ATP Rankings system revised amid Covid-19 with ‘Best 18’ now covering a 22-month period

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The ATP Tour has announced changes to the ATP Rankings system to counter the impact of the coronavirus pandemic with the calculations now covering a 22-month period.

Tennis has been on a hiatus since the start of March and the ATP Tour opted to freeze the Rankings as a result.

However, the sport will return in August and the ATP has made temporary tweaks to the current system following consultation with the four Grand Slam tournaments and the International Tennis Federation.

Instead of the usual 12-month rolling period that takes into account a player’s “Best 18” results, it will now cover a period of 22 months (March 2019 – December 2020).

According to the ATP, 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.

A player won’t be able to count the same tournament result twice in his “Best 18” breakdown while points added in 2020 will remain on a player’s Ranking for 52 weeks, or until the event is played again in 2021.

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