The ATP announced this Wednesday a package of measures aimed at helping tennis players during the current covid situation, focusing on increased prize money at the ATP 250 and 500 tournaments, and a few tweaks to the world rankings. The most important adjustment is the one that has occurred in the ranking, where the ATP has decided that the tournaments, from March 4 to August 5, 2019 that were not contested in 2020 will keep 50% of the points won, while those that were played at some point in the past year will be deducted from the classification.
That is, a player will be able to retain 50% of his points in the next Madrid Masters 2021, if he does not improve the result of 2019, or he will add 100% of what he does this year, whatever benefits him the most. The tournaments that did take place in 2020, the case for example of Roland Garros or the US Open, they will deduct the points of the 2019 edition, which were frozen to date.
According to the ATP, it is expected to return to the usual 52-week system until the pandemic from August 16, 2021, with the Cincinnati tournament. The other substantial measure that the ATP announced today is that all ATP 250s and 500s between the Australian Open and Wimbledon will increase their prize pool by 80 and 60% respectively.
This increase, which is equivalent to an expense of about 5 million dollars (4.14 million euros), will come from the redistribution of the bonus to the 12 best players on the circuit that is distributed at the end of the season. This decision has been supported by the Players Council, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.