El professional tennis has as its absolute reference the ranking. In fact, the status of professional tennis player is acquired figuring in their classification, of course worldwide, since it means meeting the criteria and requirements to take part in the tournaments, of various categories, recognized by the Association of Professional Tennis Players and the Women’s Tennis Players Association, that is, the ATP and the WTA.
The status of each tennis player is determined by their posici�n in this ranking which, evidently, is based on their performance in the scoring tournaments. Seed positions are determined by position in the ranking.
Not all scorable citations depend organically on these associations because, for example, the four Grand Slam events They depend on the International Tennis Federation – although, in practice, they are independent – just as, at the other extreme, the ITF circuit, which is the most modest level of professional tennis.
The rankings try to reflect the performance of each tennis player in the most reliable way possible. Since its establishment –1973 in the male case and 1975 in the female case- have undergone several reforms although the basis is the same: providing a continuous evaluation during the 52 weeks of the year. Whoever reaches first place, at any time, can boast of having been World Number 1 for the rest of his life, although ‘the number 1 of the year’ is the one who occupies the position the season finale.
The current configuration, similar in the men’s and women’s circuits, dates back to 1998-99, when the ATP established a ‘mini-circuit’ of tournaments of a category immediately lower than the Grand Slam, and to ensure them a poster in keeping with their category, I decreed the obligatory to participate for all tennis players with sufficient ranking. Anyone who did not do so would receive a ‘0’ in the corresponding box. Were the Super 9, now called Masters 1.000.
How the ATP and WTA rankings work: this is the distribution of points at WimbledonBRAND
How the ATP ranking is calculated
The calculation of the ranking of each tennis player is carried out by adding a m�ximo of 19 quotes. For the ‘top 30’ ATP the four Grand Slams are mandatory: Open de Australia, Roland Garros, Wimbledon y US Open and eight Masters 1000 (Monte Carlo is not mandatory).
If female the best join 16 results in the individual category and the best 11 in doubles. Among them must be the four Grand Slams and four mandatory WTA 1000s (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing), whenever possible. Currently, if you were unable to compete in one of the events’mandatory‘, the score is taken from another quote of lower category.
Attached to this structure is the puntuaci�n of each tournament. For some seasons now, the ATP and WTA circuits have given names to the tournament categories according to their score to the winner: 1,000 points in the ATP and WTA 1,000, and then 500 and 250. Below these are the circuits Challenger, WTA 125 e ITF, with lower scores. Of course, each tournament has a different score per round, including the qualifying phase.
The key to the system is that the points won by each tennis player They last 52 weeks in their ranking. That means that you are obliged, every year, repeat or improve the performance of the previous one so as not to lose positions. Winning a Grand Slam means 2,000 points but if the title is not repeated the following year, that amount disappears and the points won then are added, that is, points are lost, and that is why there may be the case of a tennis player who gains positions without playing and another who loses them with good results.
In 2024, however – and despite the fact that rumors about a unification of circuits do not stop circulating – the ATP has introduced various news in the scoring system that affects the Grand Slam and not ‘also’ but mainly, since participation in these events is prioritized in detriment of minor tournaments.
For example, there will be no points for those who lose in the first round of any tournament, except in the Grand Slam and the extended draw tournaments of the rest of the categories. Points are also awarded to those who pass rounds in the Grand Slam preview but, in the rest of the categories, points will only be awarded from the last round of the phase. Points are increased in these events in all rounds, except in case of defeat in the first and the champions. The points corresponding to the ATP 500 and 250 events are also increased, while they are slightly reduced in the Challenger events.
How are the points distributed in Wimbledon 2024?
All Grand Slams have the same scoring structure depending on the round.
- Champion: 2000 points
- Finalist: 1,300
- Semifinals: 800 (780 WTA)
- Quarterfinals: 400 (430 WTA)
- Round of 16: 200 (240 WTA)
- Third round: 100 (130 WTA)
- Second round: 50 (70 WTA)
- First round: 10
- For passing the previous phase: 30 (40 WTA)
- Third qualifying round: 16 (30 WTA)
- Second qualifying round: 8 (20 WTA)
- First round of qualifying: 0 (2 WTA)
