If Stanislas Wawrinka's life depended on the outcome of one tennis match he would surely want Rafa Nadal fighting his corner, and while the stakes were not as high as life or death on Friday the Swiss player's fate was in safe hands.
Leander Paes won his second Challenger level title of the season, lifting the Santo Domingo Open trophy with partner Miguel Angel Reyyes-Varela.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out in the third round of the Paris Masters when he lost 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-6(3) against South African Kevin Anderson on Thursday, suffering his fourth defeat in five matches.
Roger Federer became the first player to win the ATP World Tour Finals six times but had to weather a storming fightback by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga before retaining his title with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 victory at the O2 on Sunday.
Roger Federer has now won all the seven finals he has contested in Cincinnati. Rediff.com takes a look at a few other events that have ensured prolific returns for the Swiss master.
The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna booked the final berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London after advancing to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.
Spain's David Ferrer, his eyes fixed on qualifying yet again for the ATP World Tour Finals, romped past fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals of the Vienna Open on Thursday.
Roger Federer still looked as fresh as a daisy as he polished off Mardy Fish to post a 100 percent record in the group stage of the ATP World Tour Finals, on Thursday, which is more than can be said for most of his main rivals.
Former World No. 1 Rafa Nadal admitted he has struggled of late to rekindle his passion for tennis on Thursday after defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent him spinning out of the ATP World Tour Finals at the group stage.
Roger Federer completed his round-robin matches at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 defeat of American Mardy Fish at the O2 Arena on Thursday.
World number one Novak Djokovic clawed his way to victory over Tomas Berdych in his opening match at the ATP World Tour Finals on Monday but Andy Murray's prospects look bleak after a groin injury flared up in his shock defeat by David Ferrer.
Roger Federer will aim to finish an off key year on a high note by winning a record sixth title at the ATP World Tour finals which start on Sunday at London's O2 Arena, a venue more famous for staging the biggest acts in the music business.
World number one Novak Djokovic still has some way to go before he can boast the same aura Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have on the circuit, according to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco overcame a sluggish start to beat Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the Paris Masters on Monday and set up a second round meeting with Tomas Berdych.
Roger Federer, who beat Nadal to claim the ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth time with a show of force, described Rafael Nadal's season as one any player "could only dream of".
World No 1 Novak Djokovic was beaten by Tomas Machac in the Geneva Open semi-finals.
For a set not even the granite defence of Novak Djokovic could withstand the irresistible brute force of Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday but the Serb then rode out the storm to win the opening semi-final at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer 7-6, 4-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic completed a 100 percent round-robin record at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-2, 7-6 defeat of Czech Tomas Berdych on Friday booking his place in the semi-finals.
They now face eighth-seeded pair of Canada's Vasek Pospisil and local boy Jack Sock, whom they beat 6-1, 6-4 in Paris.
World number one Rafael Nadal has booked a place in the end-of-season ATP World Tour finals being staged in London for the first time, organisers said on Tuesday.
Mahesh Bhupathi clinched his 50th career title and his first with Rohan Bopanna when the duo outwitted Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski to lift the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships doubles men's trophy.
Indian tennis ace Devvarman defeated Belgian Xavier Malisse 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) in a two-hour third round contest at Indian Wells on Monday to set up a meeting with World No 1 Rafael Nadal next.
Roger Federer's unique appeal showed no sign of waning on Sunday as he gate-crashed what was supposed to be Andy Murray's party in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna's hopes of making it to the semi-finals at the ATP World Tour Finals remained alive after they beat Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau 6-3, 5-7, 10-5 in their second outing at the O2 Arena, in London, on Wednesday.
David Ferrer, the lesser known Spaniard in the ATP World Tour Finals, burst out of Rafa Nadal's shadow to reach the last four on Wednesday with a demolition job on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic at the O2 Arena, in London.
The Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna has set up a summit clash with Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek after both the pairs won their respective semi-final matches in the Shanghai Masters on Saturday.
Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer set the stage for a grand finale to the men's season on Saturday when they demonstrated just what seperates them from the bunch to seal a dream final at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Rafa Nadal branded comments made by former French tennis player Yannick Noah about doping as "stupid" on Sunday, saying they were the words of a "kid".
Rafael Nadal roared into the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Friday with a 7-6, 6-1 defeat of Czech Tomas Berdych who later accused the Spaniard of intimidating the umpire.
Andy Roddick's hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals were hanging by a thread on Wednesday as the American was beaten 7-5, 6-3 by revived Czech Tomas Berdych at the O2 Arena.
Zverev and Rublev among dark horses for French Open
Bopanna had won this event with compatriot Divij Sharan in 2019.
Former world number one Andy Murray is in line to play Grigor Dimitrov in the opening round of the inaugural ATP Cup, with Bulgaria qualifying among the final six teams in the nation-based tournament.
Rafael Nadal refused to let a good old-fashioned beating at the hands of fierce rival Novak Djokovic on Monday take the gloss off a sensational year.
The victory over the 19-times Grand Slam champion was the second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title of the season for the 20-year-old German, who also beat Novak Djokovic in Rome.
Novak Djokovic was left sweating on a place in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday after losing for the first time in his career to fellow-Serb Janko Tipsarevic.
Unseeded Swede Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley of Australia captured their second ATP World Tour team title on Saturday evening, beating second seeds Leander Paes of India and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.