As a result of COVID-19, tennis tournaments have been very restricted in match viewers and ticket sales. With fewer ticket sales, the prize money at tournaments decreases, resulting in less money for the players to win. 

Smaller tournaments and competitors – unlike the Grand Slam tournaments – were especially impacted by these restrictions, cutting their prize money by 50 percent and freezing their ranking system for players. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has four tiers of tournaments: Grand Slams, Masters 1000, ATP 500 and ATP 250, with the Grand Slam being the highest tier, Masters 1000 being the second highest, and so on.

Until Wimbledon begins in June, players’ payouts will be increased to 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels at ATP 250 tournaments and 60 percent at ATP 500 tournaments. This $5.2 million increase in the prize pools will be funded by taking money out of a bonus pool that is distributed to the top players around the world.

“Increasing prize money at smaller tournaments is a great way to motivate less known players outside of the top 100; it will also support the expenses of struggling players,” senior varsity tennis player Andrew Monkarsh stated. “Having fans and an audience will be great for the players and the competitive environment. I also think returning the ranking system to normal after freezing it since COVID-19 is a good move to encourage up-and-coming players to overtake the best of the best.”

Another change to smaller ATP tournaments is restarting the ranking system. The professional tennis ranking system is made up of players receiving points for winning matches and progressing through tournaments. This new tweak will allow players to either count 50 percent of their points earned at events from March-August 2019 or 100 percent of points earned from events in 2021, whichever works best for them. 

The ATP aims to reestablish its traditional 52-week ranking system by August 2022.