The year-end championship of the ATP men's tour since 1970.
Contested by the year's top eight players. Originally a round-robin, the Masters was
revised in 1972 to include a round-robin to decide the four semifinalists then a single
elimination format after that. The tournament switched from December to January in
1977-78, then back to December in 1986. Held at Madison Square Garden in New York from
1978-89. Replaced by ATP Tour World Championship in 1990 and held in Frankfurt, Germany
since then.
The top eight (8) players in the ATP rankings as of the Monday of
the tournament qualify, while the ninth player is the alternate. The ATP rankings
for this week only consists of the "best 14" results from all tournaments in
that calendar year, up to and including the week immediately prior to the ATP Tour World
Championship. In other words, points received from this tournament in the previous year
are NOT included in the calculation of rankings.
The eight players are divided into two groups of four. Within
each group, the four players face one another exactly once in round robin matches.
The top two finishers from each group advance to the semi-final. Within each group,
the two players who win the most matches finish 1 and 2. If there is a tie between
two players, the one who wins their head-to-head match wins the tie. If there is a
three-way tie, the percentage of sets won will be used to break the tie. If there is
still a tie, the percentage of games won will be used to break the tie.
In the semi-final, the top finisher from one group plays the second
from the other. The semi-final winners advance to the final, which is best-of-five
tie-break sets (i.e. if the fifth set is tied at 6-6, the players will play a tie break to
decide the match and therefore the championship). All other matches are best-of-three
tie-break sets.
In 1996, players received the following ranking points from the ATP
Tour World Championship.
| each round robin match won: |
80 points |
| winning a semi-final match: |
190 points |
| winning the final: |
280 points |
No bonus points are given for beating ranked players
in this tournament.
For example, if a player wins all three round robin matches and of
course the semi and final on the way to the title, he would have received:
80 * 3 + 190 + 280 = 710 points
Multiple
Winners 1970-2001:
| Pete Sampras |
5 |
| Ivan Lendl |
5 |
| Ilie Nastase |
4 |
| Boris Becker |
3 |
| John McEnroe |
3 |
| Bjorn Borg |
2 |
