Sport | Tennis
ATP World Tour through the years
It did not count for any world ranking points in 1970 when it was known as The Masters Grand Prix
- By Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 February 27, 2011
- Image Credit: AFP
- Pete Sampras, seen playing in the 2002 US Open, jointly holds the record for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer.
Dubai: The current Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is actually the fourth evolution of a championships that began way back in 1970 when it was simply 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 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 with world ranking points at stake. The undefeated champion earned the same number of points they would for winning one of the four Grand Slams.
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.
However, 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 that was to be contested by eight players.
In 2009, the Masters were renamed the ATP World Tour Finals. 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.
Former World No1s Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer hold the record for the most titles, with five each.
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