ATP Rankings explained

The ATP ranking system can appear quite confusing to the untrained eye, especially when a player can get to a final of a tournament, and still lose points, so I will do my best to clarify it.

Essentially it is quite simple; a players points for the year are calculated from 13 mandatory events (the four Grand Slams, and nine Master Series events) plus five other International Series tournaments. If a player misses one or more of the ‘mandatory’ events, then they can replace it with the appropriate amount of International Series tournaments.

It works on the principle of a players ‘Best 18’ results from the year. The rankings do not stop and start at a particular date, like the end of a football season. They are ongoing, so players are constantly having to battle to retain points they may have won the previous year.

For example, last season Rafael Nadal won the upcoming Master Series event at Indian Wells (which netted him a cool 500 points). That means that should he finish as runner up this time round (350 points), it will result in a net loss of 150 points from last year. The bigger the tournament, the more points there are on offer. The official points breakdown is as follows:

Grand Slam: Winner-1000, Final- 700, Semi- 450, Quarters- 250, Round of 16 – 150, Round of 32 – 75, Round of 64 – 35, Round of 128 – 5

Master Series: Winner- 500, Final – 350, Semi -225, Quarters- 125, Round of 16- 75, Round of 32- 35, Round of 64- 5

The International Series events vary somwhat depending on the size of the tournament but a rough guide is: Winner- 250, Final- 175, Semi -110, Quarter – 60, Round of 16 – 25, Round of 32- 15

Hopefully that has made the ATP ranking system slightly clearer, although it might have made it even more confusing. Any comments are welcome. For more information, check out the Rankings FAQ.