Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic & Rafael Nadal all stand to gain as ATP announces another change to ranking system
The ATP announced early on Wednesday that they will have a 'Best-Of' system for the world rankings until August this year. That decision will benefit the likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who had some big results during the middle of the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
As per the new system, for all the hardcourt and claycourt events that are normally scheduled between March and August but couldn't take place in 2020, the players will either maintain 50% of the points they received in 2019, or 100% of the points they gain in 2021 - whichever is greater.
For the claycourt events that were managed to be rescheduled in 2020 (Kitzbuhel, Hamburg, Rome Masters and Roland Garros), points gained from the 2019 edition will be dropped. In the case of those tournaments, either 50% of the 2020 points or 100% of the 2021 points will be taken into consideration.
The ATP ranking system is set to return to the normal 52-week rolling basis from 16th August 2021, beginning the week of the Cincinnati Masters.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic could take advantage of the ranking system by making strategic appearances and withdrawals
The players who saw a lot of success at the 2019 and 2020 seasons stand to gain form the rankings decision by the ATP.
Roger Federer, who recently withdrew from the Miami Masters ahead of his highly anticipated comeback, will receive 500 points from that tournament without even participating in it. The Swiss maestro is set to appear in Doha and Dubai, both tournaments where he has points to gain; the new system will help him ease his way back to the tour.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, has the option of skipping the Rome Masters this season - an act that will see him drop just 500 points. The Serb is also guaranteed to retain at least 600 points from his runner-up finish at last year's French Open.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will also retain a minimum of 1000 and 600 points respectively from their exploits at Wimbledon 2019.
If injury or an uncharacteristic early-round exit derails Rafael Nadal's Roland Garros, he too will retain at least 1000 points. Moreover, Nadal's triumph at the Rogers Cup in 2019 means he could retain 500 points and skip the event in Canada - thus paving the way for him to play Cincinnatti for the first time since 2017.
Roger Federer also has 600 points from reaching the final at Indian Wells in 2019, and as things stand those points will not drop at all. But if the event is rescheduled and Federer chooses not to play, he will maintain at least 300 points.