Tennis Betting Tennis Masters Cup

Place: Shanghai, China
Date: November 9 - November 16, 2008
Draw Size: 8
Surface: Hard / Indoors
Prize Money: US$4,450,000

The Tennis Masters Cup is an ATP year-end tennis tournament played each year, in which only the top eight players in the men’s tennis world rankings can qualify and are invited to participate. Unlike the format of all other tennis tournaments played through the calendar year, the Tennis Masters Cup is not a straightforward knockout tournament. The eight-man line-up is divided into two groups of four and each play three Round Robin matches against the other three players in their group. The two players with the best records in each respective group advances into the final four. From the knockout semifinal round, the winners advance into the final to determine the champion.

The Tennis Masters Cup is the third instalment of what was originally known as The Masters tournament – an event that began in 1970 and was organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The Masters was also a year-end showdown between the best talents on the ATP Tour, but did not count for any world ranking points. In 1990, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) assumed the organization and running of the event, replacing it with the ATP Tour World Championships.

With the ATP assuming the event, the stake in the event was raised as world ranking points were now on the line, as an undefeated champion would earn the same amount of points they would for winning one of the four Grand Slam events. During this time, the ITF, who continued to run the Grand Slam tournaments, launched 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 of that calendar year. In 1999, the ATP and ITF decided to create one year-end event jointly called the Tennis Masters Cup.

In 2009 the Masters will be renamed the ATP World Tour Finals and it will be staged at The O2 in London from 2009 to 2012.

Past Champions