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A general view during the singles final between Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and David Goffin of Belgium during day eight of the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals at O2 Arena on November 19, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
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A general view during the singles final between Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and David Goffin of Belgium during day eight of the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals at O2 Arena on November 19, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Changes and adaptations are part of tennis. The sport is constantly evolving and also adjusting itself especially at this time of the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, the ATP decided to amend its ‘Best of 22-month ranking’ to a ‘Best of 24-month ranking’.
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This means that now no player will start to drop any points till the first week of March 2021. Earlier in Jul7 2020, the ATP announced that the period of the 2019 rankings would extend till December 2020- a total of 22 months. This took place due to the sudden outbreak of COVD-19 in March 2020. However, now it has extended till March 2021.
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Noah Rubin of the United States plays a forehand in his second-round match against Roger Federer of Switzerland on day three of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 18, 2017, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Michael Dodge/Getty Images)
In a recent interview, the American tennis player Noah Rubin criticized this step of the ATP. Although Rubin agreed that it was helping players, he listed down some of the drawbacks as well.
“It’s saving a lot of players, just for the time being, but players can’t really move up the rankings unless they’re doing extremely well,” claimed the 24-year-old.
Rubin was definitely not very happy with the move of the ATP. He believed that it was helping the players with good points. But, the players at the bottom had to perform much more consistently in order to win some points.
New ATP system not helping a majority of tennis players
Rubin didn’t end here and said that several organizers had already cut off the prize money of various tournaments. He highlighted that in a situation like this, the ranking system was adding more difficulties for the players.
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Tennis legend Ken Rosewall looks on during the 2020 ATP Cup Draw at The Sydney Opera House on September 16, 2019, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
“With the prize money (cuts) players are working twice as hard for half the money,” added Rubin.
2013 Wimbledon winner Marion Bartoli also seconded Rubin’s opinions. Although she believed that it was good for the players between 50-100 in rankings, she emphasized that for the top 10 players, there could have been a better solution.
“For the top 10 maybe they could have found a better solution, whereas you have a No 1 who has not played. I think a better solution would have been if a player had been able to play in a tournament, then you should withdraw the points from last year and keep the points from this year,” said Bartoli.
Some are definitely not liking the new ranking system of the ATP as they feel it has increased their workload. However, it has not received much criticism from any of the senior players.
Also Read: The impact of delay of the Australian Open on the ATP and WTA calendar
