Roger Federer has come under fire by a German Tennis official for tweaking with the ATP Rankings system to protect his own interests.
According to Dick Hordorff, German Tennis Federation’s Vice-President, Federer used his power as a member of the ATP Players Council to change the ranking system in a way that he was saved from crashing out of the top 50.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner featured in just one tournament in the entire season before having to undergo a surgery which ruled him out of the rest of the year.
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The coronavirus pandemic meant the ATP calendar between March and July had to be cancelled and there were doubts over the participation a plethora of players even after tennis resumed because of the issues associated with travelling.
What it meant was the officials had to come up with a ranking system that was different from the typical, 12-month rolling system.
According to the new system, the best result in a tournament over the two seasons, 2019 and 2020 would be taken into account to add the ranking points.
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And that, according to Hordorff was thanks to Federer, who stood to lose a lot of points.
On the Quiet Please podcast, the German official called the decision to change the system to suit Federer as “irresponsible and quite simply incorrect”.
“In my opinion, he takes advantage of his position on the Players’ Council. It must nevertheless be said that without the change in ranking system, Roger Federer would not be in the top 50.”
According to calculations made by the Twitter handle @JeuSetMaths, Federer would have been 29th on the ATP Rankings had the older system been in use. By the newer system he finished fifth on the ATP Rankings.
?Clap sur cette saison 2020.
⬅️A gauche, le classement officiel ATP.
➡️A droite, le classement uniquement basé sur les résultats de 2020.?Classement officiel favorable
?Classement officiel = 2020
?Classement officiel défavorable pic.twitter.com/U1V2AX52iw— Jeu, Set et Maths (@JeuSetMaths) November 22, 2020
Some of the other players who were majorly helped by the tweak in the ranking system include Matteo Berrettini (who would have been 37th as opposed to 10th), Fabio Fognini (89th instead of 17th), Benoit Paire (76th instead of 28th) and John Isner (50th instead of 25th).
Federer is expected to make his return to tennis early next year at the Australian Open.