The Nitto ATP Finals are the culmination of a year’s work on the gruelling global men’s tennis tour, and the Nitto ATP Finals Singles Trophy remains one of the most highly prized in world sport.
Thomas Lyte was commissioned to design and make the trophy in 2009 – the year that the finals, then sponsored by Barclays, came to London’s O2, one of the world’s most well-known and popular music and entertainment arenas.
As silversmiths and goldsmiths to her Majesty the Queen, Thomas Lyte is used to working with pieces of exquisite beauty. And since its inception, Thomas Lyte’s ATP Singles trophy has become one of the most widely recognised in sport, with its distinctive eight-sided design standing out as clearly today as when the idea was first conceived in our initial design meetings with the ATP.
The list of previous winners includes such incomparable talents as Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe, all of whom deserve their place in tennis’s pantheon of greats. The Thomas Lyte trophy is a similar illustration of our quest for perfection and a reflection of our passion for sport and iconic events such as the end of season showdown, which has now moved from London’s O2 to Turin’s Pala Alpitour.
Thomas Lyte’s long-standing affiliation with the ATP was formalised in November 2021, when we were named as the Official Trophy and Silverware Supplier to the Nitto ATP Finals.
One of the most striking things about the ATP Final Singles Trophy is its eight-sided shape – a design which pays homage to the eight players who have battled through to the end-of-season event. Sitting at a height of 60cm, this hand-crafted piece of silverware is the result of hours of painstaking work in our London workshop, with our team of passionate and experienced silversmiths and goldsmiths using age-old techniques to create a modern work of art.
Like so many other trophies produced by Thomas Lyte, it’s a piece of silverware in constant demand and it’s heavy schedule means that it can often return to us with an unusual array of dents or scratches. Our elite specialist silversmith and goldsmiths, though, know this trophy better than anyone and work tirelessly to restore it year-on-year.
Once the trophy has gone through the final polishing process – with our specialists using Thomas Lyte’s cutting edge motorised polishing lathes, which spin at speeds of 300rpm, to complete the look of a stunning trophy which has glistened under the lights of some of Europe’s largest and prestigious indoor arenas – it is then passed to our quality control team.
Using a rigorous set of criteria, the ATP Finals Single Trophy is then signed off and returned to the ATP, ready for the next tennis great to lift it aloft.
First played as The Masters, held in Tokyo in 1970, the ATP Finals is now one of the highlights of the sporting calendar and an event that captures the imagination in cities around the world as the sporting year draws to a close. That initial competition was one by Stan Smith, while Romania’s Ilie Nastase would go on to claim four of the next five titles.
The event, which traditionally involves the top eight players in the world, injuries permitting, is contested in a round-robin format, with the best four finishers in two separate groups making it through the semi-finals before the winners have the chance to compete for a trophy designed and made in our London workshop.
The list of names on the trophy includes some of the greatest to have played the game, including Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Roger Federer, Novak Djokavic and Andy Murray.
Having lived a peripatetic existence for much of its life, the ATP Finals found a home in London between 2009 and 2020 before moving to Turin after an 11-year run at the O2.
As well as the ATP Finals Singles Trophy, Thomas Lyte is proud to be the designer and manufacturer of the ATP World No. 1 Singles Trophy, the Nitto ATP Finals Doubles Trophy, and the ATP World No. 1 Doubles Trophy, all of which are awarded at the concluding event of the tennis season. Our relationship with the sport also extends to making and restoring the prestigious WTA Finals Singles Trophy and restoring the Davis Cup, a trophy first played for in 1900.
Our team make the conceivable possible, while preserving traditional skills, pioneering modern methods, and promoting authentic British craft across the globe. Combining the latest technologies with centuries of knowledge, Thomas Lyte’s silver workshops in London, England house world-class facilities for an elite team of designers and makers, masters of their craft. Learn about 3D printing, electroforming and other new technologies that our team have introduced to our sustainable handcrafting process.
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Thomas Lyte are proud to be the designers and makers of the Nitto ATP Finals Singles Trophy.
Take a look at these fast facts about one of the most desired trophies in world tennis.
