ATP World Tour Finals

This time I'd like to tell you about a very important and prestigious event in men's Tennis World, the ATP WTF (oh wait, I meant World Tour Finals :P ).
So, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is a tennis tournament played at the end of each year, involving the top eight players in the men's tennis world rankings.

(2011 participants ------>)

Unlike most of the other events on the men's tour, the ATP World Tour Finals is not a straightforward knock-out tournament. 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 event is actually the fourth evolution of a championship which began in 1970. It was originally known simply 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 did not count for any world ranking points. In 1990 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. In 2009 the Masters was renamed to the ATP World Tour Finals and got scheduled to be held at The O2 in London from 2009 to 2012.
Roger Federer holds the record for the most titles having won 6.
(Top 15 players to win the title)

Some interesting facts:

• Players who won the tournament undefeated (since 1990): 

Michael Stich, 1993

Lleyton Hewitt, 2001

Roger Federer, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011

• Players who won back-to-back titles:

Ilie Năstase, 1971–1973

Björn Borg, 1979–80

Ivan Lendl, 1981–1982, 1985–1987

John McEnroe, 1983–1984

Pete Sampras, 1996–1997

Lleyton Hewitt, 2001–2002

Roger Federer, 2003–2004, 2006–2007, 2010–2011

• Most consecutive titles:

Ivan Lendl, 3

Ilie Năstase, 3

Roger Federer, 2 (three times)

• Most consecutive finals:

Ivan Lendl, 9       (1980–1988)

Ilie Năstase, 5     (1971–1975)

Roger Federer, 5 (2003–2007)

Stan Smith, 3      (1970–1972)

Boris Becker, 3   (1994–1996)


And let's not forget who won ATP WTF 2011 just a month ago: it's Roger Federer!!! :)))

xo K