London: After 61 tournaments across 31 countries, the 2015 ATP World Tour season is building to a mighty climax with the elite eight singles players and doubles teams of the year now identified as they head into prestigious season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The Tour has just completed another highly successful Asian Swing and the indoor circuit in Europe with those key events helping further identify the best performers of the year.

ATP World No 1 Novak Djokovic continued his remarkable season with some standout performances in the autumn with wins at the Masters 1000 events in both Shanghai and Paris as well as the 500 tournament in Beijing.

His Paris victory over Andy Murray was his 26th Masters 1000 career title victory, notching up a remarkable sixth Masters 1000 win for the year — a record since the events were first linked together as a category in 1990.

His appearance in the Paris final was his 14th straight final and his ultimate victory there means he heads into the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London riding a 22-match winning streak.

But it wasn’t all Djokovic as the ATP World Tour wound its way through Asia and Europe.

Roger Federer delighted his legion of local Swiss fans with a victory over rival Rafael Nadal to claim a seventh career victory in Basel, and the irrepressible Spaniard David Ferrer toughed out victories in Vienna and Kuala Lumpur, elevating him into the elite season ending field for the seventh time in his remarkable career.

Stan Wawrinka won in Tokyo and Tomas Berdych claimed victories in Stockholm and Shenzhen and those performances confirmed that both fan favourites would arrive in London in good form.

There were also some exciting results for some players just outside the top eight, with late season wins for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic and Joao Sousa.

So at the end of the regular season it was Djokovic, Murray, Federer, Wawrinka, Nadal, Berdych, Ferrer and Kei Nishikori who earned their way into the highly popular season ending event at London’s O2 stadium. Such a talented field guarantees a blockbuster end to the year.

I’m also pleased to report we will be launching a new “Finals Club” initiative at this year’s tournament, aimed at celebrating the former champions of the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, as well as recognising all singles players and doubles teams to have qualified for the Tour’s season-ending tournament since the inaugural event in Tokyo in 1970.

The Finals Club initiative will see many of the game’s former greats from the past 45 years return to the season-ending tournament, where they will be able to reconnect with the sport, their peers, as well as the world’s best players of today.

While players from subsequent decades will be celebrated in future years, the launch of the Finals Club this year will be highlighted by the renaming of Groups A and B for both the singles and doubles in honour of players that made an indelible mark on the tournament in the 1970s, with groups A and B in singles renamed in honour of Stan Smith and Ilie Nastase. In doubles, the groups will be renamed in honour of Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith and Peter Fleming and John McEnroe.

The doubles event at this year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is set to be more exciting than ever, with four different teams still in contention to finish the season as the World No 1 doubles team. All will be determined at The O2.

There was also some more good news for the ATP World Tour on the business front with Peugeot joining the Tour in a new global partnership starting next year.

Peugeot will become a platinum partner as well as the Official Car at more than 20 ATP World Tour tournaments, providing a fleet of 500 vehicles worldwide. Through the partnership, Peugeot will provide first-class transport for players, officials, VIPs, as well as the general public across the events, cementing their position as the pre-eminent car brand in tennis.

Whether you are tuning in online, on television or on-site, we hope you enjoy the last tournament of the 2015 ATP World Tour season, set to get under way this Sunday at The O2. Only the best eight singles players and doubles teams have made it this far, and we look forward to another spectacular finish to the season in front of sell-out crowds in London.

-Chris Kermode is ATP Executive Chairman and President.