ASSOCIATION OF TENNIS PROFESSIONALS
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Current ATP Tour
The ATP Tour at present has five categories of tennis tournaments:
# Tennis Masters Cup (jointly with ITF)
# ATP Masters Series
# ATP International Series Gold
# ATP International Series
# ATP Challenger Series
One-week Futures tournaments are ITF events. They represent an introductory level of professional tournaments, and their results count in ATP Entry Ranking. Four-week Satellite tournaments were also ITF events, but were discontinued after the 2006 season. Grand Slam tournaments are overseen by the ITF but also count towards players ATP rankings.
Players and doubles teams who earn the most tour points play in the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup.
The ATP tour also oversees the World Team Cup played in Düsseldorf in May and the senior's Tour of Champions [1].
The following table further provides structural details for the professional tennis tour (2007):
| Event category | Number | Total prize money (USD) | Winner's ranking points | Governing body |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slams | 4 | 6,784,000 to 9,943,000 | 1,000 | ITF |
| Tennis Masters Cup | 1 | 4,450,000 | 750 | ATP & ITF |
| ATP Masters Series | 9 | 2,450,000 to 3,450,000 | 500 | ATP |
| ATP International Series Gold | 9 | 755,000 to 1,426,250 | 300 to 250 | ATP |
| ATP International Series | 43 | 416,000 to 1,000,000 | 250 to 175 | ATP |
| ATP Challenger Series | 115 | 25,000 to 150,000 | 50 to 100 | ATP |
| Futures | 420 | 10,000 and 15,000 | - | ITF |
Proposed changes for 2009
The ATP tour has announced major changes for 2009, including cutting the number of ATP Masters Series tournaments from nine to eight, and moving the end-of-year championships from Shanghai to London. They were exploring plans to eliminate Monte Carlo as a Masters Series event in 2009 and reduce the prize money there from $2.1 million to about $500,000. They were also planning to downgrade another Masters event, Hamburg. It was also announced that Shanghai would host one of the new masters series tournaments.
After much controversy and protests from players as well as organizers, Hamburg Tournament filed a lawsuit against the ATP, and Monte Carlo followed suit. After much deliberation it was decided that Monte Carlo would keep its prize money as well as the number of points the tournament attributed. However it would not have the future status of Masters Series 1000, therefore it would no longer be a compulsory tournament for top-ranked players.[1] Hamburg still has not settled its suit with the ATP.
ATP tournaments in 2009 will be ranked in four levels of importance: the four Grand Slam events, Masters Series 1000, Masters Series 500/Open 500, and ATP 250. Fans will not see the top players in the fourth category. Details are not yet known.
Rankings
ATP Entry Ranking
The ATP defines the ATP Entry Ranking as "the objective merit-based method used for determining qualification for entry and seeding in all Tournaments for both singles and doubles, except as modified for World Team Championship, World Doubles Championship and Tennis Masters Cup...The Entry Ranking period is the immediate past 52 weeks, except for: the Tennis Masters Cup, which is dropped on the Monday following the last ATP event of the following year; Futures Series Tournaments, that are only entered into the System on the second Monday following the Tournament's week. Once entered, all Tournaments, except for the Tennis Masters Cup, remain in the System for 52 consecutive weeks."
The ATP explains that the reason behind continuing with a 52-week rolling system is "to determine seedings and tournament entry status [as] it is not practical to use the INDESIT ATP Race." It further notes that "The Race, while indicating the hottest players in the game at any stage, does not necessarily indicate an overall standing in the game. This is especially valid at the start of the year when early tournament winners may well be leading the Race but are not yet established top players for the purposes of seeding and tournament entry."
Points Distribution
Number one ranked players
The following is a list of players who have achieved the number one position in singles since the inception of the rankings in 1973:
| # | Player | Country | Date Reached | Total Weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ilie Năstase | Aug 23, 1973 | 40 | |
| 2 | John Newcombe | Jun 03, 1974 | 8 | |
| 3 | Jimmy Connors | Jul 29, 1974 | 268 | |
| 4 | Björn Borg | Aug 23, 1977 | 109 | |
| 5 | John McEnroe | Mar 03, 1980 | 170 | |
| 6 | Ivan Lendl | Feb 28, 1983 | 270 | |
| 7 | Mats Wilander | Sep 12, 1988 | 20 | |
| 8 | Stefan Edberg | Aug 13, 1990 | 72 | |
| 9 | Boris Becker | Jan 28, 1991 | 12 | |
| 10 | Jim Courier | Feb 10, 1992 | 58 | |
| 11 | Pete Sampras | Apr 12, 1993 | 286 | |
| 12 | Andre Agassi | Apr 10, 1995 | 101 | |
| 13 | Thomas Muster | Feb 12, 1996 | 6 | |
| 14 | Marcelo RÃos | Mar 30, 1998 | 6 | |
| 15 | Carlos Moyà | Mar 15, 1999 | 2 | |
| 16 | Yevgeny Kafelnikov | May 03, 1999 | 6 | |
| 17 | Patrick Rafter | Jul 26, 1999 | 1 | |
| 18 | Marat Safin | Nov 20, 2000 | 9 | |
| 19 | Gustavo Kuerten | Dec 04, 2000 | 43 | |
| 20 | Lleyton Hewitt | Nov 19, 2001 | 80 | |
| 21 | Juan Carlos Ferrero | Sep 08, 2003 | 8 | |
| 22 | Andy Roddick | Nov 03, 2003 | 13 | |
| 23 | Roger Federer | Feb 02, 2004 | 188 |
Year-end Number one players
Singles
|
|
Doubles
| 'Year | 'Nationality / Player |
| 1992 | Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde (1) |
| 1993 | Grant Connell / Patrick Galbraith (2) |
| 1994 | Jacco Eltingh / Paul Haarhuis (3) |
| 1995 | Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde |
| 1996 | Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde |
| 1997 | Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde |
| 1998 | Jacco Eltingh / Paul Haarhuis |
| 1999 | Mahesh Bhupathi / Leander Paes (4) |
| 2000 | Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde |
| 2001 | Jonas Björkman / Todd Woodbridge (5) |
| 2002 | Mark Knowles / Daniel Nestor (6) |
| 2003 | Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan (7) |
| 2004 | Mark Knowles / Daniel Nestor |
| 2005 | Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan |
| 2006 | Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan |
ATP Race
The ATP defines the ATP Race as "an easy-to-understand, simple-to-follow annual race from season start to season end. Every player starts at zero at the beginning of the year and the player who accumulates the most points by season's end is the World Number 1" and claims that the Race "is the mathematical method of ranking male professional tennis players on a calendar-year basis."
According to the ATP: "Every player, regardless of his performances in the previous year, starts with zero points. Players count 18 performances in their INDESIT ATP 2005 Race total. Players eligible to enter the Grand Slams and Tennis Masters Series events must count those events and their best five other results from the International Series events. The Tennis Masters Cup will count as an additional 19th tournament for the eight players who qualify."
Points Distribution
List of ATP Race champions
| Year | Champion | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Gustavo Kuerten | 839 |
| 2001 | Lleyton Hewitt | 897 |
| 2002 | Lleyton Hewitt (2) | 873 |
| 2003 | Andy Roddick | 907 |
| 2004 | Roger Federer | 1,267 |
| 2005 | Roger Federer (2) | 1,345 |
| 2006 | Roger Federer (3) | 1,674 |
| 2007 |
People
★ Etienne de Villiers - Executive Chairman/President
★ Philip Galloway - COO/CFO
★ Mark Young - CEO Americas/General Counsel
★ Horst Klosterkemper - CEO Europe
★ Brad Drewett - CEO International
'ATP Board'
★ Etienne de Villiers
★ Tournament representatives:
★
★ Željko Franulović
★
★ Charlie Pasarell
★
★ Graham Pearce
★ Player representatives:
★
★ Jacco Eltingh
★
★ Iggy Jovanovic
★
★ Perry Rogers
Trivia
★ Average age of the Top 200 players: 25 years
★ Average height of the Top 200 players: 1.85 m / 6ft 1in
★ Average weight of the Top 200 players: 78.5 kg / 173 lbs
★ More than 1,800 players have computer ranking points in singles.
References
1. http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=2949033
See also
★ ATP Tour records
★ ATP Awards
★ ATP Masters Series
★ List of ATP number 1 ranked players
★ Tennis statistics
★ Tennis, male players statistics
External links
★ Official site
★ ATP Rankings
★ 2007 ATP Schedule
★ 2007 ATP Official Rulebook
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