ATP CHAMPIONS RACE 2000
What is it?
An easy to understand, simple to follow annual race from season start to season end. Every player starts at zero at the beginning of the year and the player who accumulates the most points by season end is the World Number 1.
How does it work?
Every player, regardless of his performances in the previous year, starts with zero points. Players count 18 performances in their ATP Champions Race total. Players eligible to enter the Grand Slams and Tennis Masters Series events must count those events and their best five other results from the International Series events.
Build rivalries and showcase the game
What if a player is injured and can't play?
If eligible to play in one of the top 13 events, a player must count the points from these events, even if it is a zero because he missed the event. Just as in Formula One and numerous other sports, if a competitor misses a race or an event, he loses his chance to earn points.
How does a player qualify for tournaments?
His entry status will be determined by his standing on the ATP Entry System, a rolling 52 week calculation based on the same 18 tournament rules that apply to the ATP Champions Race.
Why a new points race?
Extensive research has shown the best of 14, 52 week rolling ranking system was hard to understand and difficult to follow for tennis fans and was being increasingly criticised. In short the system had reached its "use by" date. The new ATP Champions Race is designed to make the game easier to follow, more fan friendly and to boost the world-wide popularity of the sport.
ATP ENTRY SYSTEM
What is it?
It is a 52 week rolling ranking system based on a player’s 18 tournament results. Players ranked high enough to qualify for the Grand Slams and Tennis Masters Series tournaments must count those results, even if not playing results in zero points. In addition they count their best five International Series events.
Why continue with a 52 week rolling system at all?
To determine seedings and tournament entry status, it is not practical to use the ATP Champions Race. The Race, while indicating the hottest players in the game at any stage, does not necessarily indicate an overall standing in the game. This is especially valid at the start of the year when early tournament winners may well be leading the Race, but are not yet established top players for the purposes of seeding and tournament entry.
Won't it be confusing to have both the 52 week Entry System and the annual ATP Champions Race?
It shouldn't be confusing at all. With the emphasis on the Race, tennis fans will see a clear progression through the year and will be able to focus on who's hot and who's not. The concept of a race to the top will be much more clearly and simply defined. The Entry System will be of secondary importance and will be used chiefly to determine entry status and
seedings.
Why not continue to emphasise the 52 week system?
Research has shown that the best of 14 ranking system has been a turn off for tennis fans, who find it difficult to understand and therefore hard to follow. There has also been a large and growing chorus of criticism in the media. The 52 week Entry System, however, has a role to play in the game for entries and seedings and therefore will be preserved, but with the emphasis given to the easier to follow ATP Champions Race.
MANDATORY PARTICIPATION
What is it?
Players eligible, by virtue of their ATP Entry System standing, to play in the Tennis Master Series events will be required to play. In addition they must count the points they earn from those events in their ATP Champions Race and ATP Entry System.
Why should these players be required to compete in the Tennis Masters Series events?
Men's tennis has become a powerful game with a considerable and rapidly growing depth of talent. No longer is it possible for a handful of players to dominate the game and the headlines. To help build rivalries and to showcase the game of tennis, it is necessary for the top players to face each other on a regular basis and to do it in a clearly defined elite level of events at the top of the game.
Will a lengthy injury break result in a player's ranking plummeting so low he can't enter events after recovering?
No. Players will still have the benefit of a protected entry ranking that will allow them a period of protected entry status. However the ATP Champions Race total will reflect only what they have achieved on the court during the year and will not be protected.
Doesn't the mandatory system close out other players from qualifying for the top events?
Definitely not. Extensive research using computer models shows there is still considerable mobility. Players who do not qualify for a top event have the chance to count a result from an additional International Series event in their best 18. Players will move up and down on the ATP Entry System as they have in previous years.
Won't the mandatory participation result in more injuries?
No. History has shown that the top players compete in upward of 20 events in any given year. This need not change at all.
BONUS POINTS
Why won't bonus points be counted in the new ATP Champions Race and ATP Entry System?
Research has shown that the bonus points are less relevant now than they were in the past. In the days where fewer top players dominated the game, a win over a higher ranked player was more significant and worthy of a bonus. However with the dramatic increase in depth and equality in the men's game now, bonus points are less appropriate. In addition, within the new simple-to-understand annual ATP Champions Race, bonus points would have made it more complicated.
