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Men's Tennis ATP Rankings 2021

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Last Updated: December 19, 2021

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Tennis rankings: How they work and difference between ATP and WTA systems

How does the tennis rankings system work? What are the Grand Slam ranking points? Here's a complete breakdown of how its calculated in ATP (men’s) and WTA (women’s).

While listing down sports with major global appeal, tennis , invariably, features in the top bracket.

Often headlined by the best tennis players in the world -- Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and others -- their performances on the tennis court reflects their positions in the rankings.

Rankings may be considered the ultimate representation of how good a player/doubles pair is on the court and their form at the time.

Additionally, tennis rankings determine qualification for any official tournament as well as player seedings. These in turn have a big impact on the draws for the respective events.

But how exactly are tennis rankings determined or is the process any different for men’s and women’s tennis players? Here’s an overview to answer these questions.

Tennis Rankings: History

Though the modern version of organised tennis traces its origins to the mid-1800s, there was no formalised ranking system in place for a long time.

From the 1950s, several popular British newspapers started issuing their own rankings. Among these, legendary tennis journalist Lance Tingay’s annual list of top 10 tennis players was held as the authority.

With the formation of Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – the world governing body for men’s tennis - in 1972, formal computerised tennis rankings were put in place for the first time in order to streamline tournament entry criteria.

The first-ever men’s singles rankings were published on August 23, 1973. Romania’s Ilie Năstase was the first official ATP men’s singles world No. 1. Almost three years later, on March 1, 1976, the first men’s doubles tennis rankings were published.

With Billie Jean King setting up the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) – the world governing body in women’s tennis – in 1973, the women’s game followed suit and adopted a similar formula.

As things stand, ATP Rankings grade men’s singles and doubles players while WTA Rankings cater to women’s singles and doubles players. There are no formalised rankings for mixed doubles.

In the initial days, the core of the ranking system was based on averaging all the players’ results. From 1990, it was changed to a ‘best of’ system, which forms the base of the ranking methodology we know today.

Both ATP and WTA follow a similar format, with minor tweaks setting them apart.

ATP Rankings – men’s singles and doubles tennis rankings

ATP Rankings are based on the points earned by the players in official ATP-certified men’s singles or doubles events over the preceding 52-week time frame.

However, this doesn’t mean that someone playing more tournaments will be at an advantage. There is a cap on the number of tournaments which get counted towards rankings.

The number was originally 14 events but was increased to 18 in 2000. From 2021 onwards, 19 events will be counted for the rankings.

So, even if a player participates in 21 tournaments in the past 52 weeks, only their best 19 results achieved during the time frame gets counted in the rankings, not more. Hence, the system is referred to as ‘best of’.

In an ideal scenario, a player/pair (especially top 30 ranked ones) is expected to score their ranking points from the four Grand Slams, eight mandatory ATP Masters 1000 events and seven ‘Best Other’ results from the ATP Cup, ATP Tour 500, 250, ATP Challenger Tour or ITF WTT men’s events.

However, for every Grand Slam or mandatory ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournament a player is not in the main draw owing to valid reasons (either not qualified or injured), the number of results from other eligible tournaments within the 52-week period that count towards rankings is increased by one.

For example, if a player misses one of the Grand Slams or eight-mandatory ATP Masters 1000 events, the seven ‘Best Other’ results that count towards their ranking goes up to eight to ensure the total number is 19.

Towards the end of the year, the ATP Finals are played with the top eight ranked singles players and doubles pairs preceding the tournament. For qualified players, the ATP Finals is considered as a bonus 20th tournament and the points earned counts in their ranking.

Qualifying for any tournament earns the player a base number of points and it can only increase depending on how far he advances.

However, each tournament is graded according to its prestige, history and level of participation, and consequently carries varying number of points.

Breakdown of ATP Ranking Grand Slam points

Grand Slams : The four Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open) are the highest graded tournaments in the ATP tennis calendar. Here's the Grand Slam points system:

ATP Finals : If a player/pair, who qualified for the ATP Finals, wins the tournament undefeated, they can earn a maximum of 1500 points (200 for each of three round-robin matches, 400 for winning the semi-finals and 500 for winning the final).

Rest earn points according to the matches won.

ATP Masters 1000 : There are a total of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in a year – Indian Wells, Miami Open, Madrid Open, Italian Open, Canadian Open, Cincinnati Masters, Shanghai Masters, Paris Masters and Monte-Carlo Masters.

For any player/pair, especially in the top 30 rankings, who qualify for these Masters 1000 events, participation in all barring the Monte Carlo Masters is mandatory. Exceptions are made in case of special circumstances like injuries or personal issues.

If there are fewer participants, players get 10 points for playing in the Round-of-64 instead of 25.

The next level features the ATP Tour 500 and the ATP Tour 250 tournaments.

Following these, we have the ATP Challenger 125, 110, 100, 90, 80, 50 tournaments followed by various levels of lower-ranked International Tennis Federation (ITF) events, with descending number of points on offer.

Points can also be accumulated from matches in the ATP Cup – a country-wise team-based tennis competition which started in 2020.

WTA Rankings – women’s singles and doubles

The calculation mechanism for WTA Rankings for women’s tennis, including the 52-week rolling window, is similar to the ATP one, except for the cap on the number of tournaments.

A player’s WTA ranking is determined by her best results at a maximum of 16 tournaments for singles and 11 for doubles. These must include points from the four Grand Slams and four mandatory WTA 1000 tournaments (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing), wherever possible.

Barring these eight, ‘Best Other’ results from other WTA-approved events get counted. Like ATP, if someone doesn’t qualify or has to sit out one of the Grand Slams or four mandatory WTA 1000 events due to valid reasons, it gets covered by another ‘Best Other’ result.

Like the ATP Finals, the WTA Finals can be a bonus tournament for whoever qualifies. However, unlike the ATP Finals, where ATP Rankings determine qualification, the WTA Finals qualifiers list is based on a different leaderboard maintained specifically for the tournament.

In order to appear on the WTA rankings, players must earn ranking points in at least three tournaments or score at least 10 singles or doubles ranking points.

The WTA ranking points distribution is also slightly different from how ATP operates.

Breakdown of the WTA Ranking Grand Slam points

Grand Slams : While the winner of a Grand Slam gets 2000 points - the same as ATP – the distribution changes from the runners-up, who gets 1300 WTA ranking points as compared to 1200 in ATP.

WTA Finals : Like the ATP Finals, an undefeated winner can earn a maximum of 1500 points. A finalist, meanwhile, can get up to 1080 points.

WTA 1000 (Beijing, Indian Wells, Madrid, Miami) : Earlier called the WTA Premier Mandatory Tournaments, these four were rebranded to WTA 1000 in 2021 to make the nomenclature in line with ATP events.

These four are mandatory for anyone qualified and able to play.

For doubles, Round-of-32 earns 10 points.

WTA 1000 (Cincinnati, Doha/Dubai, Rome, Montreal/Toronto, Wuhan) : Though categorised under WTA 1000 after the 2021 rebranding, these five are not mandatory and have slightly lesser points on offer than the name would suggest.

These were known as WTA Premier 5 events till 2020.

Barring these, there are the WTA 500 (previously WTA Premier), WTA 250 (previously WTA International), WTA 125 (previously WTA $125k) and various ITF tournaments where players can score WTA ranking points.

Tennis rankings for the Olympics

ATP men’s singles ranking points used to be on offer at the Olympics from 2000 to 2012. Women’s singles players, too, could score WTA ranking points at the Summer Games from 2004 to 2012.

However, it was stopped from the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At London 2012, the gold medallist in men’s singles earned 750 ATP ranking points while the women’s singles gold medallist was allotted 685 WTA ranking points.

However, both ATP and WTA Rankings still play a role in qualification to the Olympics.

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ATP and WTA Points and Rankings Explained

Players and fans follow ATP and WTA rankings. It basically shows how good the player is (in comparison with others). The system of how the ATP and WTA points are counted is easy, but not everyone knows the logic behind it. Therefore, we prepared a quick cheat sheet to get basic knowledge about points and ATP/WTA rankings.

ATP 250 & WTA 500 Prize Money & Points

ATP Tournament Schedule – WTA Tournament Schedule

Use of Rankings

The number one player in the ranking is referred to as the world’s best tennis player.

Moreover, the official ATP and WTA rankings are used to determine entry and seeding in all tournaments (except ATP and WTA Finals).

ATP Ranking points system

There are four categories of ATP tour tournaments [Grand Slams*, ATP 1000, ATP 500, ATP 250] and six categories of lower-tier ATP Challenger tournaments [125, 110, 100, 90, 80, 50].

The number in the category name indicates the number of points awarded to the winner of the tournament.

*Grand Slams are officially organized by ITF (International Tennis Federation), but the points are included in ATP Tour rankings.

ATP Points table

• points are awarded according to tournament category and number of players in the singles draw
• the number of rounds depends on the number of players in the singles draw
• points are awarded to the loser in the respective round

Source: ATP Official Rulebook

Up-to-date ATP & WTA Rankings: ATP TOP 10 – ATP TOP 100

WTA Ranking points system

WTA adopted the new system of categories at the start of the 2021 season. It adopts a similar system to the one used by the ATP tour.

There are four categories of WTA tournaments [Grand Slams*, WTA 1000, WTA 500, WTA 250] and one lower-tier WTA 125 tournament. WTA tournaments are further divided into mandatory and non-mandatory categories.

However, the number in the category name indicates the value of the tournament. Still, it is not always equal to the points awarded to the winner of the tournament (that is the difference from ATP).

*Grand Slams are officially organized by ITF (International Tennis Federation), but the points are included in WTA Tour rankings.

WTA Points table

Source: WTA official rulebook

Up-to-date ATP & WTA Rankings: WTA TOP 10 – WTA TOP 100

The time period for official ranking purposes

Official rankings take into account the points earned by players in the last fifty-two weeks (which was increased to the best of the “2019 – 2020” model temporarily in 2020 due to a “covid” break).

It means that ATP/WTA ranking shows how many points players gained in tournaments in the last fifty-two weeks. The rankings are published every Monday.

Due to players’ mandatory obligation to participate in various tournaments, the rankings are calculated from the last 19 tournaments played by men and the last 16 tournaments played by ladies, but the fifty-two-week time frame applies.

That means that if you play in the last 52 weeks less than 19 (or 16) tournaments, just the results from the tournaments you played are counted.

ATP & WTA Finals rankings

Except for the official ranking, ATP and WTA also calculate the ranking for their ATP and WTA finals qualification purposes.

It is called “Race to Turin” in ATP and “Porsche Race to Shenzen” in WTA (both organizations using the names of host cities of finals in respective years).

These rankings are different from the official continuous ATP and WTA rankings.

In these rankings, just points gained in the respective season are calculated. The “Race to …” rankings are closed when the last tournament before the finals is finished. The first seven players of these rankings qualify for the season ATP/WTA finals. The eighth player for the final is either the grand slam winner who is between 8th and 20th place in the ranking or the eight-player of the ranking.

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Simon is the leading editor of TennisProGuru.com from 2015. He is an avid tennis player from age of 5, however, he never reached the pro level. Still, he likes playing tennis on different courts, with different rackets, and against different opponents. In his free time, you can find him watching all possible tennis matches he can find on the web or tv. Challenger or Grand Slam? It does not matter, just tennis matters.

He currently plays with: Racket: Wilson Shift 99 V1 Strings: Babolat RPM Blast Grip: Head Xtreme Soft Shoes: Asics Gel Dedicate 7 (for hard outdoor and indoor courts) & Asics Gel-Game 5 Clay (for clay courts) , Balls: Dunlop Fort All Courts and Head Championship Bag: Axiom Backpack

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Madrid Open 2024: Men's draw, schedule, players, prize money breakdown, ranking points & more

T he ATP tour will head to the capital city of Spain for the 22nd edition of the Madrid Open, which will take place from April 23 to May 5, 2024.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic announced his withdrawal from the tournament a few days ago. He'll next return to action at the Italian Open. Jannik Sinner leads the pack as the top seed, followed by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, will continue his comeback at the Madrid Open. He didn't make a deep run upon his return to the tour at the Barcelona Open, where he lost in the second round. However, he'll be keen to garner some momentum as the French Open draws closer.

With most of the big names all gathered here, the Madrid Open promises an exciting two weeks' worth of action. On that note, here are all the relevant details regarding the tournament:

What is the Madrid Open?

The tournament came into existence in 2002 as an indoor hardcourt event during the fall. It remained that way until the 2008 edition. It was re-envisaged in a new avatar the following year and moved to a new slot on the ATP calendar.

The tournament has been held on clay since 2009 and usually has a late-April start. It follows the Monte-Carlo Masters as the second clay Masters 1000 tournament on the ATP tour.

Since its inception, the Madrid Open has always been classified as a Masters tournament. It was initially only a men's event but opened its doors to the WTA tour in 2009 and became a combined event.

Rafael Nadal holds the record for most titles at the venue with five, followed by Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer with three apiece. The Spaniard has also reached the most finals here, with eight trips to the championship round so far.

The Madrid Open will take place at La Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain.

Men's Draw and Players

All seeded players have received a bye into the second round. Jannik Sinner is the top seed and headlines the top half of the draw. He's got a smooth ride until the quarterfinals, where he could face the in-form Casper Ruud.

Rafael Nadal is also in the top half of the draw. He'll start off against Darwin Blanch and could once again meet Alex de Minaur in the second round, who beat him at the Barcelona Open. Stefanos Tsitsipas is also in the Spaniard's section and the two could lock horns in the fourth round.

Two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz leads the bottom half of the draw. He got a relatively easy draw, with Andrey Rublev, his projected quarterfinal opponent, being in a major slump at the moment.

Either Alexander Zverev or Hubert Hurkacz are most likely to be Alcaraz's semifinal opponents. Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Holger Rune are some of the other notable names in the bottom half of the draw.

The complete men's draw can be found here .

The qualifying rounds are already underway. The men's main-draw action will begin on April 24. The first three rounds last two days each. All fourth-round matches will be contested on Tuesday, April 30.

The quarterfinals will be held on Wednesday and Thursday, May 1 and 2. The semifinals will take place on Friday, May 3. The men's doubles final will be played on Saturday, May 4, while the men's singles final will be held on Sunday, May 5, at 6:30 p.m. local time.

Prize Money and Ranking Points

The total prize money for this year's edition of the Madrid Open is €7,877,020. The singles champion will receive $963,225 along with 1000 ranking points.

Here's a complete breakdown of the prize money and ranking points:

Where to watch

Viewers from the following countries can keep track of the happenings at the Madrid Open on the respective channels and sites:

USA - Tennis Channel

UK - Sky Sports

Australia - beIN Sports

Canada - TSN

India - Sony Sports

For more information regarding the broadcast of matches, click here .

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Mirra Andreeva celebrates 17th birthday with first WTA 1000 quarterfinal

2024 Madrid

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MADRID -- Mirra Andreeva enjoyed the happiest of birthdays on Monday at the Mutua Madrid Open. The newly-turned 17-year-old phenom came from 5-2 down in the first set to defeat 12th seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6(2), 6-4 in the Round of 16. 

Andreeva is the second-youngest player to reach a WTA 1000 quarterfinal since the format was introduced in 2009. Coco Gauff reached the quarterfinals at 2021 Dubai at 16 years old. Andreeva is one of just four players to have reached a WTA 1000 quarterfinal before their 18th birthday, joining Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, CiCi Bellis and Gauff.

"I do feel old, to be honest," Andreeva said. "I don't know what scares me [about getting older], but I just want to stay the same person that I was. But I know that age is not something that I should look at too. I think I will always stay the same person but the time has passed quickly."

The victory earned the 43rd-ranked Andreeva her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal, going one round further than her fourth-round showing in her tour debut 12 months ago. 

"I'm always happy with each win," Andreeva said. "I cannot say that this feels different. It feels like another match. I don't have any expectations or any pressure. I will just play with the same mindset, the same everything that I did before, and we will see."

Andreeva will face either No.2 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or No.15 Danielle Collins for a spot in the semifinals.

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Never forget 🥳 On her 17th birthday, Mirra Andreeva reaches her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal. #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/PH0XTv62zA — wta (@WTA) April 29, 2024

Facing Dubai champion Paolini for the first time, Andreeva struggled to hold her serve through the early stages. Coming off a confident straight-set win over Caroline Garcia in the previous round, Paolini broke Andreeva in her first three service games to build a 5-2 lead. 

But after saving one set point to hold to 5-3, Andreeva slowly turned the match around. She cleaned up her errors and took advantage of the deflated Italian's dip. Andreeva came through another tight deuce game to take the set to a tiebreak and raced away to complete her comeback. 

The second set nearly saw a reversal of fortune. Andreeva led 4-0 with a point for 5-0, but this time it was the teenager's turn to flinch as the match neared the finish. Paolini put the set back on serve at 5-4, but could not hold serve to maintain her comeback pressure. Andreeva broke serve on her first match point as Paolini put a forehand just long of the baseline. 

Andreeva's win over Paolini was her third consecutive win over a seeded opponent and second over a Top 15 player this week. After defeating No.58 Taylor Townsend in the first round, Andreeva has ousted No.29 seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic, No.7 and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, and Paolini. 

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Tennis’ Grand Slams premium tour plan: More money, equal pay, fewer tournaments

After months of playing shots off the back foot, the four Grand Slam tournaments have gone on the offensive in the battle for the future of tennis . 

In meetings with representatives of the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours last week in London, and with players and agents this week in Madrid, leaders of the Grand Slams have presented their strongest plan yet to reform the current structure of professional tennis . It consists of a premium tour anchored in the four Grand Slams and more top-level combined events, featuring the best players from the ATP and WTA circuits.

According to a person briefed on the proposal from the Grand Slams and the ensuing meetings, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, the details include the following:

• Doubling the prize money for the top 300 men.
• ⁠Almost quadrupling the prize money for the top 300 women.
• Using a portion of their own media rights to finance these changes.
• Equal pay , from inception, for men and women at all the events on the premium tour, instead of making women wait until 2027 to receive the same pay as men at some of the biggest tournaments.
• A schedule that includes the four Grand Slams, plus 10 other mixed top-level tournaments, with locations and dates to be determined, and a team event.
• The tour would end in time to allow for an off-season of six to eight weeks.

The plan would capitalize on the lucrative media rights of the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, alongside Wimbledon, and those of the other top Masters tournaments, to create a premium tour — various versions of which have been at the core of their previous proposals, but with little meat on the bones beyond that. ESPN’s 11-year-deal for the U.S. Open is worth almost $800 million (£647.7m), and it is estimated that media rights account for over half of the annual revenue for the All England Tennis Club, which stages Wimbledon, year in, year out.

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The Slams say the plans will vastly increase pay for men and women more quickly than the ATP and WTA can achieve, focus the season around 15 events in a premium tour and extend an off-season that has shrunk to just a few weeks for the top players.

Leaders of the Grand Slams and the tours were not immediately available for comment. 

How to fix tennis

Leaders of the ATP and the WTA, who have long viewed the collective plan from Wimbledon and the U.S., French and Australian Opens as a threat to their relevance and perhaps their existence, are not enthusiastic about this latest idea, according to the person briefed on the plan and the meetings.

Discussions between the tours and the Grand Slams have become less fraught in recent weeks, according to reporting from the BBC . While one official recently described “productive discussions” among the parties of late, this latest move could jeopardize any hint of detente that may have started to develop in the past few months.

It shows that even as the tours moved to firm up their control of the sport, the Grand Slams continued to work toward wresting it from them, something they have been pushing for since last summer.

The leaders of the two tours have long sought guarantees that they will have significant roles in governing the sport, and this iteration of a premium tour would relegate most of their tournaments to a lesser status which top players would have much less incentive to participate in. 

Now, the tours’ lack of enthusiasm might be moot, because by bringing the players into the discussion for the first time, the Grand Slams are playing a significant card.

It is their strongest move yet to curry favor with the people who have proven time and again to hold the most power in tennis — the stars of the sport, who attract the fans to buy tickets and to watch the matches at home.

They are now promising to give those players many of the things they have been seeking for years, including accelerating the closing of the gap in prize money that endures at several mixed 1000-level events and, overall, including greater financial rewards for a less demanding schedule than the current 11-month slog that incentivizes players to risk their health and wellbeing by playing in as many tournaments as possible.

The Grand Slams’ leaders have pushed for months to use existing 250 and 500-level tournaments to create a qualifying tour for players outside roughly the top 100. Top players could potentially participate in those events but not earn rankings points from them.

Most importantly, to help finance this premium tour, the Grand Slams have committed for the first time to include a portion of their media and sponsorship rights, which are the most expensive in the sport and that they have long kept largely for themselves.

For months, the Grand Slams had held back on such a commitment as they negotiated among themselves about how much of their resources they wanted to invest in an effort that would make them major financial partners in the future of the professional level of tennis, rather than independent entities that hold annual competitions — even if they are the sport’s biggest annual competitions of all.

However, during the past year, the tours have made a series of moves that the Grand Slams have viewed as a threat to their primacy, including potentially disrupting a schedule that climaxes four times a year with the Grand Slams.

Leaders of the organizations that control the Grand Slams have decided that the only way to ensure that they maintain their strength is through further investment in the overall management of the sport.

In meetings, and in a presentation at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March, top tennis leaders were still waiting for a premium tour plan that the Grand Slams had purportedly been fleshing out for months — to the extent that the proposed presentation had slipped from last November, at the ATP Finals in the Italian city of Turin. Four months later, no framework for the integration of media rights and other commercial partnerships was in place.

Now, another month on, the Slams have made their move.

The latest move comes after Andrea Gaudenzi, the leader of the ATP, pushed for the tours to invest in a plan that would bring in roughly $1billion of investment in tennis from Saudi Arabia . Most of that money would come from the sale of a new tournament, a 10th Masters 1000 event. 

A bid process for the event is ongoing, also involving Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, fellow Gulf state Qatar’s capital Doha and Australia, with most people involved in the process expecting the Saudis to prevail, adding the tournament to its three-year deals for the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, in November, and for the Next Gen Finals the following month.

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While a portion of the infusion of cash from Saudi Arabia would eventually filter down to the players, it comes with costs to the schedule that players already say is far too long, including adding another top-level, mandatory tournament, possibly at the very start of the calendar after the already-shrunken off-season. It’s also not yet clear what opportunities for additional growth would be available after the money from the additional tournament is spent.

The Grand Slams are operating on the principle that, in contrast, a premium tour that can pool its media rights and sell them as a singular, elite, exclusive package to sponsors and media companies — in the fashion of Formula 1 — could bring to the market the kind of focused tennis product that the fractured sport has been trying in vain to come up with for decades. 

The battle moves on.

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP)

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Matthew Futterman is an award-winning veteran sports journalist and the author of two books, “Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed” and “Players: How Sports Became a Business.”Before coming to The Athletic in 2023, he worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Star-Ledger of New Jersey and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He is currently writing a book about tennis, "The Cruelest Game: Agony, Ecstasy and Near Death Experiences on the Pro Tennis Tour," to be published by Doubleday in 2026. Follow Matthew on Twitter @ mattfutterman

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Rafael Nadal Is Not Fully Committing to Playing in 2024 French Open

• Author: Madison Williams

Rafael Nadal is likely in his last season of his professional tennis career , and now his chances of playing at the French Open next month are decreasing.

Ahead of his round one match at the Madrid Open set for Thursday vs. Darwin Blanch , Nadal admitted he doesn't feel 100% still. He's been recovering from various hip and abdominal injuries since the beginning of 2023. This will be just his third tournament this year.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion wants to feel 100%, or close to it, when the French Open rolls around on Monday, May 20, so he may end up backing out depending how he feels.

“If I arrive Paris the way I feel today, I will not play," Nadal said in his press conference. "I will play Roland Garros if I feel competitive. If I can play, I play. If I can’t play, I can’t. It won’t be the end of the world or the end of my career. I still got goals after Roland Garros, like the Olympics."

While Nadal hasn't confirmed a retirement plan, he hinted that this year is his last once again during his Wednesday press conference.

"I don’t think I will be able to play at 100%, but it means a lot to me to play in Madrid for one last time in my career," Nadal said. "It’s a special place and court for me.”

Nadal has a record 14 titles from Roland Garros, and he is often referred to as the "King of Clay." It would be devastating to fans if he missed the Grand Slam tournament in what will likely be his last time playing there.

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Two tennis coaches provide tips on how to play, strategize and score in doubles tennis.

As the name suggests, doubles tennis involves each tennis player having a partner while facing off against a pair of opponents on the other side of the net. It’s the team version of the individual game.

“That’s what brings out the fun: You’re no longer by yourself. You have someone to fall back on a little bit, to strategize with and talk between points,” said Freddy Mesmer , head coach of men’s tennis at Georgetown University.

Aside from the enjoyment of having a teammate, there are lots of factors that differentiate doubles tennis from a singles match: the size of the court, the positioning of the players, the game strategy and more. Below, learn how two-on-two tennis differs from the singles game, plus tips from coaches on how doubles tennis players can excel on the court.

(Related: Tennis Scoring for Beginners: A Basic Explainer on How to Win a Match )

The Court in Doubles Tennis

Besides the addition of two players, one of the most noticeable differences between singles and doubles tennis is the size of the court. On a standard tennis court, there are two stripes that run the length of the court on either side called the “doubles alleys.”

Each of these alleys is 4.6 feet (1.37 meters) wide , and this space is considered in-bounds in doubles tennis. Even though singles tennis is played on the same courts, this space is considered out of bounds for singles matches. With a doubles alley on each side of the court, this makes the total court size 9.2 feet (2.72 meters) wider for doubles play than for singles play.

For tennis players accustomed to playing singles, the extra court area can be an adjustment when they play a doubles match, said Maciek Sykut , associate head coach of men’s tennis at Duke University and a former professional tennis player.

If doubles players put too much emphasis on defending the alleys on the sides, he said, their partners wind up having to defend more of the center of the court, in addition to the alley on their side.

Even though the court is bigger in doubles tennis, having four players on the court means that each player has a smaller area of the court to cover. According to Sykut, that generally means doubles tennis requires less running. Depending on what a player wants to get out of their tennis game, less running might be appealing.

(Related: 8 Essentials to Complete Any Tennis Outfit )

How Does Serving Work in Doubles Tennis?

Just like in singles tennis, one player serves for an entire game of doubles tennis. (Note: There are typically six games within a tennis set, and two or three sets make up a match.) On each serve, the serving player stands behind the baseline and must serve the ball over the net into the “service box” on the other side of the court.

If the serving player is positioned on the left side of the court, their serve must land in the opposite (right side) service box on the other side of the net. If the serve misses the service box, it’s a fault, and the serving player gets another chance. If the second serve is also a fault, it’s a “double fault,” and the serving team loses the point.

After a successful serve, the point is played: The two pairs hit the ball back and forth over the net. The point ends if the ball bounces twice on one side, fails to make it over the net or lands outside the court’s boundary lines. Then the next point starts.

On the next serve, the same serving player will now serve from the right side of the court and aim their serve at the left service box on their opponent’s side of the net. The serving player continues alternating in this way until the game ends.

In the next game, the other team serves, just as in singles tennis. But there are unique serving and returning rules for doubles.

For each game, teams must alternate which player serves. For instance, on a doubles team of players A and B, player A serves in the first game of a set. One of their opponents serves in game 2. In game 3, player B will serve. This order continues throughout the set.

In the next set, the team could opt to switch, having player B serve game 1 and player A serve game 3.

The serving player’s partner can stand anywhere they want on their team’s side of the court. In many cases, the partner will play in their own service box: If the server is positioned on the left side of the court, their partner will be positioned in the right service box and vice versa.

There’s another strategy, called Australian formation , that entails the server’s partner standing in the service box in front of the serving player. If the serving player is hitting from the left baseline, the partner in this formation would be standing in the left side service box.

Some reasons players might use this formation include:

• For a right-handed server serving from the left side of the court, this formation can be used to encourage the returner to hit the ball to the server’s forehand side — an advantage if the server has a stronger forehand than backhand and wants to play to their strengths.
• If the server’s partner is right-handed and has a strong forehand volley, the Australian formation can also help when serving from this side, because the partner’s forehand (instead of their backhand) is in the center of the court.
• If the returning team is in a groove, changing up the formation may throw them off and help the serving team score.

How Does Returning Work in Doubles Tennis?

While the serving player switches sides on every point, the returning team must stay on the same left-right side of the court on each serve of the game. On the first point of the game, if the server is hitting from the service line on the left side of the court, player Y from the opposing team will be on the right side of the court. There, they must hit the return shot to the other side of the court.

On the next point, the serving team switches sides, so player A is serving from their right baseline. However, the opponents stay put: Now, player X becomes the returner.

After the initial return, players on the returning team can go anywhere on the court on their side of the net.

Changeovers

In both singles and doubles tennis, teams switch sides of the net after every odd-numbered game of a set. If a team has been playing on one side of the net in game 1, they’ll change over to the other side for games 2 and 3. After game 3, they’ll return to their original side of the net.

This is called a “ changeover ” and is accompanied by a short break — usually 90 seconds.

How to Keep Score in Doubles Tennis

Games of doubles tennis are scored in the same way as singles tennis. The game begins with an equal score, 0-0. In tennis, the “zero” score is called “love.” After that, points are scored as follows:

• First point: 15
• Second point: 30
• Third point: 40
• Fourth point: game

A score of 40-40 (or a tie at 3 points each) is called “deuce.” After deuce, the next player or team who scores has an “advantage” (ad). If that team scores again, they win the game. If they lose that point, it’s tied again, and the score is once again deuce. The game continues until one side wins 2 points in a row after deuce.

Many tournaments, including National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) play, use “no-ad” scoring for doubles. In this scoring format, doubles partners don’t have to win by 2 points in order to win the game. In a “no-ad” game, if the score is 40-40 (still called deuce), the next point wins.

Are There Tiebreakers in Doubles Tennis?

Most sets in a tennis match are played until one side wins six games. If you see a tennis score that shows a set as “6-2,” the winning side won six games and the losing side won two.

In many cases, the set must be won by two games, so if the set score is 6-5, another game is played. If the team that’s leading wins, the set ends at 7-5. But if the team with five wins is victorious in the 6-5 game, the set is tied at 6-6; in many tournaments, this triggers a tiebreaker .

A tiebreak game in tennis is scored up to 7 points, but points are counted by ones instead of the standard scoring system. In a tiebreak game, the winner of the first point is leading 1-0 instead of 15-0. The game continues until one team has at least 7 points and is winning by 2 points or more.

Tiebreakers also have a different serving format than regular games. Instead of one player serving for the entire game, teams switch off. The first point is served by the team who was meant to serve the next game.

After the first point, the opposing team serves 2 points, then the teams switch after every 2 points until the tiebreaker is complete. Each time the serving team switches, the serving player on the team switches, too.

In a game of team AB versus team XY, the serving order would be as follows:

• Point 1: Player A serves.
• Points 2-3: Player X serves.
• Points 4-5: Player B serves.
• Points 6-7: Player Y serves.
• Points 8-9: Player A serves.
• Points 10-11: Player X serves

Teams switch sides of the court after every 6 points. This continues until the tiebreak ends.

Third-Set Tiebreak

In some doubles matches, teams only play two full sets. If each team wins one set and the match is tied 1-1, they play a tiebreak game in lieu of a third set.

In these cases, the tiebreak game is played to 10 instead of 7. Teams must still win by 2, and all the other rules — including the serving order — are the same.

What Makes a Great Doubles Player?

On the skills side, Mesmer said, “The three shots that are most important in doubles are the serve, the return and the volley. When somebody’s got a big serve, it makes it hard to return the ball past the [server’s partner,] who’s guarding that return.”

A player with good return skills, he said, can hit that big serve back over the net under control and past the opponent who is close to the net. If the ball goes to the player at the net, that player can hit a volley (a shot that’s hit out of the air as the ball flies over the net) instead of letting the ball bounce first.

Volleys can be challenging to return and defend because they happen so quickly — instead of seeing the ball fly all the way from the baseline back over the net, players reacting to a volley need to think (and hit) fast.

Volleys are important in both singles and doubles tennis, but they’re crucial in doubles, Mesmer said, because one partner on each team is almost always at the net.

“If you’re playing good doubles, you’re finishing in the front court at the net, and you’re not playing from the baseline a ton,” Mesmer said. Singles players, on the other hand, can stay at the baseline and play lots of ground strokes.

But because one doubles partner almost always starts in the front court — the area inside the service boxes closest to the net — players need to be ready to hit and defend lots of volleys. Therefore, strong doubles players have great volley skills — quick reflexes and decision making, as well as expert racket control.

Another mental and social skill that helps players excel at doubles is communication, both coaches said.

“Without a doubt, communication and interpersonal skills are among the most important pieces,” Sykut said. Unlike in singles, where a player can silently run from one spot to the next, “now you have another player on the court that you’re co-managing. You’re calling plays. It’s a team sport now, with two people out there working together,” he said.

Doubles partners can also help cover for one another, with one partner stepping up their game when the other is struggling, Mesmer said.

Words by Greg Presto

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Originally published: May 24, 2023

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Screen Rant

Challengers ending: tennis match’s final moments explained by director.

Challengers' closing scene is explained by director Luca Guadagnino, who explains how the romantic sports-drama's ending comes full circle.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Challengers.

• The ambiguous ending of Challengers emphasizes the importance of the trio's relationship over who actually won the tennis match.
• Director Luca Guadagnino wanted to show the trio back together, rather than focus on a clear winner, to highlight their dynamic.
• The ending of Challengers , while open to interpretation, showcases the tension and chemistry between the characters, sparking discussions.

Challengers director Luca Guadagnino opens up about the ending of the recently released romantic sports-drama, and how the ambiguous final moments serve its legacy well. Starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O'Connor, the movie follows a love triangle between three professional tennis players, two of whom get married, igniting personal and professional rivalries. Challengers has received strong reviews , and even ranked as #1 at the box office during the traditionally slow April period. The movie concludes with an ambiguous ending, choosing not to reveal who won the grudge match between Patrick and Art.

In an interview with EW , Guadagnino weighed in on the Challengers ending and gave his explanation of the final moments. The movie ends precisely as Art crashes into Patrick on the tennis court, falling into his arms as Tashi cheers on the sidelines. No winner is declared, but the whole movie hypes up the importance of who becomes the victor. Guadagnino revealed that the important part of the story was not who won, but the trio being back together. Read the Call Me by Your Name director's comments below:

They are acting out for 13 years the possibility of going back to that hotel room to find again that beautiful moment of burgeoning desires and innocence. And at the same time, to feel at ease with one another, the way they were there. So, throughout the entire arc, that's what they're trying to do. And finally, with the rivalry at that heightened level, the triangle finally found itself sitting in the same place, but now on the court. I needed to get this very, very visually amped up and really immersed for the audience to understand how much it meant for them not to win over the other, but to be back together, all of them.

Challengers Cast & Character Guide

Why the challengers ending works so well, challengers' ambiguous approach helps it in many ways.

Part of Challengers ' strength as a movie is through how the story develops, and how the ending fulfills the promise of the premise. As Guadagnino suggests, the ambiguity of the ending feeds into what is important in the movie: the relationship between the trio. The winner is almost irrelevant, and audiences don't get to find out the result, because it doesn't matter. All of them are back together, and that tension and chemistry is palpable.

So many movies lose their audience with the ending, which either disappoints, contradicts, or feels like it hasn't been earned. The reason Challengers seems to have worked well is that Guadagnino, and writer Justin Kuritzkes, choose to let the audience decide how some of the elements of the story end , which could only lead to more discussion. No stranger to building tension and developing complicated relationship dynamics, most of Guadagnino's best movies explore these kinds of themes, and Challengers is no different.

Whether the ending of the movie is enough to make Challengers a modern classic remains to be seen, and time will tell how it is viewed retrospectively. However, buoyed by a strong performance from rising star Zendaya, intimate direction from Guadagnino, and Kuritzkes's strong script, the movie is faring well with audiences. As it sparks impassioned debate and speculation, Challengers marks a strong entry in the filmography of all those involved.

Challengers

Challengers is a romantic sports comedy film by director Luca Guadagnino. The film stars Zendaya as a retired Tennis legend who, while trying to coach her husband and lead him to victory in an upcoming Tennis match, discovers his coming opponent is her ex-lover.