The governing body of men’s tennis has issued a series of guidelines which aims to support players during the COVID-19 pandemic with the creation of a new protected ranking.
Under new rules set out by the ATP, players who are absent from the Tour for four or more weeks will be eligible to protect their spot in the rankings. The idea being that it supports those who may incorporate difficulties travelling internationally due to the various restrictions which are currently in place. In a press release the ATP says it will allow ‘greater flexibility’ in the players scheduling without it having a negative impact on them.
However, the new rule cannot be applied to Grand Slam or Olympic tennis events which fall under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation. Furthermore, players will only be allowed to use the protected ranking to enter the amount of Masters 1000 tournaments that they have missed.
The ‘best of’ logic approach to how a player’s ranking is calculated has been extended until at least August 9th this year. The somewhat complex calculation means that points won from events between March 4th – August 5th 2019, which were not played in 2020, will be extended a further 52 weeks and weighted at 50%. Usually a player’s ranking is based on their best performances at a series of events over a fixed period but due to the pandemic numerous changes have been made. So for example a player can count 50% of their result from the 2019 Monte Carlo Masters or 100% from this year’s Monte Carlo Masters depending on which one is better. They are not allowed to use the same event twice in the calculation.
The ATP Players Council has also given their backing to the redistribution of funds from ATP Bonus Pool which was normally issued to the top 12 players at the end of the season. Now it will be used to increase the minimum prize money levels at both ATP 250 and ATP 500 tournaments to 80% and 60%. It was previously set at 50%.
“Our tournaments’ revenues continue to be severely impacted by restrictions on ticket sales, and a substantial improvement on this front looks unlikely before mid-year. Our focus is to ensure the Tour continues supporting as many players as possible and I would like to thank the top-ranked players and the Player Council for supporting this measure, which will help improve conditions for the larger player group over the coming months.” Said ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi.
Finally, every tournament on the ATP and Challenger Tour will be presented with up to $10,000 to fund hotel accommodation should any player be required to enter isolation or quarantine upon a positive COVID-19 test.
