The American former world number one who won the first ever ATP Tour Finals

Add as preferred source on Google

The eight most successful players of 2025 will soon converge on Turin, Italy to take part in the year-ending ATP Tour Finals.

The Finals, last won by world number two Jannik Sinner, were first established over 55 years ago, in 1970.

Since 1970, there have been 22 different ATP Finals champions, including Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Pete Sampras.

Novak Djokovic has won seven ATP Finals titles – the most in history. Roger Federer sits one place behind the Serb, having won six titles.

In 1970, an American star won the first edition of the ATP Finals, before going on to win two Grand Slam titles.

Meet Stan Smith

In 1970, American star Stan Smith, who won Wimbledon and the US Open during his career, captured the inaugural ATP Tour Finals.

The tournament was first held in Japan, Tokyo, and hosted the likes of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Arthur Ashe.

A round robin format was used for the event, meaning all six players competing would play one another, and the player with the most victories would win the title.

Smith, who went on to become world number one, won his first four matches. He then lost his fifth and final contest to Arthur Ashe.

However, Smith had already won the title after defeating Ken Rosewall in his penultimate match.

The crucial match during the finals occurred between Smith and 11-time Grand Slam champion Rod Laver.

Smith and Laver finished with identical 4-1 records. However, Smith defeated Laver 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 earlier in the tournament – meaning Smith won the tiebreaker.

In 2020, Smith told the ATP: “While I lost my final match to Arthur, which started at 7 p.m., in a third-set tie-break the next day, I finished with a 4-1 record, identical to Laver.

“I knew I had earned the title by virtue of beating the ‘Rocket’ [Laver, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4] earlier in the week.

“Having played with Arthur the week before in Stockholm, we also teamed up to win the doubles round-robin too, and after that week in Tokyo, I definitely started to feel like I was one of the top players.”

The American went on to win two Grand Slam titles and secure the status of world number one. Smith won his first major at the 1971 US Open, where he beat Jan Kodes in the final.

In 1972, Smith added a second major, defeating Ilie Nastase to win the Wimbledon Championships. Smith’s triumph put to bed any discontent regarding his loss in the 1971 Wimbledon final to John Newcombe.

The American, who retired in 1985, won 64 titles during his career – including 48 Open Era titles.

Stan Smith’s run to the Wimbledon title

In 1972, Stan Smith was the top seed heading into the Wimbledon Championships.

In the first four rounds, Smith dropped two sets, defeating Hans-Joachim Plotz, Douglas Irvine, Alexander Mayer and Ian Fletcher.

In the quarter-finals, he defeated eighth seed Alex Metreveli, before beating Jan Kodes in the semi-final.

In the final, Smith beat Nastase 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

The American enjoyed his most successful year in 1972 on the tour, winning nine titles: Stockholm, Paris, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Wimbledon, Washington, Hampton, New York and Salisbury.