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Tennis return: The changes in the ATP ranking

July 7, 2020

Written By,

Rui Sousa

Tennis return: The changes in the ATP ranking

ATP released the set of new rules related to the tennis player’s rankings that will take effect over the next year. The crisis and the stoppage caused by the coronavirus pandemic forced the men´s circuit to make changes in the traditional system. As a general rule, the ATP works through the defended points system. The player starts the season with the points he collected in the previous year and over the next 52 weeks the current season points are discounted or added in a weekly update.

According to the new rules, the new rankings will count for 22 months. The idea is to protect the players who didn´t play in 2020 and who do not feel comfortable doing it until the end of 2020. Any point will be lost until the season end.

The main changes in the ATP rankings

  • The ranking system will be extended to 22 months (March 2019 until December 2020);
  • The 18 best results of that period will be counted. Any tournament can be used more than once. If a player played Roland Garros two times, will keep the best result;
  • Any player loses points until the end of 2020;
  • Points earned between 2019 and 2020 will only be discounted in 2021 on the tournament original date. If someone score points in the 2020 Roland Garros, these points will be discounted in October.

The consequences of the new ATP ranking points system

The fact that any player loses points in 2020 could retire pressure from the main stars. Many players are not comfortable with the competition in the pandemic context and it is expected that many major tournaments will not have all the big stars. Grand Slams and Masters 1000 are no longer mandatory, as there will be no points to defend. This can lead players to make more careful and intelligent management of their calendar.

READ HERE more Tennis articles

Written By,

Rui Sousa

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