Luciana Aranguiz
11/24/2020 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 11/24/2020 6:00 AM
Daniil Medvedev's consecration at the London Masters lowered the curtain on an atypical tennis season, in which the coronavirus stoppage forced, among other things, to rethink the system used to prepare the world ranking.
The ATP chose to freeze the classification during the almost six months without competition and adopt a format that took
results from the last 24 months
- unlike the usual 12 - to apply in the reactivation.
Thus, the players were not forced to play and defend points in the return.
And many chose not to play some tournaments to avoid a possible risk of contagion of the virus.
But
what will happen to the world ranking in 2021?
The next season will start with the same 24-month format, which will run until the week of March 8, the week before the start
of the Indian Wells Masters 1000
.
In other words, in the first three months of 2021, tennis players will not lose points if they do not play a tournament or if they achieve a worse result than that of 2020. If they improve their performances, they will be able to increase their harvests.
The ATP made this determination in the middle of last month considering that the health crisis will continue to condition, at least at the beginning of the year, the organization of the competitions.
For example, the pre-tour to Australia, which should start on January 1 with the ATP Cup, has not yet been confirmed as
Tennis Australia
continues to negotiate protocol guidelines with the country's government.
Djokovic is very close to surpassing Federer's record as the player with the most weeks at number one.
Photo Mike Egerton / DPA
The ATP's decision to extend the "frozen" period suited Novak Djokovic very well in his quest to break Roger Federer's record for the longest number of weeks at number one.
The Serbian, leader of the ranking with 12,030 units, had to defend 3,165 points in the first months of 2021: 665 for winning the ATP Cup with Serbia, 2,000 for his consecration in the Australian Open and 500 for the Dubai title.
Now you know that no matter what happens on the courts,
you will not lose any points.
Thus, the number one is almost guaranteed until March 8.
If that happens,
Nole
, who today accumulates 296 weeks at the head of the world rankings, will reach 311 when the ranking is updated on that date and will surpass the 310 mark of Federer, who plans for his return to competition in January after the operation of his right knee.
Who could avoid it?
Only Rafael Nadal.
The Spanish, number two with 9,850 points, could add 1,640 more if he shouts champion in Australia (he lost in the quarterfinals to Dominic Thiem in the last edition) and improve his harvest by nearly 400 in the ATP Cup, in which this year he was a finalist and added 250. So he would be less than 200 behind Djokovic and would have the chance to steal the number one if he wins any of the ATP 500 that appear on the calendar: Rotterdam, Rio or Dubai (in Acapulco he won this year and will not be able to add) .
Just as the ATP decision will benefit Djokovic, it will somehow harm those who come behind him in the rankings.
Because with the points "protected" by this new format, the players located in the top positions - who are the ones who have won the most in recent seasons - will keep their units even if they do not repeat their great performances.
And those at the bottom will have less chance of overcoming them.
Diego Schwartzman, who finished a great season in London, could take advantage of the clean and jerk and improve his harvest in Australia.
Photo Glyn Kirj / AFP
Diego Schwartzman, for example, could take advantage of the great clean and jerk at the end of this season and feed his ranking with a great step through the Australian tour, in which in 2020 he achieved just 230 points: 50 from the ATP Cup and 180 from the eighth end of the Australian Open.
But with the current format, perhaps a great performance in those ocean tournaments does not translate into a jump in the ranking, in which today it occupies the ninth place with 3,455 units.
This extension of the new system until March could even affect the start of the 2022 season. Because, for example, if Dominic Thiem, finalist in Melbourne in January, falls before that instance in the 2021 edition of the Australian Grand Slam, he will still retain the 1,200 points that he earned this year and must finally defend them in 2022.
That will be the panorama until the beginning of March next year.
As of the 15th of that month, with Indian Wells already in play - it would start on the 11th according to the ATP calendar - the old format will be returned.
That is, players must defend the points that expire each week to maintain their ranking.
A bad performance will make them lose units and a better result than the previous season will allow them to increase their harvest.
Although until the end of August, those that will be defended will be, with some exceptions, the points won in the 2019 tournaments, which, due to the new system, extended their validity to 24 months.
Rafael Nadal won the 2019 Montreal Masters.
In 2021 he will defend those points in Toronto.
Photo Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images / AFP
Thus, Djokovic, for example, must go to Wimbledon - canceled this year by the pandemic - to defend the 2,000 he achieved in July last year when he was crowned champion.
And Nadal will have to shout champion again at the Toronto Masters 1000 - which was not played this season either - so as not to give up any of those he added when he was crowned in 2019.
What will be the exceptions?
The weeks corresponding to the Masters 1000 in Rome and Roland Garros, which were played this year in September and October, but whose points will have to be defended in 2021 in May and June, because they will be played again on their original dates.
The coronavirus pandemic altered the professional tennis calendar, left players without competition for almost six months and forced to rethink the way to build the ranking.
And although with some new rules and many protocols, the action has already returned to the courts, the impact of the health crisis will be felt in the ATP rankings for at least one more season.
FK