With the 2015 season just around the corner, there is just enough time to look back and savour for one last time what turned out to be a very significant year for the ATP in 2014.

One of the unique elements of the men’s tour is its truly global footprint, and this was reflected with a record-breaking spread of players from around the world claiming a coveted place in the Top 100 of the year-end Emirates ATP Rankings. An amazing 39 countries were represented, including first-time representations from Tunisia (Malek Jaziri) and the Dominican Republic (Victor Estrella Burgos).

The Top 10 included an equally diverse makeup with eight nations represented. That elite group also saw an interesting mix of established stars and highly talented newcomers, as 2014 became a year of breakthrough victories and new faces.

Joining global superstars such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were Japan’s pacy and tenacious Kei Nishikori and two men with thundering serves – Milos Raonic from Canada and Croatia’s Marin Cilic. That trio of players all reached the year-end Top 10 for the first time after spectacular seasons.

While on the subject of rankings, my congratulations go to season-ending singles champion Novak Djokovic, who clinched the year-end ATP World No. 1 place for the third time in four years, and to the Bryan brothers Bob and Mike who secured the top doubles spot for a remarkable 10th time.

The evergreen 33-year-old Federer became the oldest player ever to finish at No.2, in the process also achieving his 13th consecutive year in the Top 10. Rafael Nadal joined legends Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe as the only left- handers to finish in the Top 10 for a remarkable 10 straight years.

The season came to a climax at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 in London. The event has enjoyed enormous success at The O2 and this year saw a record-breaking 263,560 fans attend across the 8 days of competition, a record in the 45-year history of the tournament.

Although an unfortunate injury kept a very disappointed Federer from playing Djokovic in the final, the event was still a resounding winner overall for the game of tennis and the ATP World Tour. The support the event gets from the fans is phenomenal and The O2 continues to provide a terrific home for the Finals. In the six years the event has been played there, the total attendance has now passed the 1.5 million mark and online audiences continue to grow rapidly with this year’s 19 million fan visits representing a 37 percent increase on last year. The tournament is also televised by 56 different broadcasters in 195 territories making it a truly global sporting highlight.

The ATP is fully committed to continue the spectacular growth of the game and capitalise on the success of the season finale and the Tour as a whole. One unique way of doing this has been the formation of two special advisory boards. Their role will be to assist ATP leadership in the development of a long-term plan for the Tour.

The Business Advisory Board comprises David Hill (Senior Vice President, 21 Century Fox), Matthew Freud (Chairman, Freuds), Tommy Hilfiger (Principal Designer, Tommy Hilfiger) and Robert Senior (CEO, Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Group).

The Legends Advisory Board features some of the biggest names in the history of men’s professional tennis, and consists of John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, Carlos Moya and Lleyton Hewitt. Together that group has held the No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking for a total of 284 weeks.

With the spectacular 2014 season a great foundation, 2015 promises to be one of the most exciting and significant years in the history of the ATP.

The Tour will take place across 60 tournaments in 30 countries, including a first-ever visit to Turkey, where the inaugural tournament will be played at a state-of-the-art facility in Istanbul, as well as new tournaments in Quito, Ecuador, and Geneva, Switzerland.

The grasscourt season has also been extended as Wimbledon moves back a week allowing us to ramp up the importance of the grasscourt swing. The extra week allows for a better transition from the clay to the grass and the swing will carry extra weight in the Emirates ATP Rankings with both Gerry Weber Open at Halle and the Aegon Championships at Queens being recategorised as ATP World Tour 500 events.

With the likelihood that the established stars will continue to face challenges from the rising stars in the game, 2015 is set to be a season to remember for all tennis fans and I hope you join us to watch it unfold.

— The author is an ATP Executive Chairman & President