ATP confirm rankings adjustment until August 2021, prize money update

The ATP have announced plans to continue their rankings adjustments – and to increase prize money at smaller tournaments.

They have declared that if a tournament was played between March 4 and August 5, 2019 and was not played in 2020, a player can use 50 per cent of his 2019 result, or 100 per cent of his 2021 result, whichever is greater, to count towards his ranking for the next 52 weeks.

The ATP call this the “Best Of logic”, and say that the rankings will continue as normal – with points dropping off as usual – as from Cincinnati, which begins on August 16, 2021.

They explained: “The decision to retain 50 per cent of points earned in 2019 during the period corresponding to the 2020 suspension aims to provide players a measure of security in months ahead while travel restrictions and stringent health and safety measures continue to apply.”

They also confirmed that prize money will be increased at ATP 250 and ATP 500 tournaments, thanks primarily to the redistribution of the money in the ATP Bonus Pool, which usually goes to the Top 12 eligible players at the end of the year. They add that this redistribution has been backed by the ATP Player Council, mentioning Top 10 representatives Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in particular.

“Our tournaments’ revenues continue to be severely impacted by restrictions on ticket sales, and a substantial improvement on this front looks unlikely before mid-year,” said Andrea Gaudenzi, the ATP chairman. “Our focus is to ensure the Tour continues supporting as many players as possible and I would like to thank the top-ranked players and the Player Council for supporting this measure, which will help improve conditions for the larger player group over the coming months.”