18-25 Oct. The world's leading men's tennis stars come to Madrid's newly-renovated Rocdromo for the latest round of the Masters Series. The Masters Series was created in order to streamline the abundance of tournaments sanctioned by the ATP, the governing body of men's profesional tennis, each competing for TV rights and sponsors. In December 1999, the ATP announced that it was gutting its system of tournaments and "rebranding" itself as more of a race to crown a men's tennis champion, modelling its marketing on global league giants like NFL, NBA and Formula One racing. The Masters Series includes four tournaments in North America and five in Europe. The season-ending Tennis Masters Cup rotates through major world capitals and showcases the year's top eight players. For a player to win the championship, he must play in each tournament. Miss just one, and it would be almost impossible to accumulate enough points to qualify as one of the big eight, who compete for the final prize.