The ATP-WTA Tours are both scheduled to return next month, and there will be one major change to watch out for when tennis gets back in action.
The two Tours have announced an adjustment to their ranking systems that will take effect once play resumes. This change has been brought about by the long delay to the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, The All England Lawn Tennis Club has also made some significant announcements in the wake of Wimbledon’s cancellation this year, which includes a major change that will affect the men’s singles tournament moving forward.
SBOBET is here to help you get caught up with all the latest news in both the WTA and ATP Tours ahead of their August return.
ATP, WTA make adjustment to ranking system
The ATP and WTA Tours have announced that they will revise the calculations for the players’ rankings once they resume play next month.
The rankings, which has traditionally used a certain number of best tournament results over a 52-week span (“Best 16” for WTA, “Best 18” for ATP), will now cover a period of 22 months, from March 2019 up to December 2020.
However, a player cannot count the same Tour-level tournament twice. So if s/he plays in the same tournament twice, only the better of the two results will be counted in his/her ranking calculation.
Meanwhile, points added in 2020 will remain on a player’s ranking for 52 weeks, or until the event is played again in 2021, whichever comes first.
The ATP-WTA Rankings have been frozen since 16 March 2020, just days after the Tours were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Dominic Thiem are currently the top three players in the ATP ranking, while Ashleigh Barty, Simona Halep, and Karolina Pliskova are the top three in the WTA.
The rankings play a significant part in matchups, and in turn ATP-WTA 2020 betting odds, so it’s good that both Tours have decided to make this adjustment to ensure fairness moving forward.
Wimbledon to pay out prize money despite cancellation
There are no ATP-WTA 2020 highlights from Wimbledon this year as the grass-court Grand Slam was cancelled for the first time since World War II due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But despite the cancellation, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has announced that it will still allocate prize money to the 620 players from the ATP-WTA Tours who would’ve qualified to the main draw or the qualifying event of Wimbledon.
Based on their world ranking, the 224 players who would have competed in the qualifying will each receive £12,500, while 256 players who would have competed in the singles main draw will each receive £25,000. Doubles and wheelchair players will also be compensated, bringing the total prize money handed out to £10 million.
“Immediately following the cancellation of The Championships, we turned our attention to how we could assist those who help make Wimbledon happen,” said Richard Lewis CBE, AELTC Chief Executive.
“We know these months of uncertainty have been very worrying for these groups, including the players, many of whom have faced financial difficulty during this period and who would have quite rightly anticipated the opportunity to earn prize money at Wimbledon based on their world ranking.”
Wimbledon to change seeding system in men’s draw
But that wasn’t Wimbledon’s only major announcement. The All-England Lawn Tennis Club also announced that it would finally do away with its old grass court seeding formula, which it has used since 2002 to determine seeding in The Championships of the men’s singles draw.
“Since last year’s Championships, we have also taken the time to give consideration to the evolution of the sport and the mechanisms of allocating seeding for The Championships. Given the quality of competition, entertainment and modern grass courts, following detailed discussion with the player groups, the AELTC has decided that the grass court seeding formula used since 2002 has served its time, and from The Championships 2021 seeding for the Gentlemen’s singles draw will be based solely on ranking.”
The Wimbledon women’s draw already determines seedings based on the WTA rankings, so there will be no change to its method of seeding.
This change will be a blow to men’s players who have had disproportional success on grass. But on the whole, it’s a welcome change that ensures more fairness in terms of seeding at the famous Grand Slam.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE TENNIS STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
