Final men’s tennis tournament

General information

The final WCT tennis tournament was held among men from 1971 to 1989. The event was organized by World Championship Tennis, a professional tennis association. All the courts had carpeting. $50,000 — this was the prize pool in 1970, but by 1989 it had grown to $500,000.

History

The quarterfinals and semifinals in 1971 were held in Houston– one of the most important cities in Texas (USA). The following year, all the athletes were gathered in Dallas (Texas). Until 1979, all matches were held at the Moody Coliseum arena, and since 1980, the Reunion Arena has become the venue.

The tournament was organized for the first time in November. At the same time, a similar Masters tournament was held. In order not to hold two meetings at the same time, next year the matches of the Final WCT Tennis Tournament were postponed to spring.
In 1972, 1982 and 1983, the WCT held 3 additional competitions: in Rome, in Naples and in Detroit, respectively.

Since 1974, an electronic judging system has been used (or it is often called «Hawkeye»). It reduces the number of errors of referees, resolves controversial situations, since it easily determines the point of the ball’s fall.

Doubles tournaments were held among the top 8 pairs, which were determined based on the results of the matches of the previous season. Such meetings from 1973 to 1978 were held a week before the start of the singles matches. Since 1979, we decided to hold doubles tournaments in London immediately after the New Year in early January. The Olympic system for determining the winner was used until 1977. Since 1978, a group stage was introduced: a round-robin tournament was used in the qualifying round, the two strongest groups met in the semifinals.
The final WCT tennis tournament is included in the ATP tournament grid.

Record holders

In singles, no one could beat John McEnroe, a professional American tennis player. He has 5 victories, which he won in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1989.
Ivan Lendl (a representative of Czechoslovakia, and then America) won four tournaments in the early 80s. In the world of sports, he is better known under the pseudonym «Ivan the Terrible».
Heinz Gunthardt (Swiss athlete) and Balazs Tarotsi (Hungarian tennis player) won the doubles tournament 3 times. Fate smiled on them in 1982, 1983, 1986.
There are no Russian tennis players who distinguished themselves in the Final WCT tennis tournament.