The ATP Finals, with the eight best tennis players in the world ranking in singles and the eight best couples in doubles, will experience an edition this year that will be special for several reasons. First of all, simply because of its celebration, which was by no means guaranteed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On November 15, and until 22 from Sunday to Sunday, the 51st edition of a tournament that began to be played 50 years ago, in 1970, with victory of the legendary Stan Smith, who won four of the five games in a championship that was played entirely in group format.
Date and venue: The date is the second reason that makes the Masters tournament different this year, as the ATP will give special importance to the 50th anniversary with a series of videos featuring legends of the event along with current tennis stars, with the Former British tennis player Tim Henman as master of ceremonies. They can be followed on the official ATP websites (atp.com and nittoatpfinals.com) along with other specific content. To commemorate the half century of Finals history, the groups will be called Tokyo 1970, in homage to the first venue, and London 2020, to highlight that this will be the last year in which the English capital will host an event that will move to Turin (Italy) in 2021 until, at least, 2025. Another particular event. In this way, 12 editions will have taken place in the British city, which debuted as host in 2009. In the first will be the world number one, Novak Djokovic, and in the second, the two, Rafa Nadal. In doubles, the groups will take the names of newly retired Bob and Mike Bryan. And in the center of the center court of the O2 Arena you can see the legends '50 Years' (50 years) and '1970-2020'.
Without spectators: The Masters will be held without an audience for the first time, due to the happy coronavirus, and without international media, since only the local press can cover it in situ. The organization has organized a raffle in favor of cancer research so that fans who wish to do so can collaborate even if this year they cannot buy tickets and have access to gift packs.
Draw: The composition of the groups will be known this Thursday and the format will continue as in recent years: round robin with two groups of four tennis players, semifinals and final with matches to the best of three sets with tiebreakers (with a super tiebreaker to ten points in the third in the case of doubles).
Awards: In the FInals, 5.7 million dollars (4.83 euros) will be distributed. A hypothetical undefeated winner would take 1.56 million in singles and $ 284,500 in the case of couples.
Points: In the individual tournament there are up to 1,500 points at stake. The victories in the group stage are worth 200, in the semifinals 400 and in the final 500. It is played on a hard court with Dunlop balls.
History: Novak Djokovic could equal the record of six titles still held by Roger Federer, absent this time. Rafa Nadal will look for the first in a championship that resists him because he usually comes to him very punished. This year it won't be like that. It is the 16th time that the Spaniard has qualified for the Masters, although he missed six editions due to injuries (2005, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018). His best result, the 2010 and 2013 finals that he lost against Federer and Djokovic, respectively. His record in terms of matches is not very good: 18-14. Last year he couldn't get past the crosses. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who also appears this year, is the current champion. In 2019 he beat Dominic Thiem in the final.
Schedules and TV: The round robin matches will start at 1:00 p.m. Spanish time with a doubles match and a singles match in the morning shift. The afternoon one, with the same sequence, will start at 7:00 p.m. (except on Friday, which will start at 6:45 p.m.). The semi-finals will be held on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. And the finals, on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (doubles) and 7:00 p.m. (singles). In Spain, the tournament can be followed on Movistar and through the Tennis TV platform.