Only the world’s best players qualify for ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena and Sky Sports and BBC TV will screen live coverage of the season-ending tournament in London.
Now in its 44th year, the finale to the men’s tennis calendar has been held in the capital since 2009 and sees the top eight players in the world battle it out for glory and boasts a roll of honour that reads like a who’s who of the sport.
The top eight singles players and doubles teams during the season qualify for the prestigious event, having battled it out throughout the season, across 60 tournaments worldwide and four grand slams.
Novak Djokovic won the singles title for a second occasion last year, beating six-time winner Roger Federer in closely fought final in straight sets – 7-6, 7-5.
This year, Djokovic is the narrow favourite to add another top trophy to his impressive collection, but Rafael Nadal will be hot on his heels in his quest to win the end-of-season event for the first time in his career.
The pair will be favourites to meet in the final as they did in New York this year at the US Open and give us another gripping installment of the ‘Nole v Rafa’ show.
Unfortunately British hopes for the tournament were diminished last month as the new Wimbledon champion Andy Murray will miss his home event following back surgery.
The three-time finalist would have been eager to bow out his record-breaking season in style and in front of a home crowd, but even without Murray, the fifth staging of the event London will be full of excitement.
Roger Federer booked his 12th consecutive appearance at the World Tour Finals after defeating South African Kevin Anderson the second round of the Paris Masters, held in the week prior to the Finals, which was the final tournament to pick up essential points to secure the final eight spots.
Federer’s fellow Swiss countryman Stanislas Wawrinka joins the fun in London after a recent run of impressive perfomances, including beating Andy Murray at the US Open.
Despite a less than impressive season by his usual high standards, six-time World Tour Finals champion Roger Federer will still a tough man to beat under the lights at the O2.
World number two Djokovic, the 2008 and 2012 champion, will be competing in the finals for a seventh straight year, along with Nadal, Federer and Wawrinka, plus Spaniard David Ferrer, 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, 2010 Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych and top French player Richard Gasquet.
In the doubles competition, legendary American doubles brothers Bob and Mike Bryan will be going all out to clinch their fourth title at the O2 having topped the ATP rankings for a record nine times.
The format for the ATP World Tour Finals sees the eight competing players split into two groups of four, competing on a round-robin basis over the first six days.
The winner of each group then faces the runner-up of the other group in the knock-out stages, with yhe doubles competition using the same format.
Each session begins with one doubles match and is followed by one singles match. The specific players for each round-robin session will be known roughly a day before each session begins.
There is a staggering £1.2million in prize money for the winner of the men’s singles if he remains undefeated through the tournament.
This year’s singles champion will be presented with The Brad Drewett Trophy, in honour of the late former ATP Executive Chairman and President, who died in May after a battle with Motor Neurone Disease. He served as tournament director from 2001-2011.
Follow all the drama and excitement from the end-of-season event at the O2 Arena with both Sky Sports and BBC Sport.
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Sky Sports will broadcast comprehensive live coverage of the 2013 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and is the only place to see every match live.
All singles as well as the doubles matches will feature during Sky Sports’ extensive coverage, which can be found on Sky Sports 3 – and in high-definition on Sky Sports 3 HD – throughout the entire tournament.
Marcus Buckland again leads the Sky Sports presentation team from the O2 Arenam where he will be joined by a variety of top names from the world of tennis.
Expert analysis and opinion will come from former three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, 1997 US Open finalist Greg Rusedski, and former British women’s number one Annabel Croft.
Mark Petchey and Barry Millns lead the commentary team throughout the week, while former American players Peter Fleming and Leif Shiras will also be part of the on-air team.
Further background, news, views, video highlights and interviews can be found via the Sky Sports tennis website, while subscribers can watch all the action on the move via Sky Go on PCs, mobiles, laptops and selected tablet devices.
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BBC Sport will again screen live coverage of selected matches from the 2013 edition of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Free-to-air tennis fans will be able to watch live coverage of a singles match every afternoon throughout the week, plus the first semi-final on Sunday, as well as the showpiece final itself.
Sue Barker will present live coverage all week long from London’s O2 Arena on BBC Two and BBC Two HD, starting at 2.00pm from Monday to Sunday, plus online via the BBC Sport website and mobile app.
The singles final will be shown live on BBC Three and in high-definition on BBC Red Button HD at 7.30pm on Monday, November 11,.
Commentary and studio analysis across all seven days of the event will be provided by Andrew Castle and Tim Henman.
BBC Radio 5 live will have extensive coverage of the tournament with live commentary on every singles match on 5 live Sports Extra or the BBC Sport website, led by tennis correspondent Russell Fuller.
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