The ATP Masters tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is a series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series is the most prestigious in men’s tennis after the four Grand Slams. The series’ event are held annually in Europe, North America and Asia since the debut of ATP Tour in 1990.
Currently, the following nine tournaments are part of the ATP Masters 1000: Canadian Open (alternating yearly between Montreal and Toronto), Italian Open (held in Rome), Indian Wells Masters, Miami Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, Madrid Open, Cincinnati Masters, Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters. Since 2009, five of the tournaments are held on outdoor hard courts, three on clay and one on indoor hard court whereas from 1987 until 2008 there were two indoor tournaments at the top-9 level.
In 2009, the Shanghai Masters replaced the Madrid Open, until then held as an indoor event, in the eighth slot of the year with the Madrid Open switched to clay courts replacing the Hamburg Open in the spring clay court season. The Shanghai Masters was designated as an outdoor event despite the facility having a retractable roof and having been used as the indoor venue for the ATP Finals from 2005 until 2008.
Picture Credit : Google
