How are the ATP ranking points awarded and deducted?

Question

As of Monday (June 7th, 2010), Rafa will be ranked #1 in the ATP! Yet prior to the French Open, Federer had 10,030 points, while Nadal had only 6,880 points. Grand Slam winners receive 2,000 points, but that would still give Rafa only 8,880 points. So, Roger must have had points deducted for NOT making it to the finals to defend his title.

Can someone explain how the ATP ranking points are awarded? And how they are deducted?
Did Roger lose 2,000 points even though he making it to the QFs?

I thought Grand Slam QFs received 360 points, at least?

I believe he deserves it, but am interested to know how Rafa overcame a 3,000 point deficit to become #1. Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

After each week passes by, the points a player accumulated exactly one year before are shed. That means that the 2000 points Federer had from the last French Open will be dropped and replaced by the 360 points he won at this year's French Open. That's a net loss of 1,640 points, bringing him down to 8,390. Conversely, the 180 points Rafa gained from last year's French Open will be dropped and replaced by the 2000 he won at this year's French Open, giving him a net gain of 1,820.



So Federer drops to 8,390 points, and Rafa shoots up to 8,880, therefore securing the number one ranking.



The ATP rankings work on a 52-week system. The rankings only encompass your results from the last 52 weeks, and come tomorrow, the 2009 French Open will be 53 weeks ago, so the results are dropped. Tournaments are usually held in the same week from year to year, so they don't get double counted. The one significant exception is during Olympic years, where the summer schedule is jigged around and you can actually have points counting from the same tournament in two different years. Make sense?