Barclays ATP World Tour Finals 2013

It’s that time of year again. With the Grand Slam season having come to a close and today marking the first day of fall, we’re well on our way to wrapping up the 2013 tennis season.

However, no season would be complete without the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which this year will be held from November 4th-11th at the 02 Arena located in London, England.

ATP World Tour Finals Format

If you’re not familiar, the ATP World Tour Finals operates under a slightly different format than the typical single elimination of an ATP event. For starters, the only qualifiers for the tournament are the top eight ranked singles players and top eight ranked doubles teams on the Monday after the regular season following the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Paris.

From there, the top eight singles players and doubles teams are split into two groups where they’ll play a round robin against the other three in the group. The best two from each group progress through to the semi-finals and the winners of the semis make their way to the finals.

Its unique format and small selection of only the best men’s tennis players makes for an exciting year-end tournament, which you should definitely make time to watch if you get the chance.

ATP World Tour Finals: TV Schedule, Draw and Prize Money

Approximately two weeks prior to the tournament you can check out the TV schedule for the year-end finale to make sure you catch all the action. You’ll also be able to check out the draws and schedule of play on the ATP website.

As for the ATP World Tour prize money they’ll be no shortage of cash helping ensure a high level of competition. This year there is a sizable purse of $6,000,000, one of the biggest of the year, which incidentally is equal to that of the year-end WTA Championships that will be held in Istanbul, Turkey this year.

Current Singles ATP World Tour Qualifiers

As of now three players have their spot locked for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Rafael Nadal, coming of his US Open victory in Flushing Meadows, NY and currently ranked #2 in the world has his spot.

Novak Djokovic, this year’s Australian Open champion and current world #1 has also qualified for the tournament. Finally, after reaching the quarters of the US Open, Andy Murray became the third men’s singles tennis player to qualify for the tournament.

However, with news of Andy Murray’s back surgery it’s likely that he will be forced to withdraw from the tournament opening up an additional space for another player.

As of September 16, 2013 here’s the top 20 singles players currently making their bid to qualify for the world tour finals:

2012 Finals: Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer

Getting amped? Check out Djokovic’s 2012 hot shot backhand winner that helped him close out last year’s final against Roger Federer as well as a highlight reel from their match.

Photo Credit: mirsasha