Friday 12 June 2015

Rankings Update.

To reflect on concerns about the large number of players hovering around the 1490 level, I will be making a change to my rankings, but because I need to collect more data to make this change, it won't be put in to place until after the US Open has finished.

I will be collecting data on how many games and tournaments each player plays, and from the finish of the US Open, players won't be listed on my rankings unless they have competed in either a set number of games, or a set number of tournaments. Byes will not be counted, but walkovers will be counted.

I haven't set the number these will be set at yet, as I want to see how the data develops while I collect it, but I am aiming for the rankings from after the US Open to have only approximately 128 players on the list.

To respond to another point I received in a comment a while ago, I don't believe the differences between surfaces are statistically significant enough for separate rankings to be justified. While Nadal has been the best player on clay for ages (until recently), he doesn't fall down to top 20 level when he moves from Paris to London to play on the Grass, he's still one of the best players on Grass and Hard courts.

While this change won't affect the actual numbers each player is ranked at, I hope it makes my rankings look more accurate, as most players who play (and lose) once tend not to be good enough to play at the top level. If anyone has any further feedback to make, feel free to make a comment here or on any other page.