Damn, so many posters in this thread weren't even born in the 80s. I posted this in 2008(yeah the '89 rankings have been debated forever), it might clear things up:
In the 80s they had the 'Nabisco Grand Prix' points race, in which all the tournaments gave points, in which the top 8 qualified for the Year end Masters. It was completely separate from the ATP ranking, as were WCT events(which had some of the biggest events of that time, in terms of prize money, & attracted great fields)
The ATP wasn't really one unified tour in the 80s, many had conflicting interests. 1990 is when the real ATP tour was launched.
I have a lot of Masters matches from the 80s on tape, both the commentators & the tournament officials(during trophy presentations) seemed to pretend the ATP ranking didn't exist that week, only acknowledging the Grand Prix points race, which often generated a very different list.
All this info makes it sorta clear why the ATP ranking wasn't considered a big deal(like Connors' streak at #1 pre Fed) by players of that time, so many events weren't even counted towards it. It also may explain some strange year end #1's over the years(Mac in '82, Connors in '77, etc)
Money was probably a bigger motivation than ranking points back then. Its funny, Becker received more money than Edberg at the trophy presentation(like 100,000 more) for the '89 Masters(despite losing the final) since he finished higher in the Grand Prix Race. The prize money for winning the Masters was only 200,000 but Becker got another 500,000 for finishing 2nd in the race that year. 500,000 was a much bigger purse than you got for winning a major in 1989. Even without ranking points, the Masters was a big deal to the players of the time, because of the money. Now money alone isn't enough to ensure players take a tournament seriously.
I wonder if Lendl would have stayed #1 longer had they counted points for the Masters in the 80s, considering Wilander only passed him after winning his 3rd major in '88.
I have an old tennis magazine for the 1990 Year End Championship, much was made of the fact that ATP points were offered that year for the 1st time.
Also I have the Year in Review Tennis magazine for 1989, they listed the final ATP rankings & Grand Prix rankings for 1989.
the atp ranking(it was based on an average, I averaged out all the points listed for these players for 1989 on the website, not counting the 0 listed for WCT events & the Masters, & the numbers do match):
Lendl 213.214 from 15 events
Becker 189.916 from 12 events
Edberg 150.857 from 15 events
Grand Prix Race(which counts all events played)
Lendl 9,831
Becker 7,039
Edberg 6,355
Since 1990 was the 1st year they used the new system that counted best 14, I assume the 1989 Masters was counted for some players on Jan 1 of 1990.
Under both ranking systems, Lendl had a big lead over Becker. But Edberg gets closer with the 'race' system(not surprising since he won the Masters that year) I'm curious as to how different the atp ranking for that year would be if the Year End Masters was included(in which Becker made the final)
Below are Becker's and Lendl's event-by-event performance in 1989, with the ATP points awarded for each result. Note that Lendl's AO is valued at 335. Becker's Wimbledon is at 488, and his USO at 466. Also, Becker's Master's final, Lendl's Master's semifinal, and Lendl's Dallas semifinal got...
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