About ATP World Tour Finals

The ATP World Tour Finals is played at the end of each year and the qualification equation is exceedingly simple but brutally tough. Finish the season in the Top 8 and you're in. And the rewards are high: $5 million in total prize money, the chance to win one of the most prestigious titles in tennis and to finish as the season's No. 1 player.

ATP World Tour Finals is not a straightforward knock-out tournament like most of the other events on the men's tour, the eight players are divided into two groups of four, and play three round-robin matches each against the other three players in their group. From there, the two players with the best records in each group progress to the semifinals, with the winners meeting in the final to determine the champion. Winners are awarded up to 1500 rankings points.

The ATP World Tour Finals is the fourth evolution 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. The Masters was a year-end showpiece event between the best players on the men's tour, but didn't 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 Championship. World ranking points were now at stake, with an undefeated champion earning the same number of points they would for winning one of the four Grand Slam events.

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 Grand Slam competitions that year. 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.

As with the Masters and the ATP Tour World Championships, the Tennis Masters Cup is contested by eight players. However, under the rules of the Tennis Masters Cup, the player who is ranked number eight in the ATP Champion's Race world rankings does not have a guaranteed spot. If a player who wins one of the year's Grand Slam events finishes the year ranked outside the top eight but still within the top 20, he may be included in the Tennis Masters Cup instead of the eighth-ranked player. If two players outside the top eight win Grand Slam events, the higher placed player in the world rankings will take the final spot in the Tennis Masters Cup.

In 2009 the Masters was renamed the ATP World Tour Finals and has been staged at The O2 in London since 2009. Former World No.1s Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer hold the record for the most titles, each with 5.

1 Novak Djokovic - 13,475

2 Rafael Nadal - 9,375

3 Andy Murray - 7,380

4 Roger Federer - 6,670

5 David Ferrer - 4,480

6 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 3,535

7 Tomas Berdych - 3,300

8 Mardy Fish - 2,965