Rank the Masters in order of prestige

BlueClayGOAT

BlueClayGOAT

Semi-Pro
Pretty straightforward question. I'd guess IW and Miami are the top 2 because of the size of the draws and the higher prize money (although I think Shanghai offers almost as much prize money as IW). How about the others?
 
N

nikdom

Guest
IW
Rome
Miami
Cincinnati
Shanghai
Monte Carlo
Madrid
Toronto/Montreal
Bercy
 
Incognito

Incognito

Legend
BlueClayGOAT said:
I think Monte Carlo and Cincy are both well over 100 years old. IW and Miami are both pretty new- i think both began in the early to mid 1980s.
Click to expand...

MC is 120, Cincy is 118 years old and Rome is 87 years. Bill Tilden was the first to win Rome.

Was Bill any good?;)
 
U

User123

Hall of Fame
For me they are equal. But it's true top players (all but Djokovic) usually don't care about Paris, because it is the end of the season and too close to WTF.
 
Dilexson

Dilexson

Hall of Fame
Incognito said:
MC is 120, Cincy is 118 years old and Rome is 87 years. Bill Tilden was the first to win Rome.

Was Bill any good?;)
Click to expand...

kevin-spacey-gif-18.gif



;):p
Rude , i know..
 
Backspin1183

Backspin1183

Talk Tennis Guru
In terms of prestige, Rome should be at the top. It's the Wimbledon of Masters 1000.

1. Rome
2. Indian Wells
3. Miami
4. Rogers Cup
5. Monte Carlo
6. Madrid
7. Cincinnati
8. Shanghai
9. Paris
 
ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
Indian Wells by far.
Monte Carlo is said to be a player fave, but I could say Madrid is right there.
Cinncy is right up there too.
 
money_ball

money_ball

Rookie
I keep a spreadsheet of a brief history of the "Masters" tournaments. So I will use this as a guide for my "Prestige Ranking".

Notes on the spreadsheet:
  • From 1970-1977 the Grand Prix series didn't start until around May, as an agreement was made with the WCT series that Jan-May was reserved for their events.
  • In 1978 the WCT merged with the Grand Prix series
  • From 1981 the WCT withdrew from the Grand Prix series
  • In 1989 both the Grand Prix and WCT series ended
  • In 1990 the ATP Masters series began
  • The numbers underneath the years for each tournament indicates the starting day of the month the tournament was held
  • The numbers above the years for each tournament indicates the number of tournaments by year and surface
  • The colors above and below the years indicate the tournament surface

32291829-701bb476-befb-11e7-9d10-95e9cf9d5ff1.png


The following are the top tournaments by # of years as being part of either the top tier Grand Prix or Masters series, so you can think of this as a "Seniority Ranking":

Yrs - Tourney
----------------
45 - Rome
43 - Montreal/Toronto
38 - Monte Carlo
36 - Cincinnati
33 - Hamburg
31 - Miami
31 - Indian Wells
28 - Paris
20 - Stockholm
15 - Madrid
11 - Tokyo
10 - Wembley

So taking "seniority" into account, and adding some personal bias, my "Prestige Ranking" of the current Masters tournaments are as follows:

#1 - Indian Wells
#2 - Rome
#3 - Monte Carlo
#4 - Miami
#5 - Montreal/Toronto
#6 - Cincinnati
#7 - Paris
#8 - Madrid
#9 - Shanghai

My reasoning:

I chose Indian Wells as #1 because out of all the tennis tournaments I've personally attended in the US, it is by far the best. (The US Open in Flushing Meadows is a third-world country compared to Indian Wells.) So my #1 is based on complete personal bias.

#2 Rome is based on seniority.

On seniority Montreal/Toronto should be ranked ahead of Monte Carlo and Miami, but I would love to personally attend Monte Carlo and then Miami way over the one in Canada.

On seniority Cincinnati should be ranked ahead of Miami, but seriously who would go to Cincinnati over Miami?

My #7 - #9 is based solely on seniority.
 
Last edited:
Z

Zara

Guest
Djokovic2011 said:
Difficult to put them in order but I'd say Indian Wells is at the top and Madrid probably at the bottom.
Click to expand...

I don't like Cincinnati so that's at the bottom of my list. I like Canada, Rome, Shanghai, Miami, Paris and Monte Carlo. Indifferent to all others.
 
Chanwan

Chanwan

G.O.A.T.
BlueClayGOAT said:
Pretty straightforward question. I'd guess IW and Miami are the top 2 because of the size of the draws and the higher prize money (although I think Shanghai offers almost as much prize money as IW). How about the others?
Click to expand...
Iirc, there's only one real slam?
Cinci for the win.

Rome next.
The rest are pretty equal with Paris, Madrid, Shanghai and MC on the lower end.
 
ibbi

ibbi

G.O.A.T.
Hmm, to me size and prize money do not equate to prestige. Give these newer tournaments time to build histories, and certainly Indian Wells (and Madrid, aren't they turning them into a 'super masters' or something?) will be up there, but as of right now?

I think Rome towers over all of the others. It's not been around quite as long as Monte Carlo, Canada, and Cincy, but couple those 80 plus years with by far the greatest list of champions for both men and women out of all of them, and I don't think any of the others are even close.

I'd have the aforementioned trio of oldies rounding out the top 4, Monte Carlo has to take a hit now given its ridiculous downgrading in the past decade, but it holds its own against the Summer Double duo considering its list of title holders prior to the Open era. Canada is really lame in this regard, so I'd probably put it 4th, and Monte Carlo and Cincinnati would battle for second place.

Bercy I would probably have to put last because in spite of the fact that it has been around for a while it only really had a decade of any real note during the 90s, it was kind of meh before that, it's been kind of meh since then. How was this not the one downgraded given it's position in the calendar, the fact that the city already has a freaking slam (on that subject get the WTF out of London already!) and that Federer and Nadal have treated it with borderline disdain for 15 years? Djokovic has done a decent job taking it seriously, and rehabbing its image, but he can't do it alone. I really like the tennis given its pretty quick, and it gives the lesser guys time to shine, but it's a joke including it at this level.

Madrid and Shanghai I would put above Bercy, I'm sure they will grow into something cool given time, but they're both too new for me to consider them especially prestigious. China's rise in the sporting world will surely help Shanghai's case, and the fact that it sort of stands on its own as opposed to being sandwiched in the middle of a busy clay season works in its favour, but I still can't help but feel Beijing should have had the 1000, and Shanghai the 500.

Indian Wells is great, and has a legit claim to being (being deserving of being) the real US Open, but it's still too new for me, and Miami feels to me like it's slightly less cool little brother (except on the womens side where it's probably the other way around)

TL; DR

9. Bercy
8. Madrid
7. Shanghai
6. Miami
5. Indian Wells
4. Canada
3. Monte Carlo
2. Cincinnati
1. Rome
 
X

Xavier G

Hall of Fame
I rank them something like this in terms of prestige, relevance, entertainment etc these days:

Indian Wells
Miami
Rome
Cincinnati
Canada
Monte Carlo
Shanghai
Madrid
Paris Bercy.

I would have had the Rome Masters (Italian Open) top a few years ago, but feel it's lost a little prestige. Same with Monte Carlo, but still have that a little ahead of Shanghai, Madrid and Paris for its history.
 
K

KINGROGER

G.O.A.T.
Monte Carlo, Paris, Canada all seem lame to me.

Cincy, Shanghai, Madrid I like because the surface speed allows for good variety of tennis. Miami is slow as molasses crap but can’t argue against its prestige.
 
NEW_BORN

NEW_BORN

Hall of Fame
By general consensus it's probably
IW
Rome
Cincinnati
MC
Miami
Canada
Shanghai
Madrid
Paris

But for me it's
Rome
Miami
IW
Canada
MC
Shanghai
Paris
Madrid
Cincinnati
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Mix of prestige, importance and "status."

1. Indian Wells
2. Rome
3. Cincy
4. MC (tremendous history, I don't care if it's not mandatory anymore)
5. Miami
6. Canadian Open
7. Madrid
8. Paris
9. Shanghai
 
MugOpponent

MugOpponent

Hall of Fame
Indian Wells
Rome
Miami
Monte Carlo
Cincy
Shanghai
Canada.
Madrid
Paris


I think the only conclusives are IW,Rome,Miami being top three and Paris at the bottom. Anything in between is purely subjective.
 
MugOpponent

MugOpponent

Hall of Fame
ibbi said:
Indian Wells is great, and has a legit claim to being (being deserving of being) the real US Open, but it's still too new for me, and Miami feels to me like it's slightly less cool little brother (except on the womens side where it's probably the other way around)
Click to expand...

It'll never happen because of tradition but I feel the same about this. The name "Indian Wells' just has an aura to it that seems befitting for a big event.
 
Deon Sanders

Deon Sanders

Legend
Indian Wells
Cincinnati
Miami
Canada
Shanghai
Paris

Clay events optional. Not considered in the ranking due to their worthlessness. ITF considered them third tier and so do I.
 
underground

underground

G.O.A.T.
In these days I don't think it matters much anymore. Like I doubt someone would care which specific Masters they've won unless you're a Fed/Nadal/Djokovic trying to complete the set. What I'm saying is that no one will be like "oh I wish I'd win Rome some day" but people will still go "Yeah definitely Wimbledon is my favourite slam". Masters these days IMO are just ranked according to how the facilities are and how the playing field is. As such I think IW takes the top spot, Miami is towards the bottom, there are more and more complaints about the tournament from players in recent years.

IW
MC=Rome=Cinci
Shanghai
Madrid
Canada
Paris
Miami

The latter 3 especially have suffered from weak fields due to their slots in the tennis calendar.
 
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