ATP Abandons Round-robin Format

Men’s tennis tour the ATP has ended its controversial use of round-robin formats
in tournaments following criticism of the system from a number of players.

The format fell apart at the Las Vegas Open when there was confusion over who
should qualify when a player withdrew injured from a match – a scenario that led
to several players, including world number one Roger Federer, calling for the
system to be thrown out.

In a statement the ATP announced: ‘Remaining events who had volunteered for
the round-robin format will revert to knock-out. The ATP had begun testing
several versions of the format at lower level events this year following initial
research that indicated it could be a measure to provide significant growth to
the game.

‘The research showed it was popular among casual fans. However, the carefully
monitored testing at the five test case events this year raised a number of
concerns and weaknesses that were not apparent from desk research.

Despite the failure of the round-robin format, ATP chief executive Etienne de
Villiers stated that he would not shy away from further experimentation.

‘We will continue to experiment. What we tried was the extension of a system
that has been used many, many times to see whether it would actually do some
good for our sport. If I’m guilty of that – mea culpa, send me down. Will it
stop me from doing it again? No, it won’t.’