The names for categories of events on the men's and women's tennis tours will change in 2009.
On the ATP men's side, gone will be the Masters Series to designate the elite nine tournaments (plus the year-end Masters Cup) to be replaced by the Masters 1000s.
The 1000 refers to the number of ATP ranking points available to the winner at the Masters 1000 events, reduced to eight, including the Rogers Cup in Montreal and Toronto.
The lower levels of ATP tournaments will be referred to as the 500s and the 250s, again related to the ranking points on offer to the winner.
In order to be able to use the prestigious-sounding 1000 number, rankings points will be doubled across the board – meaning the four Grand Slam winners will receive 2000 points, up from their present 1000. Also, to emphasize its breadth, the tour will be publicized as the ATP World Tour.
“The whole brand and brand name changes,” ATP corporate communications director Kris Dent wrote in an email, “have been driven by and refined by extensive, global consumer research and the exact nomenclature is being finalised via another round of research before being presented to (the ATP) Board for final approval.
“The change has been driven by strong research results that show a majority of fans simply do not understand how tennis works and how the various tournaments relate to each other or to the ranking system.”
On the women's side, the current Tiers classifications on the WTA Tour – with Tier I being the top level below the four Grand Slams and on down to Tier IV – will be replaced by events categorized as Premier Mandatory, Premier Five and Premier.
The rather harsh-sounding Premier Mandatory will – not surprisingly – include four tournaments that the players MUST enter: Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing. Below them will be the Premier Five, with less stringent commitments. They are Dubai, Rome, Canada (Montreal and Toronto), Cincinnati and Tokyo.
Needless to say, large increases in prize money will be a part of the Premier Mandatory and Premier Five categories. Tough penalties for players failing to fulfil their commitment, including heavy fines and suspensions from subsequent events, are being finalized.
Eleven other tournaments, completing the top-20 WTA Tour events, will be designated as Premier. Among them will be Sydney, Charleston, Eastbourne, Los Angeles, New Haven and Moscow.
A total of 35 lesser events will fall into the “International” classification.
Changing terminology by the tours is nothing new, with the ATP having made a big overhaul in 2000 when the elite Super Nine events became the Masters Series.
Anyone who is even mildly cynical will probably be tempted to use the following adaptation an old cliché – a tour by any other name...
STAT-OF-THE-WEEK: 5280: That happens to be the number of feet in a mile – as well as Novak Djokovic's total of ATP ranking points going into the Sony Ericsson Open. His surprise loss to qualifier Kevin Anderson of South Africa last Friday in his first match (after a bye) will reduce his points by 500 – the number he got a year ago by winning the Sony Ericsson title. Add the one point he receives for losing in the round-of-64 this year and his total is now 4781. That still has the world No. 3 more than 2,000 points ahead of Nikolay Davydenko, who currently ranks No. 4. And about 900 behind No. 2, Rafael Nadal.
