Dr. D. - so why did Nadal gain approx 100 pts on Fed last week?

Question

I suppose the answer may be too lengthy to explain, but I believe Nadal narrowed Fed's lead over him last week by 100 pts. Yet they both matched last year's performance. Let me ask another way - just for Rolland Garros - if Nadal and Fed are in the final this year, and Nadal wins, will Nadal gain any pts on Fed - since that would be the same result as last year? If two players both match their previous year's results in any one tournament, does the pt spread between them stay the same? Also, do you think Fed will stay no. 1 throughout this whole calendar year? Just wondering. Thanks for your answers.

Answer 1

I know you asked Dr. D, but I thought I'd throw in my own two cents anyway.  

Since the rankings are on a 52 week basis, ATP removes the points earned during the week prior to the week starting.  That means that if you looked at the points during the Monte Carlo week, you would not see the points earned last year among those points.  Once the week was over, the points were added as earned during the week, which meant Nadal received 500 points for winning, while Federer received 350 for reaching the Final.

The gap could narrow the same way this week.  If you look at the point breakdown, Nadal is currently 1120 points behind Federer, but last year's Barcelona title is no longer listed among his points earned.  If he defends the title, he will have 250 points added.

Answer 2

That could not have been  because of Monte Carlo. It was perhaps due to earlier tournaments, e.g. Key Biscayne.

From my understanding of the point system, if Nadal beats Federer in the final of hte French, then that does not affect their points in any way. If Nadal however beats him in the final of Wimbledon, then he will cut into Federer's lead.

I think Federer will remain #1 at least until Wimbledon. Then a lot depends on how he and Nadal play in the second half of hte year. That's where Nadal can potentially make tremendous inroads, if he can improve on his dismal performances last year.