Roger Federer will drop out of the World Top 10 for the first time since 2017 and is set to drop even further as he missed the ATP Finals event, but fans are baffled over the ATP’s latest changes.
The 20-time grand slam champion announced he would most likely take the rest of season off after his Wimbledon campaign to nurse another injury.
Federer provided fans with a telling update in September and admitted the “worst” is behind him but a return date to tennis is still not clear.
However, the Swiss maestro has greatly benefited from the ‘ranking points freeze’ during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Federer is currently ranked World No.9, but is set to drop out of the Top 10 later this week for the first time since January 2017.
ATP announce rankings change
However, this week, the ATP announced they would be announcing a further change to their rankings freeze system.
Any player that competed in a tournament with a ranking drop off date after 9 August 2021 will maintain points regardless whether the next edition of the tournament falls within 52 weeks.
While this doesn’t affect Federer (with Indian Wells expected to be a tournament benefiting from this), fans called out the ATP for continuing their freeze on ranking points.
This freeze has allowed Federer to remain in the World Top 10, for now, despite not winning a tournament since 2019 and only taking part in a select few competitions.
Fans were quick to point fingers at the ATP for further tweaks to the rankings, which has caused uproar over the last year.
However, others pointed out the latest changes don’t affect Federer directly.
Federer hasn’t won anything since 2019 and is no. 9. Thiem‘s last title goes back more than a year and he‘s no. 8. Shapovalov has only won 1 ATP 250 title in his entire career (2019) and is no. 13. Auger-Aliassime has never won any ATP titles in his entire career and is no. 11.????????
— Cyrus (@Cytendo) October 5, 2021
