Purpose: The competitive performance in sport is determined by the effectiveness of technical and tactical actions (Gomez-Ruano. 2017). In a sport such as tennis, analyses of competition statistics have been carried out (Reid et al.. 2010); characteristics of winners and losers players (Martinez-Gallego et al.. 2013; Torres-Luque et al.. 2017); players` movement profiles (Pereira et al.. 2017) or technical and tactical efficiency (Filipcic et al.. 2015). In spite of this, there is no much information about the differences that may exist on the criteria which define the winner or loser with respect to the last stroke executed. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to analyze the differences between the winner and loser of the game in terms of the last point executed in elite tennis players. Methods: Fifteen individual men`s tennis matches belonging to the ATP World Tour Finals were determined. A total of 1434 strokes were analyzed. Some variables of each stroke were analyzed; a) Type of stroke (nine strokes without service); b) Strike zone (twelve areas); c) Bounce zone (four areas): d) Type of continuity (winners or errors). Results: The results show the importance of the backhand, left and passing shot strokes to win the match (p<0.001) and the importance of the closer ball bounce to the baseline (p<0.05). There are no statistically significant differences in the strike zone (p> 0.05). Conclusions: The winner players in the ATP World Tour Finals use more backhand, left and passing shot strokes to win the match. At the same time, it does not matter a lot the strike zone where you hit as the ball always bounces close to the baseline.
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