The ATP Finals – A Rambling Ever On Tennis Article

November 10 – 17, 2024

The MLB playoffs are over. The NBA and NHL regular seasons are in their infancy. The NFL is in the middle of its regular season. College football still has a handful of weeks left in its regular season. College hoops are barely underway. Further and further down the list of sports you can go, and at this time of the year, you won’t find any extraordinary events. No postseasons. Not even any final regular season, win-and-you’re-in games. Just another eight days of entertaining, if not unremarkable sports. But this shouldn’t be.

Why? The ATP Finals tournament is played during those days and it’s one of the most fun, entertaining, and unique events in men’s tennis! Yet somehow this pivotal tournament might as well be featured on the back of a milk carton as most in America have never seen it (or possibly even heard of it!). The following day, Sports Center didn’t even show highlights of the championship. Shameful!

Here are six reasons why the ATP Finals is a must-see event:

1. As the name implies, it’s the final ATP tournament of the tennis season. No more tennis until 2025 (except for team-based events such as the Davis Cup which are not part of the ATP tour).
2. Of all the tournaments in tennis, the ATP Finals is the most difficult to qualify for. Yes, even more difficult than the majors (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open)! Only players ranked in the top eight of men’s tennis are invited to participate. By comparison, the largest tournaments on the tour have 128 participants. The ATP Finals is only the best of the best!
3. This is the only tournament guaranteed to feature matches with the top players facing off against one another. In other events, the tennis world collectively holds its breath in hopes that the top players meet in the tournament’s latter stages. With participation and upsets this often doesn’t come to fruition. However, in the ATP Finals, this occurs every… single… match.
4. The ATP Finals features a group stage before a traditional elimination stage. No other tournament on the ATP tour has group play. Players are split into two groups of four so each play 3 matches. The top two from each group advance to the elimination stage. This ensures that no one will be booted if they have a bad day. However, with only 3 matches in group play, each is crucial. Also, it’s exciting to see who can survive the gauntlet of five consecutive matches against elite competition to win the title.
5. A lot of ranking points are up for grabs in the ATP Finals. Therefore, the tournament significantly impacts the final ATP rankings, including the coveted year-end #1.
6. The prize money for the tournament is mind-boggling high! The championship match is single, largest payout for a win at $4.88 million (if the winner also won all his group-stage matches). That’s more than the purse for winning any of the four majors.

I know what you’re thinking at this point, “Why wasn’t this article published a week ago so I would have known to watch the ATP Final?!?” For this, I offer my sincere apologies. Life was very busy for me on November 10 – 17… busy watching the ATP Finals and loving every minute!

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Mark Sass

Mark is a mythical being commonly known as a native Nashvillian. He's married and raising an 11-year old rabbit. Some of his passions include movies, sports, board games, TV, his local church, Christ, and recently discovered audiobooks.

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