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ATP urged to consider tennis scheduling changes
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ATP rankings get major temporary overhaul to adjust for coronavirus scheduling havoc


The ATP rankings will be revised the current system to adjust for the scheduling havoc caused by the coronavirus, they have confirmed.

The tour had to be suspended in March and is only just ready to resume, with August being the provisional date.

When it returns, it will return with a bang with both the US Open and the French Open still to play, as well as three Masters-level events.

That has obviously played chaos with the ATP rankings, with players not getting the chance to defend the points they won last season.

In response the ATP have released the the following statement:

In anticipation of a return to competition in August, the Rankings, which traditionally operate on a “Best 18” results basis over 52 weeks, will now cover a period of 22 months (March 2019 – December 2020).

The revised Rankings system aims to deliver the following key objectives:

• Provide flexibility & fairness to players across all levels in parallel with the condensed number of points available as part of the revised provisional 2020 calendar.
• Provide stability for players who cannot or prefer not to compete in 2020 due to health & safety.
• Provide a system that can adapt to further changes in the calendar if necessary.
• Reward players who perform well following the resumption of the Tour in 2020.
• Retain the principle of defending tournament points week by week in 2021, maintaining player mobility in the rankings.

 

BEST OF 2019 & 2020 RESULTS:

Among the key elements of the revised 22-month Ranking system are the following:

• A player’s ranking will be comprised of his “Best 18” results between March 2019 and December 2020.
• A player cannot count the same Tour-level tournament twice in his “Best 18” breakdown. For example, a player who played the Mutua Madrid Open in 2019 and plays Madrid again in 2020, will count the better of those two results.
• Tour-level tournament points added in 2020 that count in a player’s Ranking Breakdown will remain on a player’s ranking for 52 weeks, or until the event in question is played again in 2021, whichever comes first.

Novak Djokovic is the current world number one, with Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem making up the rest of the top three.


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.