Tennis Masters Cup
The Tennis Masters Cup is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of each year, involving the top eight players in the men's tennis world rankings.
Unlike all the other events on the men's tour, the Tennis Masters Cup is not a straightforward knock-out tournament. 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 semi-finals, with the semi-final winners meeting in the final to determine the champion.
The event is actually the third evolution of a championship which began in 1970. It was originally known simply as The Masters tournament, and was organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). 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 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 on the ATP 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, they can be included in the Tennis Masters Cup instead of the eight-ranked player.
For many years, the doubles event was held as a separate tournament the week after the singles competition. But more recently they have been held together in the same week and venue. Like the singles competition, the doubles involves the eight most successful teams on the tour each year and starts with a group phase with each team playing three round-robin matches.
[edit] Past Singles Finals
[edit] Doubles Champions
[edit] External links
| (ATP) Masters tournaments |
| The Masters 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 ATP Tour World Championships 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 Tennis Masters Cup 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
