Tennis Rankings

[Goofy]

If 2 players ahve the same number of points going in to a tournament (which would happen if Andy Murray reaches finals this week - he'd be tied with Roger Federer) who gets number 2 seeding for the next tournament (which could be the French)?

[Old_Geezer]

Probably decide it on the casting couch.
Or was that coach ?

[jim360]

Thankfully the official ATP rules cover this eventuality:

" E. Ties. When two or more players have the same total number of points, ties shall be broken as follows:

1) the most total points from the Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 mandatory tournaments and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals main draws, and if still tied, then,
2) the fewest events played, counting all missed Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments they could have played (as described under A. above) as if played, and if still tied, then,
3) the highest number of points from one single tournament, then, if needed, the second highest, and so on."

Assuming that Murray reaches the final this week, and Federer and Murray match last year's performances at Rome next week, then by the first tiebreaker Murray has 6,480 points and Federer 6,370, I think, so Murray would just edge the second seeding (although I've only checked this in my head so could have messed things up, and they are close enough for me to have got things wrong!).

[Ken4155]

Are players not seeded on their past performances in a particular tournament rather than on their world rankings?

[douglas9401]

The higher seeding is awarded to the one with the tackiest clothing range. :-)

[jim360]

I think in theory the Grand Slams are free to seed players how they like, but in practice only Wimbledon doesn't just use the ATP WTA tour rankings, adding a bonus based on results from the last two years of grass court tournaments (something like "ATP total ranking points" + "last year's grass court results" + "half of the best result from the year before that").

[Cloverjo]

Ken, Wimbledon changes the seeding according to past performances and ability on grass, but I don't think any others tourmanent does.

[Ken4155]

Ahh, you live and learn.

[Goofy]

I'm always amazed at the knowledge shown on AB