One of the most senior members of the German Tennis Federation (DTB) has implied that Roger Federer used his position to influence a change to the ranking system in order to protect himself.
Dirk Hordorff, who is the vice president of his national organisation, has suggested that the 20-time Grand Slam champion used his place on the ATP Player Council to drive a change. Earlier this year the ATP adjusted their ranking calculations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In November it was confirmed by the ATP that a player’s position will be based on a best of 24-month scenario, which is an increase of two months, to preserve what they say is ‘merit, fairness and mobility.’
39-year-old Federer has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this change. Due to injury he has only managed to play in one tournament this year but is still currently ranked fifth in the world. If the old system remained he would have been outside of the top 20. Something Hordorff believes the Swiss had a direct role in.
“Roger Federer simply changed the ranking method to protect himself. It is irresponsible and quite simply incorrect,” he told Tennisnet.com’s “Quiet, please” podcast.
“In my opinion, he takes advantage of his position on the Players’ Council. It must nevertheless be said that without the change in ranking system, Roger Federer would not be in the top 50.”
“That the ATP Finals, which is the 19th tournament of the year anyway, will stay there for two years? That’s perverse.”
Federer currently has 6630 ranking points which is over 2000 more than Andrey Rublev despite the Russian winning five ATP titles this season and 41 matches overall. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev are the only players currently ranked higher than him.
Elaborating further in an email exchange with UbiTennis on Thursday, Hordorff said he doesn’t see a ‘logical reason’ in the decision to allow the ATP Finals to count twice as part of the ranking calculations.
“It’s very strange the player council in the days before the Masters final in London starts supporting a rule change that this event counts twice for the ranking,” he said.
“Especially with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, two participants who are members of this council.’
“I can’t see any logical reason for this decision and can’t see that they represent the majority of the players.”
Hordorff is a veteran tennis coach who has worked with Rainer Schuettler, Vasek Pospisil and Janko Tipsarevic. Besides his work in his home country of Germany, he was also a Davis Cup and Olympic coach for Taiwan.
