One of the most prestigious tier of tournaments in men’s professional circuit are the ATP 1000 events or the Masters tournaments. They are the third highest tier of tournaments that offer a whopping 1000 points to the winner.
The ATP Masters 1000 events have been formerly referred as the ATP Championship Series, ATP Super 9, Tennis Masters Series, ATP Masters Series, ATP World Tours Masters 1000.
A total of nine ATP Masters tournaments are held in a single calendar year. Eight of these tournaments are mandatory tournaments for players that are eligible to enter in the event. Monte Carlo Masters are the only non-mandatory Masters event. However, if a player chooses to participate in it, it’s result will be considered as the fourth best result out of the four slots designated for a player’s best performance in ATP 500 events.
A singles knockout main draw can have either 56 or 96 players, whereas the doubles draw size can be either 32 or 28. The knockout stages include the following: Round of 64, Round of 32, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals. While the winner gets 1000 points, the runner-up gets 650 (in singles) and 600 (in doubles).
Ever since the inception of this tier of tournaments, a total of 12 tournaments have been held, of which 3 are now either defunct or downgraded from the Masters Level. Out of the current nine events, three are played on clay courts, five on outdoor hard courts, and one in indoor hard courts.
The prize money for Masters events varies from $5.5 million to $8.8 million. Novak Djokovic holds the record for being the only player to achieve the Career Golden Masters. This feat means that he has won every Masters event at least twice. In doubles, this feat has been achieved by Daniel Nestor, Bob Bryan, and Mike Bryan. The Bryan brothers have a record 39 doubles Masters titles to their names, whereas Djokovic holds the unparalleled record of winning 40 Masters titles as of 2024.
