On my daily Twitter sweep, I noticed a piece on ESPN discussing the current ATP and WTA tour ranking system and whether another prominent version can viably replace it.
The Universal Tennis Rating, already popular and widely implemented at junior levels in the States works on an algorithm. Taking a players last 30 matches into account the formbook here is more immediately relevant and would produce more accurate seedings in the smaller tournaments.
Crucially too, it takes into account the quality of the opponent and scoreline details when working out a players current standing in the ranks.
The aforementioned article of course explains things clearer, but I found this system to be both fascinating and ultimately unusuable in our beloved sport.
Major tournaments use a more historic seeding of course, and whilst the ESPN piece highlights how UTR could potentially offer up a more relevant ‘Top 5’ say for the first quarter of this year, it doesn’t reflect the prestige and long-term accolades that rightly establoshes and recognises the Big Four etc.
Certainly food for thought here, but ultimately too radical for this waffler.
All Things Tennis 