 player in the list has no guarantee to have a confirm participation in the tournament. If a player has won any one grand slam during the year but not in top 8 but is in top 20 then that player will be preferred to the player who is at No.8 in the ATP Rankings but has not won any grand slam of that year. If there are two players who are not in top 8 but are in top 20 and have also won a grand slam each then the higher ranked player gets qualified.
Unlike the grand slams, the ATP World Tour Finals is not an out and out knock out tournament. Over here 8 players are distributed in two groups where they play against each other once. So out of three games each the top 2 players from each group advance to the semi finals and winners of the semis advance to the finals.
Roger Federer is the most successful player in this tournament by winning 6 singles titles. In doubles the pair of Peter Fleming and John McEnroe have won 7 titles which are the most.
