The ATP World Tour Finals, men’s tennis’ showpiece event to mark the end of each season, will be held in Turin, Italy, from 2021 to ‘25, the ATP declared on Wednesday.
Outside the four Grand Slams, the ATP Finals is considered the most prestigious tournament in men’s tennis as only the top eight ranked players qualify for the event. It also features a showdown between the top eight doubles pairs.
The O2 Arena in London has been the host to the tournament since 2009.
“The five-year agreement will see the world’s greatest players in men’s professional tennis compete for the biggest indoor tennis title in the world at Turin’s Pala Alpitour stadium, Italy’s largest indoor sporting arena,” the ATP said in a statement.
Turin will be the 15th venue and the first in Italy to host the event introduced in 1970.
Manchester, Tokyo and Singapore were all competing to host the event, as was London, which hoped to continue welcoming the players to it’s O2 Arena beyond 2020.
“Our congratulations to Turin on putting together such a comprehensive and impressive bid,” said Chris Kermode, the ATP executive chairman and president, adding that the prize fund of $14.5 million is a record for the Finals.
The ATP Finals’ format is such that the eight players, as well as the eight doubles pairs, are equally divided into two groups. Each player then takes on the other three players in his group in a round-robin format.
Each victory gets a player two points and the top two players from each group at the end of the round-robin stage qualify for the semi-finals. If the number of points before the semis are the same between multiple players, then the number of sets and games won is considered.
Switzerland’s Roger Federer holds the record for the most singles titles with six, while Peter Fleming and John McEnroe hold the record for the most doubles titles with seven.
The current singles champion is Germany’s Alexander Zverev, while the reigning doubles champions are America’s Jack Sock and Mike Bryan.
[Inputs from AFP]
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