Early Queens Entrants

seagull · Hall of fame

Early Queens Entrants

johnnylad · Tennis legend

not forgetting a WC for James Ward

steven · Tennis legend

Sounds like it will be cementing its reputation as the worst-rewarded main tour event in ranking point terms then ...

indiana · Tennis legend

I already thought that surely there should be one ATP 500 grass court tournament prior to Wimbledon.

Actually, I would have two ( Queens and Halle ) if these can provide the necessary facilities, financial guarantees etc requited of an ATP 500. There are precedents for two ATP 500s at same time ( eg. this year China Open and Japan Open prior to the Shanghai Masters ).

This would maybe encourage more reluctant grass court players to go for these tournaments, and give the grass few weeks even more prominence..

When one of the Grand Slams is on grass, and you see the precedence the top players give to a prep tournament I actually think it is a bit bizarre and in a way disrespects the surface as if the ATP consider it an anachronism.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 26th of January 2010 08:30:10 PM

steven · Tennis legend

The problem could be that the tournaments don't want to increase their commitment when they know they'll attract lots of the best players anyway ... or perhaps even more likely that they prefer to use the money for appearance money in order to fight over the best players instead.

Happycynic · Pro player

I suspect there is an ATP limit on the number of 500s. If Queens/Halle becomes one (I can see the reason) then someone else loses out.... and they don't want to as the status delivers the world top30 to them.

steven · Tennis legend

I understand that tournaments outside the grass court season (where they benefit from scarcity value) need it more than Queen's/Halle, The real problem is the way the ranking system is based on the prize money available at a tournament instead of the level of players taking part - in many cases, one is a good proxy for the other, obviously, but in weeks like this they're not.

Shhh · Challenger level

Of course much of this could be corrected if the ATP didn't insist on the new system of 500 and 250 events for the main tour. With Slams worth 2,000, Masters worth 1,000, ATP Tour could easily be worth 500, 400 and 300. Then they could be graded more accurately, the highest ranked Challengers could start from 150 (not 125) with Futures being raised slightly as well. It would be a fairer reflection of the standard but.............the ATP dosen't ask me what I think!