ATP Finals | |
---|---|
Tournament information | |
Founded | 1970 |
Location | Turin, Italy (2021–25) |
Venue | Pala Alpitour |
Category | Year-end Championships |
Surface | Hard (indoor) |
Draw | 8 Singles / 8 Doubles |
Prize money | US$15,000,000 (2023) |
Website | nittoatpfinals.com |
Current champions (2023) | |
Singles | Novak Djokovic |
Doubles | Rajeev Ram Joe Salisbury |
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant tennis event in the men's annual calendar after the four majors, as it features the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams based on their results throughout the season. The eighth spot is reserved, if needed, for a player or team who won a major in the current year and is ranked from ninth to twentieth.
The tournament uses a unique format not seen in other ATP Tour events, where the singles players and doubles teams are separated into two groups of four, within which they each play three round-robin matches. After the round-robin stage, the top two performers from each group play in knock-out semifinals and a final to determine the champion(s).
The tournament was first held in 1970, shortly after the beginning of the Open Era. Novak Djokovic holds the record for the most singles titles with seven, while Peter Fleming and John McEnroe jointly hold the record for the most doubles titles with seven (all won consecutively as a team).
In the tournament's current format, the champion can earn a maximum of 1,500 ranking points, if they win the event after going undefeated in the round-robin stage. By winning the 2022 title, Djokovic earned a record $4,740,300, the highest payout for a tournament winner in tennis. [1] Also that year, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury claimed $930,300, the highest payout in doubles history. [2]
The ATP Finals is the fifth iteration of a championship which began in 1970. It was originally known as the Masters Grand Prix and was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. [3] It was organised by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) and ran alongside the competing WCT Finals from 1971 to 1989. The Masters was a year-end showpiece event between the best players on the men's tour, but did not count for any world ranking points.
In 1990, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) took over the running of the men's tour and replaced the Masters with the "ATP Tour World Championships". [3] World ranking points were now at stake, with an undefeated champion earning the same number of points they would earn for winning one of the four Grand Slam events. [4] The ITF, who continued to run the Grand Slam tournaments, created a rival year-end event known as the Grand Slam Cup, which was contested by the 16 players with the best records in the Grand Slam tournaments of the season (1990–99).
In December 1999, the ATP and ITF agreed to discontinue the two separate events and create a new jointly-owned event called the "Tennis Masters Cup". [3] As with the Masters Grand Prix and the ATP Tour World Championships, the Tennis Masters Cup was contested by eight players and teams. However, the player or team ranked number eight in the ATP Race world rankings was not guaranteed a spot: if a player or team won one of the year's majors and finished the year ranked from ninth to twentieth, they were included in the Tennis Masters Cup instead. If two outside the top eight won majors, the higher-ranked of the two in the world rankings took the final spot. This accommodation for major champions continues in the event's current form.
In 2009, the championship was renamed the "ATP World Tour Finals" and was held at The O2 Arena in London. [3] The contract ran through 2013, [5] but was extended multiple times until it was last held there in 2020. [6] [7] [8] In 2017 the event was renamed the "ATP Finals." [3] [9] [10] In April 2019, the ATP announced that Turin would host the ATP Finals from 2021 to 2025. [11]
Years | Championships name |
1970–89 | Masters Grand Prix |
1990–99 | ATP Tour World Championships |
2000–08 | Tennis Masters Cup |
2009–16 | ATP World Tour Finals |
2017– | ATP Finals |
For most of its history, the event has been considered the most important indoor tennis tournament in the world (there were a few exceptions when the event was held outdoors: 1974 in Melbourne & 2003–04 in Houston). The indoor atmosphere allows for controlled conditions of play, both in terms of the court surface and the court's illumination.
In recent years it has been played on indoor hard courts, however, indoor carpet was used in some previous editions. On one occasion, when Melbourne hosted the event in 1974, the grass courts of Kooyong Stadium were used; [12] the tournament was staged only 1–2 weeks before the 1975 Australian Open, which was also played on grass. Apart from 1974, all tournaments have been on a hard court variant, which has prompted calls from some players (such as Rafael Nadal) [13] to feature a greater variety of surfaces, including clay courts. [14] [15]
For many years, the doubles event was held as a separate tournament staged the week after the singles competition, but more recently both events have been held together during the same week and in the same venue.
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in an effort to reduce the number of staff on-site, the ATP introduced live electronic line-calling powered by Hawk-Eye Live. Instead of line umpires, the system detects the relevant movements of the player and where the ball bounces on court. A pre-recorded voice announces "Out", "Fault", and "Foot fault". Also, video review was also introduced for suspected double bounces, touches, and other reviewable calls. [16] [17]
The tournament has traditionally been sponsored by the title sponsor of the tour; however, in 1990–2008 the competition was not sponsored, even though the singles portion of the event, as part of the ATP Tour, was sponsored by IBM. In 2009, the tournament gained Barclays PLC as its title sponsor. [18] Barclays confirmed in 2015 that they would not renew their sponsorship deal once it expires in 2016. [19] On 25 May 2017, it was announced that Nitto Denko would be the main sponsor for the tournament through 2020. [20] In September 2020, Nitto Denko announced it will extend its title partnership of the ATP Finals for another five years, until 2025. [21]
The criteria to qualify for the ATP Finals are as follows:
Two alternates also attend the ATP Finals. If the first alternate has already been selected according to (3) mentioned above, then the second alternate is the highest-ranked player who has not otherwise qualified for the event. If both alternate spots are available, they are awarded to the two highest-ranked players who did not otherwise qualify for the event.
An alternate can replace a player who withdraws before the round-robin stage is over, so long as the player who withdraws still has at least one round-robin match left to play. When an alternate enters the competition, his results are considered separately, i.e. the alternate does not inherit the results of the player he is replacing. If an alternate's round-robin results qualify him for the semifinals, then he may continue into the single-elimination rounds.
Unlike other events on the ATP Tour, the ATP Finals is not a straightforward single-elimination tournament. The eight players and teams are divided into two groups of four and each play three round-robin matches against the others in their group. After the round-robin stage, the top two performers in each group advance to the semifinals in a knock-out stage. The two winners of the semifinals play a final to determine the champion. In this format, it is theoretically possible to advance to the semifinals with two round-robin losses, but no player in the history of the singles tournament has won the title after losing more than one round-robin match.
To create the groups, the eight players and teams are seeded according to rank. The first and second seeds are placed in Group A and Group B, respectively. The remaining seeds are drawn in pairs (third and fourth, fifth and sixth, seventh and eighth); the first of the pair to be drawn goes to Group A and the other to Group B, and so on.
The format described above has been in place for all editions of the tournament except the following years:
Since 2019, the group standings at the end of the round-robin stage are determined by, in order: [22]
If some players are tied, the following tiebreakers are used depending on how many players are tied (two or three):
If two players are tied, then:
If three players are tied, then the following tiebreakers are used, in order, until all three players are no longer tied OR until only two players are tied, at which point the two-player tie is broken by the head-to-head round robin result:
When calculating tiebreakers, a match that ended in a retirement is counted as a 0–2 sets loss for the retiring player and a 2–0 sets win for their opponent, regardless of the actual score when the retirement occurred. When calculating the "Highest % of games won" tiebreaker, a match that ended in a retirement is disregarded.
ATP Finals is the men's premier indoor event of the season, only in three editions it was played outdoors; 1974, 2003 and 2004.
Years [23] | City | Surface | Stadium | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|---|
1970 | Tokyo, Japan | Carpet (i) | Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium [24] | 6,500 |
1971 | Paris, France | Hard (i) | Stade Pierre de Coubertin [25] | 5,000 |
1972 | Barcelona, Spain | Palau Blaugrana [26] | 5,700 | |
1973 | Boston, United States | Boston Garden [27] [28] | 14,900 | |
1974 | Melbourne, Australia | Grass | Kooyong Stadium [29] | 8,500 |
1975 | Stockholm, Sweden | Carpet (i) | Kungliga tennishallen [30] | 6,000 |
1976 | Houston, United States | The Summit [31] | 16,300 | |
1977–1989 | New York City, United States | Madison Square Garden | 18,000 | |
1990–1995 | Frankfurt, Germany | Festhalle Frankfurt | 12,000 | |
1996–1999 | Hanover, Germany [lower-alpha 1] | Carpet (i) Hard (i) | Hanover Fairground | 15,000 |
2000 | Lisbon, Portugal | Hard (i) | Pavilhão Atlântico | 12,000 |
2001 | Sydney, Australia | Sydney Super Dome | 17,500 | |
2002 | Shanghai, China | SNIEC | 10,000 | |
2003–2004 | Houston, United States | Hard | Westside Tennis Club | 5,240 |
2005–2008 | Shanghai, China [lower-alpha 2] | Carpet (i) Hard (i) | Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena | 15,000 |
2009–2020 | London, United Kingdom | Hard (i) | The O2 Arena [32] | 20,000 |
2021–2025 | Turin, Italy | Pala Alpitour [33] | 16,600 |
The 2023 ATP Finals rewarded the following points and prize money, per victory (Doubles' prize money is per team): [34]
Stage | Singles | Doubles | Points |
---|---|---|---|
Final win | $2,201,000 | $351,000 | 500 |
Semi-final win | $1,105,000 | $175,650 | 400 |
Round robin match win | $390,000 | $95,000 | 200 |
Participation fee | 3 matches = $325,500 2 matches = $244,125 1 match = $162,750 | 3 matches = $132,000 2 matches = $99,000 1 match = $66,000 | — |
Alternates | $152,500 | $50,850 | — |
Additional prizes include the ATP Finals trophy and the ATP year-end No. 1 trophy, all made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte. [35] [36]
Singles
| Doubles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Singles | Youngest | John McEnroe | 19 years, 10 months | 1978 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Oldest | Novak Djokovic | 36 years, 5 months | 2023 | |
Doubles | Youngest | John McEnroe | 19 years, 10 months | 1978 |
Oldest | Mike Bryan | 40 years, 6 months | 2018 |
Player | Year |
---|---|
John McEnroe | 1978 (S–D), 1983 (S–D), 1984 (S–D) |
Stan Smith | 1970 (S–D) |
Player | ATP Finals | WCT Finals | Grand Slam Cup |
---|---|---|---|
Boris Becker | 1988 | 1988 | 1996 |
Player | ATP Finals | WCT Finals |
---|---|---|
Stan Smith | 1970 | 1973 |
Jimmy Connors | 1977 | 1977 |
John McEnroe | 1978 | 1979 |
Björn Borg | 1979 | 1976 |
Ivan Lendl | 1981 | 1982 |
Boris Becker | 1988 | 1988 |
Player | ATP Finals | Grand Slam Cup |
---|---|---|
Pete Sampras | 1991 | 1990 |
Michael Stich | 1993 | 1992 |
Boris Becker | 1988 | 1996 |
Player | Next Gen Finals | ATP Finals |
---|---|---|
Stefanos Tsitsipas | 2018 | 2019 |
11 | United States (5 players) |
7 | Serbia (1 player) |
6 | West Germany / Germany (3 players), Switzerland (1 player) |
5 | Czechoslovakia (1 player) |
4 | Romania (1 player) |
3 | Sweden (2 players) |
2 | Argentina (2 players), Australia (1 player), Russia (2 players), Spain (2 players) |
1 | Brazil , Bulgaria , Great Britain , Greece |
Note: Titles, won by a team of players from same country, count as one title, not two.
23 | United States (18 players) |
6 | Canada (3 players) |
5 | Australia (4 players), Sweden (4 players) |
4 | France (5 players), Netherlands (4 players) |
3 | South Africa (4 players), Spain (6 players) |
2 | Belarus (1 player), Finland (1 player), Great Britain (1 player), Serbia (1 player) |
1 | Bahamas , Croatia , Czechoslovakia (2 players), Romania , Switzerland |
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
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Édouard Roger-Vasselin is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
Marcel Granollers Pujol is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 19 in July 2012, and his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in February 2013. Granollers has won four ATP singles titles and 25 doubles titles, including the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals. He has also reached five Major doubles finals at the 2014 French Open, the 2014 and 2019 US Open, and the 2021 and 2023 Wimbledon Championships
This list shows the appearances of all participants in the men's tennis ATP Finals singles since their inception as the Pepsi-Cola Masters in 1970. The tournament is currently held in Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy.
Horacio Zeballos Jr. is an Argentine professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 39, achieved in March 2013, and his career-high doubles ranking is world No. 3, achieved in September 2019. In doubles, he has reached the men's doubles finals at the 2019 US Open and at Wimbledon in 2021 and 2023 alongside Marcel Granollers. In singles, he has reached the fourth round at the French Open, doing so in 2017.
Pierre-Hugues Herbert is a French professional tennis player. In doubles, he has completed the Career Grand Slam with titles at the 2015 US Open, the 2016 Wimbledon Championships, the 2018 French Open, the 2021 French Open, and the 2019 Australian Open partnering Nicolas Mahut. His career-high doubles ranking is World No. 2 achieved on 11 July 2016. The pair have also claimed seven ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles and ATP Finals titles in 2019 and 2021. In singles, Herbert has reached four ATP career finals and achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 36 on 11 February 2019.
Juan Sebastián Cabal Valdés is a Colombian former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 in doubles, he also reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 184 in February 2011.
Harri Heliövaara is a Finnish professional tennis player. His highest ranking in singles is World No. 194, which he achieved on 19 December 2011. His highest ranking in doubles is world No. 7, which he achieved on 12 June 2023. He won his first Grand Slam at the 2023 US Open mixed doubles event. In doubles he has won four ATP Tour titles, his first alongside Lloyd Glasspool at the 2021 Open 13, 13 ATP Challenger tournaments, his first in 2011 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has also won 20 ITF Futures in doubles and eight ITF Futures tournaments in singles. He won the 2007 Australian Open boys' doubles title with Graeme Dyce.
Austin Krajicek is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 1 in doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in June 2023, and he also attained his career-high singles ranking of world No. 94 in October 2015.
The 2015 ATP World Tour Finals (also known as the 2015 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament that was played at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, between 15 and 22 November 2015. It was the season-ending event for the best singles players and doubles teams on the 2015 ATP World Tour.
The 2017 ATP Finals (also known as the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, from 12 to 19 November 2017. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2017 ATP World Tour.
The 2017 WTA Elite Trophy was a women's tennis tournament played at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China. It was the 3rd edition of the singles event and doubles competition. The tournament was contested by twelve singles players and six doubles teams.
The 2019 ATP Finals (also known as the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played at the O2 Arena on indoor hard courts in London, United Kingdom, from 10 to 17 November 2019. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2019 ATP Tour and was the 50th edition of the tournament (45th in doubles). The singles event was won by Stefanos Tsitsipas over Dominic Thiem in three sets. In doubles, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in straight sets.
The 2020 ATP Finals (also known as the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, from 15 to 22 November 2020. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2020 ATP Tour. This was the final year that London hosted the event. On 14 August 2020, it was announced the tournament would be held without spectators in attendance following guidelines imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.
The 2021 ATP Finals was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, from 14 to 21 November 2021. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2021 ATP Tour.
Alexander Zverev defeated the defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the final, 6–4, 6–4 to win the singles tennis title at the 2021 ATP Finals. It was his second ATP Finals title. With the win, Zverev ended a six-year streak of different winners at the tournament, dating to 2015.
The 2022 ATP Finals was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, from 13 to 20 November 2022. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2022 ATP Tour.
The 2023 ATP Finals was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, from 12 to 19 November 2023. It was the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2023 ATP Tour.
The 2024 ATP Finals will be a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, Italy, from 10 to 17 November 2024. It will be the season-ending event for the highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams on the 2024 ATP Tour.
Besides the prize money of $2,020,000, there were also ranking points at stake for the first time at a season ending play-off
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