ATP Finals confirmed to move from London to Turin

World number one Novak Djokovic, who is president of the ATP player council, believes the change in location will only help the future development of the competition.

The LTA, though, stressed the drive to deliver top-class tennis for British fans would continue.

"We are disappointed that the ATP Finals will move from London in 2021. We have been fortunate to have had such a fabulous tournament staged in this country for so long and it has been a great asset to tennis in Britain," a statement from the LTA read.

"The LTA believes events play an important role in increasing visibility of our sport and inspiring people to pick up a racquet.

"Alongside our successful series of grass court tournaments, we will continue to look for opportunities to stage events at other times of year, with new additions in Shrewsbury and Glasgow, and above all our thrilling Fed Cup ties this year in Bath and last weekend at the Copper Box Arena, great examples of that strategy in action."

The O2 Arena will continue to host the event later this year and again in 2020, the tournament having grown in popularity.

In 2018, German Alexander Zverev defeated Djokovic in the final, with some 243,800 spectators having watched across the eight days of competition. Since 2009, the cumulative attendance has been just over 2.5million.

However, following a successful bid, Turin is now set to become the 15th city to host the tournament since it began in 1970.

ATP executive chairman and president Chris Kermode said: "Italy provides us with one of the strongest and most established tennis markets in Europe and has a proven track record for hosting world-class tennis events.

"We look forward to bringing the ATP's flagship season-ending event to tennis' growing fanbase in Italy for the first time.

"The success of the ATP Finals is critical to the health of the ATP and we believe that Turin has all the ingredients to take the event to new heights and to continue the tournament's growth following a highly successful 12-year stint in London that will come to an end in 2020.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our event partners in London, and all the fans that have made the tournament such a success at The O2 since 2009."

By 2021, the ATP Finals will boast a record prize purse of some 14.5million US dollars (£11.45m).

Djokovic, 31, described the competition as the "biggest and most prestigious event that we have at the ATP".

The Serbian added: "It's a tournament that has historically moved around and so I'm very excited to see it move to Turin from 2021.

"It is still a few years away, but I know that the players will be very excited to compete there, and I also hope to be part of what will be a very special event."

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